People with visual impairment in outward-facing work: Developing a tool to measure employer attitudes.

BACKGROUND: Over the years, persons with disabilities have suffered unjustifiably due to a low employment rate, largely the result of unsupportive and negative attitude from employers. Such attitudes are exacerbated during periods of economic stress, with a case par excellence being the current COVID-19 pandemic. Prior studies have addressed common concerns of employers within the workplace. However, the dimensions of these concerns extend beyond the internal working environment, to the outward-facing work environment, involving interactions with customers and suppliers. These concerns have not, thus far, been properly addressed. OBJECTIVE: To develop the Service from People With Visual Impairment (SPVI) psychometric measure, a 6-item employers' attitude assessment tool. METHODS: This study is based on 1,036 questionnaires collected using Online Panel Data (OPD), from managers who have hiring authority. We performed Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) followed by Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) for discriminant and convergent validity. Finally, we present an empirical model comprising a stable single factor and establish predictive validity using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). RESULTS: CFA showed good fit to the observed data; CMIN/DF = 1.94, p > 0.05, CFI = 1, TLI = 0.99, NFI = 1, RMSEA = 0.03. SEM showed good fit; CMIN/DF = 1.91, CFI = 1, TLI = 0.99, NFI = 0.99, RMSEA = 0.03. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that the instrument could become a pragmatic tool to assess employer attitudes to employ people with visual impairment or blindness due to external work environment concerns. The tool is relevant to a wide range of circumstances, including economic downturns. Practical considerations are discussed.

The impact of healthcare executive seniority on implementation of innovative methods of diagnosis and prevention.

Innovative methods of diagnosis and prevention play a key role in the survival of healthcare systems as well as the wellbeing of patients. Effective healthcare management is a critical factor in implementing hospital innovation. Healthcare executive (HE) personal and job characteristics such as age and seniority have been found to affect innovative decision-making. However, no study has yet investigated age and seniority effects on the propensity to implement innovation in health prevention strategies. This study fills the literature gap by providing evidence for the effect of HE age and seniority on the implementation of innovative methods for diagnosis and prevention. Predicated on 57 in-depth interviews with HEs, we employ mixed methods research, combining qualitative and quantitative analysis. Structural Equation Modeling was used to test the model's goodness-of-fit. Results show that while HE age and number of years in the organization positively affect job tenure, job tenure, in turn, negatively affects willingness to implement innovative methods of diagnosis and prevention in hospitals. This study extends the Upper-Echelon Theory to health workforce management. Practical implications are discussed.

Developing a Multilevel Scale to Assess Retention of Workers with Disabilities.

Purpose Persons with disabilities (PwD) face difficulties in employment. Despite extensive research on PwD in the workplace, there is lack of research on the factors behind retaining or terminating the job of a PwD. This study aims to address this gap by developing the Retaining Workers with Disability (RWD) model. Method Predicated on 1032 respondents with employment decision authority, we performed exploratory factor analysis (EFA) followed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for convergent and discriminant validity of the RWD model. Next, we developed the two-rank model RWD-II and employed CFA for validation. Results We presented a dual-facet measurement tool for assessing employer attitudes towards retaining PwD in the workplace. Two dominant factors were measured, direct and indirect work-related items. Indices for both models (one and two-rank) showed a good fit. Conclusion Our study highlighted two major factors influencing managers in the decision-making process of retaining workers with disabilities as follows: direct and indirect work-related concerns. The measure was validated using the RWD scale. By providing the tool to identify attitudes towards PwD work retention, we offer the first step in identifying and changing a negative approach toward this population in the workplace. Practical contributions are discussed.

Rape narratives analysis through natural language processing: Survivor self-label, narrative time span, faith, and rape terminology.

OBJECTIVE: Rape-survivor identity is a sign of recovery and positive therapeutic progress among rape victims. This study is one of the few to focus on factors predicting self-labeling as a survivor among self-acknowledged rape victims by evaluating the contribution of the time span of the rape narrative, rape terminology, and expression of faith. METHOD: The data were elicited from 3,794 rape narratives published on Brave Miss World, a website established, inter alia, to allow rape victims to share their stories. To identify the key concepts within rape narratives, we performed text mining based on natural language processing (NLP) and developed a model. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the model's goodness-of-fit analysis. RESULTS: The results indicated a good fit between the theoretical model and the data. Time predicted expressions of faith and the use of rape terminology, and there was a positive correlation between faith and the use of rape terminology. Both expressions of faith and the use of rape terminology mediated between time span and self-labeling as a survivor, with a significant positive effect on self-labeling as a survivor. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that addressing rape-victim faith and the use of rape terminology in the depiction of their sexual trauma may be beneficial for the therapeutic process and postrape recovery. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).