Longitudinal Changes in Leadership and Person-Centered Care Over 5 Years in Swedish Nursing Homes

Nursing home leadership has been described as crucial for person-centred care and psychosocial climate, but longitudinal data are lacking. The significance of manager educational qualifications and operational model of nursing homes for perceived leadership, person-centred care and psychosocial climate also needs further exploration. This study aimed to explore changes in nursing home managers’ leadership, person-centred care and psychosocial climate comparing matched units in a five-year follow-up. Also, to explore changes in leadership characteristics’ and the significance of manager qualifications for perceived leadership, person-centred care and climate. Repeated cross-sectional, valid and reliable, measures of leadership, person-centred care, psychosocial climate and demographic variables were collected from managers and staff n=3605 in 2014 and n=2985 staff in 2019. Descriptive and regression analyses were used. Leadership remained significantly associated to person-centred care in a five-year follow-up, but no changes in strength of associations were seen. Leadership also remained significantly associated to psychosocial climate, with stronger associations at follow-up. Also, certain leadership characteristics significantly increased over time, thus, partly confirms previous findings. It was also shown that a targeted education for managers was significantly associated to person-centred care.

A Longitudinal Analysis of Academic Achievement and Its Correlates in Higher Education

Achievement in higher education is gaining importance and attracting attention among educational psychologists who seek for determining its correlates. This study examined longitudinal associations between academic achievement in higher education, university entrance exam performance, the psychosocial climate of the campus, and instructional behavior and socioeconomic status. Data concerning 2,361 students from three universities were collected via surveys and university records at Year 1, Year 2, and Year 4. Socioeconomic status (SES), university exam performance, perceived instructional behavior, and perceived psychosocial climate at Grade 1 were associated positively with academic achievement, perceived instructional behavior, and perceived psychosocial climate at Grade 2 and Grade 4. Indirect effects from SES, university exam performance, perceived instructional behavior, and perceived psychosocial climate at Grade 1 to Grade 4 outcomes were significant, through academic achievement, perceived instructional behavior, and perceived psychosocial climate at Grade 2. These results support that students’ SES, earlier entrance exam performance, and perceptions of their academics’ instructional behaviors and the campus’ psychosocial atmosphere at the first year of university life are associated with their academic achievement at the final year through their relations with the developing levels of academic achievement, perceived instructional behavior, and psychosocial climate of the campus toward the middle of university life.

The Italian version of the Work Psychosocial Climate Scale (Escala Clima Psicosocial en el Trabajo)

BACKGROUND: The organizational climate is a quality of the internal environment of an organization that is shared by its members, can be described in terms of the values of the characteristics of an organization, influencing the workers’ behaviour. A number of empirical studies have examined the relationship between climate perceptions and a variety of variables such as job satisfaction, performance, psychological well-being, absenteeism and turnover. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to verify the psychometric properties of the Work Psychosocial Climate Scale in the Italian context. METHODS: The participants were 1063 Italian workers. The survey comprised: Work Psychosocial Climate Scale, Majer D’Amato Organizational Questionnaire 10, Work and Organizational Motivation Inventory, Mindfulness Organising Scale, Job Satisfaction Scale, and Organizational outcomes (Turnover intentions, Exit and neglect, Performance). RESULTS: The results provide evidence for the reliability and validity of the Italian version of the Work Psychosocial Climate Scale, after some modifications of the original version. CONCLUSIONS: The evaluation of the psychosocial climate in an organization is one of most important steps to recognize the indicators of work-related stress. The Work Psychosocial Climate Scale allows to conduct the evaluation with a reduced number of items.

Psychosocial Climate in the Primary Work Group in State Organizations

The psychosocial climate has a great variety of definitions, this being due to the different point of view from which it is approached: pragmatic, affective, normative, structural. In the psychosociological literature in our country, the definitions proposed for this concept are mostly focused on the attitudinal-emotional aspect of this phenomenon and consequently they generally have many notes in common. Organizational and managerial theories have largely begun with the discovery of the importance of people and the socio-human climate for the efficient functioning of companies. Through multiple analyzes and research, the dynamics of the human factor in the organization and management was configured. From the beginning we must distinguish two universes within any organization. On the one hand, machines and technology, the market and production flows, productivity and competitiveness of products representing a distinct universe of corporations, on the other hand, the other universe, as significant as the first, represented by individual people and relationships among them, the knowledge that people store, produce and apply, the values they adhere to, the myths they generate. Therefore, we have two distinct and at the same time complementary universes: one technological and the other human. The technological universe can be changed easily and quickly. It is rational and visible. The cultural universe, however, is much less transparent, it mixes rationalities in different combinations, which only those who participate directly can understand. Leadership is also a field of research and a practical skill that encompasses the ability of an individual or organization to "lead" or guide other people, teams, or an entire organization. Leadership viewed from a European and non-academic perspective includes a vision of a leader that can be changed not only through community goals but also through the pursuit of personal power. Leadership can result from a combination of several factors. A leadership style is the style of a leader to provide direction, implement plans and motivate people. It is the result of the leader's philosophy, personality and experience.

EFFECT OF ORGANIZATIONAL, PSYCHOSOCIAL AND ECOLOGICAL LABOR CONDITIONS FACTORS ON FATIGUE AND HEALTH OF SHIPBUILDING WORKERS

The development of Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS) in various industries and transport is an indicator of the relevance of the issue of professionally caused fatigue, the importance of which for the safety and health of shipbuilding workers has been poorly studied. The aim of the study was to characterize the effect of organizational, psychosocial, environmental and non-occupational factors affecting fatigue and health indicators of shipyard workers. There is an prevalence of the risk of severe fatigue among 8,8 ± 2,8 % of workers, 15,4 ± 7,2 % of foremen, 7,7 ± 7,7 % of engineers. The main fatigue causes are indicators of the labor regime and the working environment in workers and increased labor intensity, negative characteristics of functional duties and psychosocial climate, extra-curricular load in foremen. The risk of reducing the efficiency of workers, foremen and engineers due to their being at the workplace in a state of severe fatigue is 8–12 % of working time. The total deficit of rest formed during working hours and free time is the main source of risks of acute and chronic fatigue. The data obtained are the justification for the relevance of the introduction of FRMS to improve the efficiency, safety and reliability of labor processes in shipbuilding enterprises.

Analysis of adaptation processes in the educational environment of students with disabilities of junior courses

The article discusses the existing problems associated with the adaptation of first-year students with disabilities, who have profound impairments of body function (totally blind, deaf, and lesions of the musculoskeletal system) in the educational process at the university. Cause-and-effect relationships were established in the existing difficulties of relationships with classmates, which depend both on the student and on the psychosocial climate in the group.