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Suicide prevention training for the prison service in England and Wales has been criticized. STORM is a package emphasizing the practice and review of interactions with suicidal persons and was evaluated in a pilot study for use in prisons. Trainees completed questionnaires immediately before and after training and at 6 to 8 months follow-up. Training significantly improved attitudes, knowledge, and confidence, and improvements were maintained at follow-up. Satisfaction with training was very high. STORM was successfully adapted for prison settings, and showed good effects among staff trained. It should be provided to the wider prison estate, with regular refresher training.

The relation to speeding behavior, which is potentially modifiable motivational variables, is tackled by examining the impact of motivational and demographic variables on speeding behavior assessed in a driving simulator and in on-road driving is presented.

The objective of this study was to investigate the judgements of British doctors, nurses and midwives about behaviour which complies with a protocol, violates a protocol, or constitutes an improvisation where no protocol exists. Primary data were collected on the judgments of hospital healthcare professionals (N = 310) from three specialties in each of three hospitals. Respondents were required to judge the appropriateness of the behaviour of a fellow professional in each of nine hypothetical scenarios generated on the basis of previous focus group discussions. They were also asked how likely they would be to report this professional to a senior member of staff. Within the scenarios, both behaviour with respect to the relevant clinical protocol and outcome for the patient were experimentally manipulated. Data were collected using a survey questionnaire. The three professional groups studied (doctors, nurses and midwives) were found to make significantly different judgements. Crucially, doctors judged the violation of a protocol as less inappropriate than did nurses or midwives. Midwives were disapproving of violations, even when the patient outcome was good. These differences were reflected in the ratings of reporting likelihood. The proliferation of clinical protocols likely to occur in Britain in the coming years will need to be managed with great care if the regulation of clinical behaviour is the goal. Particular care will be needed to avoid the exacerbation of professional tensions.

The introduction of procedures to guide medical practice is a growing phenomenon in the British National Health Service. It is thought to be a useful way of managing risk, standardising practice and ensuring that research evidence is incorporated into patient care. However, the mere development and introduction of procedures does not ensure that they are actually followed. In the research reported here focus group methodology was used to investigate the perceptions and opinions of doctors, nurses, midwives and health service managers. Twenty-four focus groups were convened across three hospitals, with discussion focusing on the purpose, development and implementation of clinical protocols. The effect of proceduralisation on professional autonomy and on the working relationships among professional groups also emerged as important themes. The paper concludes that successful implementation of protocols or guidelines in the NHS depends on achieving the right balance between standardising practice and allowing professionals to use clinical judgement. Successful implementation of clinical guidelines also requires that the culture of the health service and the beliefs, attitudes and norms of its employees are taken into account. Keywords: Protocols; Procedures; Risk; Professional autonomy

Increasing support for the relationship between road traffic violations and accident liability has led to research focusing on the motivational factors that promote these behaviors. In Study 1, a large sample of young (17-40 years) drivers were asked to complete the Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ; Parker, Reason, Manstead, & Stradling, 1995). Factor analysis revealed 3 factors: errors, highway code violations, and more interpersonally aggressive violations. In Study 2, a smaller sample of drivers was recruited (17-70 years) to investigate further this distinction between different types of violation and also the role of affect in predicting behavior. Factor analysis of a modified DBQ revealed 3 types of violation. Measures of positive affect were found to be good predictors of all 3 violation types. Discussion focuses on social psychological and applied implications.

Early studies of the psychological correlates of traffic accident risk focused on social deviance. Tilman & Hobbs (1949) carried out a study of taxicab drivers in Canada. They found that, [...], A study by West, Elander & French (1993a) examining the relationship between mild social deviance and accident rates on the road was extended and replicated. West et al. (1993a) report that the relationship between mild social deviance and accident rates was partly mediated by faster driving speed. The aim of the present research was to determine whether a broader measure of road traffic violations would fully mediate the relationship between mild social deviance and accident rates. Self-reports of violations (using the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire), mild social deviance and accident rates were collected for 830 drivers, together with information about age, sex and annual mileage. A series of Poisson regressions were computed to investigate the relationship between these predictor variables and accident rates. The data confirmed the relationship between mild social deviance and accident rates. However, this relationship appeared to be mediated by the propensity to commit driving violations and unspecified factors associated with age. The results of the analysis are discussed with reference to the appropriateness of various intervention strategies to promote safer driving.

This study builds on previous theory of planned behavior (TPB) studies in which we identified the beliefs and values which predict intention to commit driving violations. Four short experimental videos were developed in order to assess the effectiveness of an intervention grounded in the TPB. Three of the videos featured the major constructs of the TPB model. The fourth video featured anticipated regret, an addition to the TPB model which had previously been shown to add significantly to its predictive performance (Parker, Manstead, & Stradling, 1995). Results indicated that two of the videos brought about statistically significant belief changes with respect to scores on TPB items, and significant changes in general attitudes toward speeding. Discussion centers on the problems encountered in operationalizing the TPB constructs and on the potential of theory-based interventions to induce attitude change.

Lapses due to absent-minded behaviours with the only consequence for the perpetrators, errors due to misjudgments and failures of observations which can be hazardous to others and deliberate violations are the three-fold typology of aberrant driving behaviour as revealed by this study. The study conducted on 1,600 drivers used the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire. Relevance of these results with respect to the road safety is discussed.

This study assessed the ability of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to account for drivers' intentions to commit four specific driving violations: drinking and driving, speeding, close following, and overtaking in risky circumstances. A stratified sample of drivers (N=881) was surveyed with a questionnaire constructed to measure attitudes toward behaviors, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral intentions, the key constructs in TPB. Results showed that the addition of perceived behavioral control led to significant increments in the amount of explained variance in intentions, thereby supporting the theory. The relation between subjective norms and behavioral intentions was considerably stronger than between attitudes toward behaviors and behavioral intentions. Analyses of variance differentiated demographic subgroups of drivers in terms of behavioral beliefs, outcome evaluations, normative beliefs, motivation to comply, and control beliefs. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Over 100 years ago the effects of an audience upon individual behavior and task performance were described. Specifically, the presence of an audience correlated with increased speed of cyclists in a race. Since this observation was first made, much attention has been given to the social facilitation phenomenon with regard to both facilitation and inhibition effects of the audience upon task performance of the individual. With this concept in mind, the effects of a passenger on a driver where evaluated with regard to gender and age of both participants. To derive data for this study, researchers covertly followed drivers who were alone and drivers with one passenger; observations were made. Each car (the target car) was followed for about four minutes, the driver's age was estimated as older (over 30 years) or younger (under 30 years), and driver behavior such as illegal maneuvers and discourteous deportment were noted. A total of 244 cars were observed in this manner. The most common aberrant actions committed by more than 10 percent of the drivers were, in order of frequency, changing lanes without signaling, speeding (over 40 miles per hour), driving unnecessarily on the crown of the road, and following too closely. The major driver characteristic that emerged was that younger drivers tended to drive faster than older drivers. The primary passenger effect was that drivers with older female passengers drove slower than when a younger passenger of either sex accompanied them, or when the drivers were alone. Drivers changed lanes without signaling more frequently when an older female or a younger male was the passenger, regardless of the age or sex of the driver. Following too closely was largely driver-dependent, with younger females more likely than older females to do this. These results generally support previous studies, which have reported that younger drivers tend to commit more violations and drive faster than older drivers. Improvements of road safety propaganda may be enhanced by the application of these results to specific categories of drivers. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

The efficacy of health belief model is assessing risk factors of speed driving and smoking is analyzed.

A sample of 555 drivers aged 50 or more were assessed in terms of their confidence in a range of driving situations, self-ratings of their driving ability, self-reported driving behaviour, and personality as measured by Eysenck's EPQ. Levels of nervousness when driving were surprisingly low, although there was no evidence of unrealistic self-ratings of driving ability. Female drivers reported significantly fewer errors and intentional violations than did male drivers. Female drivers were also found to score higher on the Extroversion, Neuroticism and Lie scales than did males. However, the males in the sample scored higher on the Psychoticism scale than the females. Driving confidence was associated with the following: a low level of lapses and errors, and a high level of violations; a low score on the Neuroticism scale and a high score on the Extroversion scale; being male, and high annual mileage. Personality did not mediate the relationship between driving confidence and self-rated driving ability. KEY WORDS -- drivers, self-rated ability, driver behaviour, age, personality..

INTRODUCTION Historical Background to Accident Liability Two important changes in British industrial practices were held responsible for the dramatic increase in accidents in the early part of this century. The [...], This paper reviews research since 1970 on the relationship between accident liability and individual differences, focusing specifically on accidents at work. The history of research into accident liability and the methodological problems associated with the research are considered. The review goes on to examine work on the impact of personality factors, cognitive factors, and social factors on the likelihood of accident involvement at work. We suggest that research into individual differences in accident liability should consider two possible routes to accident involvement via errors and/or violations. Although errors are predominantly associated with cognitive factors, violations have their origins in social psychological factors. We also consider the role of stress in mediating the personality-accident association. It is contended that individuals differ in their reactions to stress, so that although some respond by an increase in risk-taking behavior, the effect on others is to increase the likelihood of suboptimal performance in terms of information processing. Actual or potential applications of this research include the development of a more sophisticated model of individual differences in accident liability, which should be useful to organizations attempting to promote safety.

Companies operating in hazardous environments employ a variety of organizational controls both to manage the enterprise as a whole and to minimize their risks. This paper critically reviews the use of procedures, rules and regulations to restrict individual behaviour to those courses of action considered safe and productive. In particular, it discusses the psychological, situational and organizational factors influencing compliant and non-compliant behaviour (i.e. violations and circumventions of safe operating procedures). Ten kinds of rule-related behaviour are identified. The paper concludes by arguing for the extended use of social and self-controls to compensate for the inevitable limitations of prescriptive procedures in guiding safe behaviour., In almost every organization, there is a tension between the natural variability of human behaviour and the needs of the system to ensure a high degree of predictability and regularity [...]