Dealing with an aging workforce: Locating threats and opportunities in corporate media

ABSTRACT

Although workforce aging is among the major challenges facing developed countries, organizational communication about this issue has received little scholarly attention. Drawing on a content analysis of corporate media, we reconstruct how Dutch organizations (N = 50) framed older workers’ employability during the period 2006–2013 in diagnostic (problem-definitions) and prognostic (solution-definitions) terms, and we trace the influence of corporate media types and organizational characteristics on these frames. Results reveal that organizations frequently highlight problems on the macrolevel (societal) and the mesolevel (organizational), while most solutions are located on the microlevel (individual). Using multilevel modelling, we found support for the expectation that the issue is more strongly problematized in internal compared to external corporate media, and that problems related to individual older employees are most pronounced in public sector organizations’ communication. Our findings highlight diverse ways in which organizations can communicatively address factors that hamper older workers’ employability.     

Text writing from a Vygotskyan perspective: A sign-mediated operation

Many studies have analysed the text written at school by pupils as a final product. Fewer are those which are based on the production process itself. What happened in the student’s mind between the time of reading the subject to do and that of writing the final text? There is an intermediate step between these two moments: the rough copy. During a research on rough copys of 15 to 16 years old, submitted to the production of an historical text, we could establish two kinds of rough:

- some of them present a written structure similar to the final work (complete sentences, linear structure). In this case, the rough copy is a prototype of the final version, including deletions and mistakes.

- the other present a totaly different structure: predicative language, structures like lists, tables or arborescent structures, utilization of non conventional signs thought by the pupil. Some of these caracteristices have been attribued to the inner language by Vygotsky. The syntatical similarity of inner speech and writing on rough copy come from the identical functions of these two languages, which are speech in and for one self.

     

Pupils’ (II ‐ 12 year olds) conceptions of combustion

This study relates to the teaching of combustion in the first year of French secondary education (11‐12 years of age). The area of particular interest was to investigate to what extent a study of combustion makes it possible to introduce concepts relative to chemical reactions.

Data were collected before teaching and during teaching sessions by means of written replies to questionnaires, interviews, and tape‐recording of the sessions. Over 400 pupils were questioned. The results show that the observations made by the students lead them to interpretations which are far removed from concepts of a chemical reaction between a combustible and oxygen. The modification of properties of an object during a combustion results from separate transformations of each of the substances composing the object. Permanent nature of some substances is asserted, made good by the conservation of some properties (colour, smell, for example).

These results have immediate pedagogical implications and indicate the necessity of redefining the objectives of such teaching.     

Reliability and Validity of the Flemish Physical Activity Computerized Questionnaire in Adults

The purpose of this study was to investigate the test-retest reliability and concurrent validity of the Flemish Physical Activity Computerized Questionnaire (FPACQ) in employed/unemployed and retired people. The FPACQ was developed to assess detailed information on several dimensions of physical activity and sedentary behavior over a usual week. A triaxial accelerometer, the RT3 Triaxial Research Tracker (RT3), in combination with a written 7-day activity record, was used as the objective criterion measure. In employed/unemployed people, 2-week test-retest reliability for several activity variables calculated from the FPACQ was good to excellent with intraclass correlations (ICCs) ranging from .67 to .99. In retired people ICCs were lower but, except for time spent eating, still fair to excellent, ranging from .57 to .96. Except for time spent in leisure time activities for men and the average energy expenditure related to sports participation in women, correlations between the RT3 and the FPACQ generally supported the relative validity of the FPACQ for employed/unemployed people (r ranging from .37 to .88). Values for retired people were somewhat lower (r ranging from .15 to .85), but most variables still reached at least moderate correlations. Concerning absolute validity, the FPACQ generally overestimated physical activity and underestimated sedentary behavior compared to the RT3. From this study, it can be concluded that the FPACQ is a reliable and reasonably valid questionnaire for assessing different dimensions of physical activity and sedentary behavior.     

Evaluation of a group intervention using a feminist approach for women experiencing sexual abuse

OBJECTIVE: The present study evaluates a group intervention using a feminist approach for women experiencing sexual abuse in childhood or adulthood in order to measure changes associated with participation in a group intervention and verifies whether effects are maintained over time. The present study relates effects of the group intervention in terms of psychological distress, depression symptoms, post-traumatic stress symptoms and feelings of guilt and helplessness. METHOD: The sample consists of 26 women participating in a group intervention offered by sexual assault centers in Quebec (CALACS - Centre d'aide et de lutte contre les agressions à caractère sexuel). RESULTS: Results show significant differences between pretest and post-test scores obtained one week following the end of the group intervention and gains are maintained at follow-up 3 months later. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that participation in the group intervention is associated with a reduction of psychological distress, depression symptoms, post-traumatic stress symptoms and feelings of guilt and helplessness in adult women reporting sexual abuse.     

Distancing strategies in child-mother dyads: effect of mother’s education and children’s sex

European Journal of Psychology of Education - This study on mother–child interactions is in line with Sigel’s theoretical approach to distancing. The current study aimed at analyzing...     

Motor performance,body fatness and environmental factors in preschool children

The first aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between motor performance and body fatness among 3- to 5-year-old children. The second aim was to assess whether this relationship works similarly for boys and girls. We also investigated whether socioeconomic status (SES) and geographical area when children are aged 3 years old predicts the motor performance of 4 and 5-yr-old children. Motor performance was assessed through the Preschool Test Battery, while body fatness was estimated through body mass index (BMI). SES and geographical area were assessed via parent proxy-report questionnaires. BMI was negatively associated with standing long jump. The association of BMI and motor performance was not statistically different for boys and girls. Children from low SES performed better than high SES peers in tennis ball throw for distance. Rural children were better performers than urban peers in standing long jump. Rural area at baseline was also predictor of standing long jump and tennis ball throw for distance at time 1 and 2. In conclusion, BMI had a negative association with standing long jump and the relationship of BMI with all motor tests was similar for boys and girls. SES and rural area were predictors of motor performance.