Psychosocial Health Work And Language

This volume deals with the construction of categorizations of health at work on the basis of individuals’ perceptions and analyses of the psychosocial health effects at their work. The volume approaches the subject from the point of view of those who have experienced psychosocial risks at work, either by being under constraints themselves or by being witness to such constraints. Each chapter sheds light on their representations by examining how the individuals label these constraints. The book compares official categorizations of psychosocial health effects of work to unofficial categorizations, built or expressed. It shows how taking into account subjective narratives may reinforce existing strategies. By giving a central place to language in the analysis of the representations of psychosocial health at work, the volume provides additional information about the various prevention and coping strategies that can be used for dealing with the issue. Beyond some international comparisons, the book covers various national case studies, including in Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Chechnya, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, and Russia.

A multidisciplinary effort to determine the extent to which psychosocial factors peculiar to different occupational environments can influence the health of workers and managers. Wide-ranging in its approach, the book uses a diversity of research findings and conceptual models to explore the links between specific forms of occupational stress and the physical and mental well-being of employees. Attention is also given to the impact that work-related stress can have on performance levels, rates of absenteeism, alcohol abuse, employee turnover and accidents on the job.

This book begins by introducing us to patients in two general-practice waiting rooms. In an Australian general practice seven patients are waiting to see doctors. In a New Zealand general-practice waiting room are two patients. The healthcare needs of each patient are outlined. Of these patients and their circumstances, the editors and specialist chapter-authors ask a series of questions. What is life like for each? How might social role, economic status, and quality of social support impact on their lived experience of illness and injury? To what extent might psychosocial variables impact on the biomedical outcome of each? How might biomedical problems impact on psychosocial variables? What might be the emotional experience of each, their perception of stress, likely resilience, and potential for achieving quality of life despite their current medical circumstances? What factors might change their emotional experience? What will influence their psychological coping? What might be the cultural and spiritual resources or needs of each? How might health practitioners and the health system more generally respond to their biopsychosocial, cultural, and spiritual needs? To what extent, and how, could presenting problems have been prevented? How can positive attitudes to health and living be promoted? To encourage health professionals to view a patient in his or her broad context, as a person, and as a person in a family, a cultural group, and in a society, with advantages to patient and clinician, Jennifer Fitzgerald and Gerard J Byrne have brought together experts in medicine, psychology, social work, pastoral theology, and social science. Following a section in which the conceptual foundations of a biopsychosocial approach to healthcare are outlined, chapters on individual differences and developmental processes, relationships, the social determinants of health, existential and ethical issues, and prevention and promotion are offered. In each chapter, to illustrate and personalise key points, authors refer to the patients in the waiting rooms.

Dedicated to the late Bertil Gardell, a Swedish Social Scientist, this text comprises of 18 essays that shares a common vision - the impact of work on the interconnected processes of stress and disease.

The title is intended as a ready reference for qualified practitioners and anyone interested in psychosocial approaches to health, illness and disability.

The work environment can be considered one of the main determining factors that can influence the mental health of workers, especially as it regards the structural and organizational conditions to which the worker is subjected. This work environment has positive effects when work provides satisfaction and well-being or negative effects provoked by situations of stress, inadequate working patterns and schedules, possible situations of abuse and/or harassment, etc., which may contribute to the appearance of alterations in the mental health of the worker.

Contemporary Psychometrics features cutting edge chapters organized in four sections: test theory, factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and multivariate analysis. The section on test theory includes topics such as multidimensional item response theory (IRT), the relationship between IRT and factor analysis, estimation and testing of these models, and basic measurement issues that are often neglected. The factor analysis section reviews the history and development of the model, factorial invariance and factor analysis indeterminacy, and Bayesian inference for factor scores and parameter estimates. The section on structural equation modeling (SEM) includes the general algebraic-graphic rules for latent variable SEM, a survey of goodness of fit assessment, SEM resampling methods, a discussion of how to compare correlations between and within independent samples, dynamic factor models based on ARMA time series models, and multi-level factor analysis models for continuous and discrete data. The final section on multivariate analysis includes topics such as dual scaling of ordinal data, model specification and missing data problems in time series models, and a discussion of the themes that run through all multivariate methods. This tour de force through contemporary psychometrics will appeal to advanced students and researchers in the social and behavioral sciences and education, as well as methodologists from other disciplines.