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Background: Norwegian public health nurses prevent diseases and promote health in children and young people aged 0–20 and their families. Public health nursing programs prepare students for their practical role and provide relevant theoretical knowledge. Objectives: To gain knowledge of the literature in the Norwegian public health nursing curricula, and to examine further the nursing base in these curricula. Design: An explorative and descriptive design was chosen. Sample: Reading lists based on syllabus documents from the 10 higher educational institutions in Norway offering programs in public health nursing. Measurements: A summative content analysis and a categorization of content from reading lists were performed. Results: Numerical information on the content and categorization of reading lists shows that social science and humanities literature dominates, followed by psychology and medicine. Nursing texts, theories and philosophy comprise only a minor part of the curricula. Conclusion: The paper provides valuable data on the theoretical focus in Norwegian public health nursing and raises important questions about the paucity of nursing texts in the curriculum. The imbalance in reading lists in Norway should be studied further and similar studies conducted in other countries to encourage reflection on the theoretical content of public health nursing education globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

System dynamics is generally selected as an analytical approach because it is believed to be particularly good with complex issues both in terms of the core model and the environment. The SD literature devotes considerable space to study and intervention processes, often suggesting general models, protocols or procedures that have worked in specific applications or a range of similar applications. This paper describes an ongoing project in which a complex system operates within a complex and fast-changing environment with major and overlapping organizational changes, a wide and diverse set of stakeholders and difficult national political agendas. The project concerns the nature of ‘quality and effective training’ for junior doctors in the UK against the backdrop of major changes in working hours and conditions driven by national safety concerns and the overarching requirements of the EU Working Time Directive. Early models are already yielding valuable insights for those at a large teaching hospital wrestling with the seemingly impossible task of maintaining levels and quality of both doctor training and service to patients. However, the study is also highlighting that in such high-complexity the study process itself can be problematic. This paper considers the issues raised and relates them to the literature on model-based interventions and concludes that flexible and adaptive processes are needed to effectively manage such ‘knotty’ projects. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional history of the predominant, research-based model of business education (RBM) traces its origins to programs initiated by the Ford Foundation after World War II. This paper maps the elite network responsible for developing behavioral science and the Ford Foundation agenda. Archival records of the actions taken by central nodes in the network permit identification of the original vision statement for the model. Analysis also permits tracking progress toward realizing that vision over several decades. Behavioral science was married to business education from the earliest stages of development. The RBM was a fundamental promise made by advocates for social science funding. Appraisals of the model and recommendations for reform must address its full history, not the partial, distorted view that is the conventional account. Implications of this more complete history for business education and for behavioral theory are considered. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The Demand-Control (DC) and Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) models predict health in a work context. Self-report measures of the four key constructs (demand, control, effort, and reward) have been developed and it is important that these measures have good content validity uncontaminated by content from other constructs. We assessed relevance (whether items reflect the constructs) and representativeness (whether all aspects of the construct are assessed, and all items contribute to that assessment) across the instruments and items.Methods: Two studies examined fourteen demand/control items from the Job Content Questionnaire and seventeen effort/reward items from the Effort-Reward Imbalance measure using discriminant content validation and a third study developed new methods to assess instrument representativeness. Both methods use judges' ratings and construct definitions to get transparent quantitative estimates of construct validity. Study 1 used dictionary definitions while studies 2 and 3 used published phrases to define constructs.Results: Overall, 3/5 demand items, 4/9 control items, 1/6 effort items, and 7/11 reward items were uniquely classified to the appropriate theoretical construct and were therefore 'pure' items with discriminant content validity (DCV). All pure items measured a defining phrase. However, both the DC and ERI assessment instruments failed to assess all defining aspects.Conclusions: Finding good discriminant content validity for demand and reward measures means these measures are usable and our quantitative results can guide item selection. By contrast, effort and control measures had limitations (in relevance and representativeness) presenting a challenge to the implementation of the theories. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? While the reliability and construct validity of Demand-Control and Effort-Reward-Imbalance (DC and ERI) work stress measures are routinely reported, there has not been adequate investigation of their content validity. This paper investigates their content validity in terms of both relevance and representativeness and provides a model for the investigation of content validity of measures in health psychology more generally. What does this study add? A new application of an existing method, discriminant content validity, and a new method of assessing instrument representativeness. 'Pure' DC and ERI items are identified, as are constructs that are not fully represented by their assessment instruments. The findings are important for studies attempting to distinguish between the main DC and ERI work stress constructs. The quantitative results can be used to guide item selection for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although current systems‐based methods of organization development provide some benefit to improving the ability of organizations to reach their goals, consultants are continually seeking to improve the way they may be used to support internal and external clients. This paper reports on an emerging systems‐based analytical method, "Integrative Propositional Analysis," and its use for improving strategic plans leading to improvements in the capacity of an academic research institution. This preliminary report suggests a new structural perspective that may be useful for consultants and leaders interested in improving the usefulness of strategic plans for improving organizational effectiveness so that organizations may better fulfil their missions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recurring question of successful group work is how to maintain high task motivation of the individual members. This paper reviews research on one well documented group motivation gain phenomenon, where group members are more highly motivated than comparable individual performers - the Köhler motivation gain effect. The basic effect is attributed to two psychological mechanisms, one involving upward social comparisons and a second involving the indispensability of group members' efforts. In addition to summarizing research on the discovery and causes of the basic effect, this review identifies probable moderators of each contributing causal mechanism. Moreover, promising topics for future research as well as implications for the application of the Köhler effect in real group work are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, the author presents a call for papers on system research and theory of systems and their applications like artificial intelligence to be published in a special issue of the journal.

Since 1970, the “New History” of American psychology has grown into a lively specialty, characterized by tightly focused research utilizing archival source material. The collective product so far is an accumulation of disparate pieces rather than a coherent story. For the future, a debate about critical developments in the discipline's history and their causes appears desirable, in order to produce a more informative analysis of this history. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents several issues related to behavioral sciences. Request the applications for postdoctoral research fellowships; Emphasis on the methodological problems in historical demography, anthropology, and other disciplines; Accounts on the philosophies of technology in different cultural and social contexts; Features of the "Realism and the Human Sciences 1991 Conference."

This article focuses on several research papers. They are as follows: "Alternatives to Chronological Age in Determining Standards of Suitability for Public Safety Jobs, Volume 1: Technical Report" and "Ending Mandatory Requirement for Tenured Faculty: The Consequences for Higher Education." Alternatives to Chronological Age in Determining Standards of Suitability for Public Safety Jobs, Volume 1: Technical Report, the research conducted by Pennsylvania in answering the questions, was a major data collection effort. Extensive annotated bibliographies covering industrial and organization psychology, public safety, gerontology, physiology, medicine and relevant case law with more than 25,000 citations were produced and are also available as different volumes of report. These researchers received information such as basic demographic profiles, job analyses, task analyses, job descriptions, tests, validity evidence and physical fitness data from more than 400 police. In addition to data bases created from this information.

Given the vast proliferation of scientific research in the behavioral and social sciences, there is a growing need for psychologists to be able to access the most current, clinically relevant research quickly and efficiently and integrate this information into patient care. In response to a similar need within the field of medicine, evidence-based medicine took hold in the early 1990s to provide both a framework and set of skills for translating research into practice. Since then, this method has been adopted by every major health care profession including psychology, and is now widely known as evidence-based practice (EBP). In this article, the authors present a general overview of the skills required for EBP along with an introduction to some of the tools and resources that have been developed in other health care professions to support EBP. Using a case example, we illustrate how these tools and resources can be applied in psychological settings. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol 63: 633–642, 2007. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article addresses issues related to systems research and behavioral science. It is necessary to identify symptoms and warning signs in order to reveal possible flaws. The actual interventions succeeded the development of a sound model. The failures that consist the warning signs include the aggregation issue, the time series issue and the competing model issue.

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This research examined observers' reactions to sexual assault victims engaging in different forms of self-attributed responsibility. Theory and research suggests that behavioral responsibility contributes positively to the coping process of victims, whereas characterological responsibility impedes it. For observers in the present study, the expression of either type of self-responsibility by a rape victim resulted in a more negative impression of the victim's emotional well-being and greater attribution of responsibility to the victim in comparison to a victim relying solely on chance explanations. Moreover, this bias was evident among rape crisis counselors as well as lay observers. Discussion considered the implications of such biased perceptions for sexual assault victims and the need for a fuller understanding of the nature of self-attributions of responsibility by victims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]