Why Should Health and Wellbeing Matter to Doctors?

Health and wellbeing as central to medical practice. In 2015/2016, author was president of the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and the revamp of the RACP’s annual Congress, featuring Sir Harry Burns, who gave the closing plenary address, exploring the social determinants of health. The role of chronic stress in disease (from Aaron Antonovsky’s 1979 book, Health, Stress, and Coping). The role of adverse childhood experiences and their effect on the amygdala. The hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis and the hormonal cascade. The brain’s response to stress: allostasis. The concept of allostatic load and its role in chronic inflammation, from the work of Professor Sheldon Cohen and others. The role of inflammation in type 2 diabetes. Sir Harry Burns’ concept of locus of control, and the impact of adverse childhood events on glucocorticosteroid receptors. Sir Michael Marmot and the Whitehall I and II studies. Anaesthetist Robin Youngson and compassion in palliative care. Professor Martin Seligman’s concept of learned optimism. Implications for the future of general practice. The importance of spiritual health to indigenous peoples. Māori model of health (te whare tapa whā) developed by Professor Sir Mason Durie, which incorporates spiritual health. ‘Our patients deserve to be treated as people, but doctors are people too.’

Application of Learned Optimism and Mindful Parenting for Caregivers of Putra Utama 03 Ceger Orphanage

There used to be a gap between ideal and actual condition in the pattern of parenting at Panti Sosial Asuhan Anak (PSAA) Putra Utama 03 Ceger, an orphanage. The gap was caused by some factors namely the environment facilities, high levels of problematic behavior among adolescents, the system, insufficient number of caregivers, and cultural factors of parenting that have been going on for a long time in the orphanage. The gap could lead to learned helplessness of the caregivers in parenting pattern on children at the orphanage. A team was formed to create an intervention through community service activity to overcome the problem, by applying learned optimism and mindful parenting for the caregivers at the orphanage. This intervention program was aimed to increase the caregiver’s knowledge and motivation through training of learned optimism and mindful parenting. Therefore, the caregivers can be more optimistic and wholehearted in carrying out their role as caregivers. The approach used in this intervention is based on the Bioecological Model Theory from Bronfenbrenner, the Experiential Learning from Bandura, and the Change Theory by Lewin. The steps taken in this intervention program were a preliminary study using a problem tree, Fishbone Analysis, and SWOT analysis. After a preliminary study, the team prepared an intervention design consisting of preparation, training, monitoring, and evaluation of the intervention. The expected targets of this intervention program were an increasing knowledge in learned optimism training and caregivers’ motivation in applying the training materials. These indicators have been achieved well through the activities provided. Keywords: learned helplessness; learned optimism; mindful parenting; orphanage

Learned Helplessness at the Workplace and Its Impact on Work Involvement: An Empirical Analysis

In today’s work environment that is characterized by rapid advancements in technology, globalization, liberalization, workforce diversity and increasing national and global competition, workforces face pressure like never before. In a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environment, where employees face high work stress, learned helplessness may develop in them, which in turn could have adverse effects on their performance, as well as on organizational outcomes. The purpose is to study the impact of learned helplessness on work involvement. Data were collected from 324 bank employees of Delhi, and 300 responses were considered for analysis. Analysis was done using SPSS 24 and AMOS 24 software. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and hierarchical multiple regression were performed. Our study found that learned helplessness is negatively related to work involvement. After controlling the impact of demographic factors, all the dimensions of learned helplessness were found to be predictors of work involvement, except for the external–global–unstable (EGU) dimension. The researchers found very few researches that studied the variables at the organizational level, most being limited to individual-level studies. Since the constructs of our study have an important influence on organizations, it is important to understand the impact of learned helplessness on employee work involvement. When employees experience helplessness, their work involvement level is negatively impacted; hence, it is important for managers and supervisors to identify the learned helplessness problem. Human resources (HR) practitioners should focus on developing techniques that aim at changing negative employee thought processes to positive ones and help in converting learned helplessness to learned optimism.

Challenges and achievements in student learning experiences in a business school’s at-home internationalization programs in China

Purpose The purpose of this ontologically qualitative research study was to (a) explore student narratives regarding their educational experiences in at-home internationalization programs; (b) provide an in-depth narrative analysis of student learning challenges and achievements; and (c) add valuable research-based knowledge of student-described experiences for use by program administrators. Design/methodology/approach Participants were selected with a form of four-stage non-proportional stratified sampling. 29 participants were interviewed using a basic demographic questionnaire and an episodic interview protocol. Data were analyzed in QSR NVivo software through open, axial, and selective coding stages under the framework of grounded theory. Findings The findings focus on student-identified links between the challenges they encountered and their achievements. In addition, student performance level and gender were associated with the challenges and achievements reported by students. In understanding the results, the student-learning concepts found in the learned optimism, growth mindset, grit and expectancy theory approaches provide potentially fruitful insights. Originality/value The findings of this research have instructive implications for program administrators regarding how student challenges can be strategically chosen and shaped to generate specific, positive student achievements.

A Reflection on Harnessing Learned Optimism, Resilience and Team Growth Behaviour in Order to Support Student Groups

Change is all around us at universities, and learned optimism is a skill that is much sought after. Our rapid rate of change at Macquarie University has identified the opportunity for the Student Engagement team to implement learned optimism in their training and work practices in order to enhance the student experience. This paper will explain the current challenges and how our response to change can set the standard for future challenges. With learned optimism we are able to facilitate positive changes to practices that support the needs of student groups.

Product knowledge and salesperson performance: rethinking the role of optimism

Purpose Based on knowledge-based view of the firm, and salesperson attributions, the purpose of this paper is to develop and test a contingency-based framework featuring how salespeople’s product knowledge: product and brand knowledge (PBK) and competitors’ product and brand knowledge (CPBK) and optimism impact salesperson performance. Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses are tested on survey data from 185 car salespeople in Southeast USA. Findings Results document support for the main effects of PBK, CPBK, and their joint effects. Furthermore, under high optimism, the positive impact of CPBK on salesperson performance is attenuated. However, optimism × PBK interaction was not supported. Research limitations/implications Extant literature lacks insights into the impact of salespeople’s product knowledge. By examining salespeople’s product knowledge in a disaggregated fashion, and the interaction of product knowledge × optimism, this research highlights the multi-dimensional nature of product knowledge, whose complex ramifications cannot otherwise be uncovered by a globally conceptualized construct. Originality/value This study isolates salespeople’s domain-specific knowledge of products from the more global construct of salespeople’s knowledge. The focus on how PBK and CPBK exert a joint positive influence on performance is novel. In addition, by examining how optimism weakens the relationship between CPBK and performance, this research provides a notable contrast to extant findings and broadens the learned optimism paradigm.