In this paper, a concept of health-promoting leadership is presented that focuses on the interaction between working environment and leadership behavior. Seven key aspects define health-promoting ...leadership: health awareness, low workload, control, reward, community, fairness, and values. The self-assessment version of the questionnaire was used in this study for the first time. Analyzing the data of 299 leaders, the results showed satisfactory reliability and validity coefficients for all dimensions. Structural equation modeling indicates that all dimensions can be assigned on a main factor of health-promoting leadership. The questionnaire offers two main advantages: first, it is possible to measure health-promoting behavior strategies of leaders and thus show their leadership potential. Second, the instrument allows analyzing critical aspects in the working environment and further helps establish basic conditions in the workplace, where a health-promoting workplace can be created.
Testing Practices in the 21st Century Evers, Arne; Muñiz, José; Bartram, Dave ...
European psychologist,
01/2012, Volume:
17, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
The main goal of the European Federation of
Psychologists'Associations (EFPA) Standing Committee on Tests and
Testing (SCTT) is the improvement of testing practices in European countries. In
order to ...reach this goal, the SCTT carries out various actions and projects,
some of which are described in this paper. To better inform its work, it decided
to survey the opinions of professional psychologists on testing practices. A
questionnaire of 33 items was administered to a sample of 12,606 professional
psychologists from 17 European countries. The questionnaire was based on, but
not identical to, one used in 2000. The new data show that the positive attitude
of the respondents toward the use of tests that was obtained in 2000 has
increased in most countries, with a high percentage of the surveyed
psychologists using tests regularly. Five main dimensions explained
43% of the total item variance. The dimensions involve items relating
to: Concern over incorrect test use, regulations on tests and testing, Internet
testing, appreciation of tests, and knowledge and training relating to tests and
test use. Important differences between countries were found on these five
dimensions. Differences were found according to gender for four of the five
dimensions and in relation to field of specialization for all five dimensions.
The most commonly used tests are the classic psychometric tests of intelligence
and personality: WISC, WAIS, MMPI, RAVEN, 16PF, NEO-PI-R, BDI, SCL-90. Finally,
some future perspectives are discussed.
Full text
Available for:
CEKLJ, FFLJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PEFLJ
Reaching the actual target group for a web-based health promotion project turns out to be a difficult task. In this article, individual and organizational factors which can influence the decision of ...using apps in workplace health promotion are analyzed. Furthermore, we analyzed the opinion about feedback possibilities of apps in workplace health promotion. A study with 438 leaders was conducted, as leaders can be seen as a key factor in the success of health promotion projects. The results showed that younger leaders and leaders with a more positive attitude toward workplace health promotion are more likely to use an app. Furthermore, leaders with a positive attitude are more interested in expert-feedback than in instant feedback received from an app.
The concentration of arsenic (As), considered a toxic and carcinogenic metalloid, in agricultural soils has become a global challenge. Sources of arsenic in soils can be both anthropogenic and ...natural. Contaminated water is used for the irrigation of crops and vegetables, and therefore it is the main pathway for arsenic to enter the human food chain, creating a potential health risk. This study evaluated the concentrations of arsenic in agricultural soils in the rural parish of Papallacta, located 67 km east of the city of Quito, Northeastern Ecuador, and constitutes an analysis of the problem of arsenic in agricultural soils. Shallow groundwater and geothermal water discharges laced with arsenic are frequently used for irrigation and have raised the level of arsenic in agricultural soils. This work is focused on evaluating the environmental quality and contamination of agricultural soils through environmental quality indices such as geo-accumulation index, enrichment, and contamination factor. The average arsenic levels in the agricultural soils of the four studied areas fluctuate between 20.4 and 43.0 mg kg−1, while in the sediments of the Papallacta Lake, higher values were found in the range between 16.8 and 102.4 mg kg−1; all of which exceed the permissible limit by the Ecuadorian Environmental Legislation for agricultural use (12 mg kg−1). The results of the study in the five studied sites of the Papallacta civil parish indicate low to moderate levels of arsenic enrichment, soils enriched by bedrock, and moderate to considerable contamination.
Organizations should support leaders in promoting their employees’ health in every possible way to achieve a sustainable workplace. A good way to support leaders could include getting feedback about ...their health-promoting behavior from their employees. The present study introduces an instrument (Health-Promoting Leadership Conditions; HPLC) that enables the provision of feedback about the leaders’ efforts to create health-promoting working conditions in seven key aspects: health awareness, workload, control, reward, community, fairness and value-fit. The instrument was used in employee surveys and in an online study, obtaining a sample of 430 participants. The results showed that all seven key aspects of health-promoting leadership can be assigned to a main factor of health-promoting leadership. In addition, the HPLC shows high construct validity with dimensions of stress, resources and burnout (Recovery-Stress- Questionnaire for Work RESTQ-Work and Maslach Burnout Inventory General Survey MBI-GS). The results indicate that the HPLC can be used as a basis on which to assess health-promoting leadership behavior with a focus on changing working conditions. By getting feedback about their leadership behavior from their employees, leaders can identify their potential and fields for improvement for supporting their employees’ health and developing a sustainable workplace.
Leaders engaging in health-promoting leadership can influence their employees' health directly by showing health awareness or indirectly by changing working conditions. With health-promoting ...leadership, leaders are able to support a healthy working environment by providing resource-oriented working conditions for their employees to support their health. Changing working conditions in a health-supportive way can prevent possible negative consequences from critical working conditions (e.g., burnout risk). The present study examined the relationship between health-promoting leadership and the employees' resources, stress and burnout. To analyze our proposed model, structural equation modelling was conducted in two samples. The resulting model from the first sample of 228 Austrian workers was cross-validated and could be verified with the second sample (N = 263 Austrian workers). The results supported a model in which health-promoting leadership has a strong direct effect on the employees' resources and an indirect effect on stress and burnout, which was mediated by resources. The results indicate that health-promoting leadership describes the leaders' capability and dedication creating the right working conditions for their employees by increasing the employees' resources at the workplace. This in turn minimizes the risk of experiencing burnout.
User characteristics should be considered when designing features for e-health or m-health applications, as the developed solution should aim to support this specific target group. This study ...explores the effect of user characteristics (personality, health state, stress/recovery state, leadership behavior) on the interest and likelihood of using an app for health promotion activities at the workplace. Leaders are a key factor for the success of workplace health promotion; therefore, the target group of this study are leaders. The data of 412 leaders were collected in an online study. Hierarchical multiple linear regression analyses were conducted for four outcome criteria (“personal health,” “contacting,” “leadership feedback” and “corporate key figures”). The findings showed that neuroticism, physical health and health-promoting leadership were important predictors for using an app for monitoring personal health and getting in social contact about health issues. The stress/recovery state was significantly related to the feature of getting in social contact.
On behalf of the International Test Commission and the European Federation of Psychologists' Associations a world-wide survey on the opinions of professional psychologists on testing practices was ...carried out. The main objective of this study was to collect data for a better understanding of the state of psychological testing worldwide. These data could guide the actions and measures taken by ITC, EFPA, and other stakeholders. A questionnaire was administered to 20,467 professional psychologists from 29 countries. Five scales were constructed relating to: concern over incorrect test use, regulations on tests and testing, internet and computerized testing, appreciation of tests, and knowledge and training relating to test use. Equivalence across countries was evaluated using the alignment method, four scales demonstrated acceptable levels of invariance. Multilevel analysis was used to determine how scores were related to age, gender, and specialization, as well as how scores varied between countries. Although the results show a high appreciation of tests in general, the appreciation of internet and computerized testing is much lower. These scales show low variability over countries, whereas differences between countries on the other reported scales are much greater. This implies the need for some overarching improvements as well as country-specific actions.
PDF
