The worth of rehabilitation programs should be measured in terms of their lasting impact on long-term employment. Vocational rehabilitation programs nationally and internationally appear to be falling short of their goal of long-term gainful employment. Competitive employment options for the injured worker appear to have leveled out, the pool of unemployed disabled workers appears to be rising, litigation and adversarial relationships are beginning to dominate the rehabilitation process, and costs of vocational rehabilitation are escalating. Increasingly, interest has focused on the long-term influence of vocational rehabilitation, particularly on the costly training programs, and on the employment and economic potential of program recipients. The present study focused on the current socioeconomic and employment status of those individuals who participated in Authorized Training Programs (ATPs) in 1985 and 1986. It was hypothesized that workers who successfully participated in authorized training programs would be able to maintain long-term gainful employment at or near their wage-at-injury in the field in which they had received ATP training.

Presence of the Dark Triad traits of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy in the workplace, especially among managers, has received increased attention due to the implications for organizations. One way to influence behavior in business organizations is through controlled interventions to change individual mind-sets. A review of the extant literature indicated that the relationship between Dark Triad traits and mind-set had not been sufficiently examined. A quantitative study was conducted to examine whether a manager's Dark Triad traits predict their mindset. To explore this relationship, a sample of 153 managers' responses was collected online. The Short Dark Triad measure was used to assess participants' Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy and the Implicit Theory Measure was used to assess mind-set. Regression showed that only Machiavellianism predicts mind-set, accounting for 7% of the variance in mind-set as the criterion variable. The findings indicate that the relationship between Dark Triad traits and mind-set is weaker than a review of the extant psychological literature might suggest. Additionally, this study found that the Dark Triad traits are significantly negatively correlated with manager age, which might provide a new direction for further research. Further research on how and why Dark Triad traits tend to decline with age is recommended. The present study suggests that a better understanding of the relationship between the Dark Triad traits and mind-set and the knowledge that controlled interventions aimed at promoting a growth mind-set are most likely not a useful tool to mitigate the level of Dark Triad psychological traits of managers in business organizations.

Research on high-performing nonprofit boards has indicated a positive relationship between a board's strength and an organization's effectiveness; however, how boards achieve success remains relatively unknown. The Kirton adaption-innovation (KAI) theory was used to examine board members' cognitive styles in relationship to facilitating problem solving and decision making. This nonexperimental, quantitative study included archived nonprofit board data from 2 American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) studies that had addressed the high performance of boards and factors associated with organizational success. A total of 102 randomly selected, high-performing nonprofit board members completed the KAI Inventory, which was used to measure cognitive style on a continuum; participants also answered questions from the second ASAE study to indicate board performance. Correlational and regression analyses were used to determine whether cognitive style on problem solving and decision making predicted high performance of boards. Results showed that cognitive style was not a significant predictor of problem solving; however, participants with an innovation cognitive style provided answers to the decision-making performance questions that were noticeably lower than participants who were classified as adaption. Findings might be used by nonprofit board members to enhance individual growth, increase organizational agility, and improve problem solving for effective decision making to ensure nonprofit board excellence.

Commercial nuclear power utilities are under pressure to effectively recruit and retain licensed reactor operators in light of poor candidate training completion rates and recent candidate failures on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) license exam. One candidate failure can cost a utility over $400,000, making the successful licensing of new operators a critical path to operational excellence. This study was designed to discover if the NEO-PI-3, a 5-factor measure of personality, could improve selection in nuclear utilities by identifying personality factors that predict license candidate success. Two large U.S. commercial nuclear power corporations provided potential participant contact information and candidate results on the 2014 NRC exam from their nuclear power units nation-wide. License candidates who participated (n = 75) completed the NEO-PI-3 personality test and results were compared to 3 outcomes on the NRC exam: written exam, simulated operating exam, and overall exam result. Significant correlations were found between several personality factors and both written and operating exam outcomes on the NRC exam. Further, a regression analysis indicated that personality factors, particularly Conscientiousness, predicted simulated operating exam scores. The results of this study may be used to support the use of the NEO-PI-3 to improve operator selection as an addition to the current selection protocol. Positive social change implications from this study include support for the use of a personality measure by utilities to improve their return-on-investment in candidates and by individual candidates to avoid career failures. The results of this study may also positively impact the public by supporting the safe and reliable operation of commercial nuclear power utilities in the United States.

Few existing studies have examined compassion fatigue among emergency responders even though firefighters and emergency medical service (EMS) professionals have repetitive direct exposure to traumatic events. This study focused on identifying predictor variables for the development of compassion fatigue in firefighters. Karasek's demand-control model, a commonly used work stress model, was the study's theoretical framework as it focuses on specific construct interactions that predict employee well-being. Accordingly, this correlational study examined the predictive nature of EMS license level, years of service, and personality type on the development of compassion fatigue in career firefighters. Data collection occurred with surveys incorporating the Professional Quality of Life Scale and the Big Five Inventory. Mid-Michigan fire departments participated with 129 career firefighters returning completed surveys with results analyzed using logistic regression. Findings revealed a significant predictive relationship between personality traits and the development of compassion fatigue. These findings can inform preventative measures that protect the psychological well-being of these emergency responders by informing and educating the professionals and organizations as to who is at greatest risk and ultimately providing opportunity for risk mediation.

Business managers lack knowledge and understanding of the transferability of Army veterans' individual work performance (IWP) in the private sector, which results in organizations' failure to hire Army veterans who possess strong IWPs. The purpose of this nonexperimental, cross-sectional study was to compare Army veterans' and nonveterans' transferable IWP as defined by task performance (TP), contextual performance (CP), and counter-productive work behavior (CWB). The IWP framework provided the theoretical foundation for this study. The research question examined how veterans' IWPs compared to those of nonveterans. The sample frame included U.S. Army civilian veterans and nonveterans at a large military installation in the United States. Data were collected from the IWP questionnaire with 210 participants (105 veterans and 105 nonveterans). Independent-sample t tests were used to analyze the data based on an alpha of 0.05 and a medium effect size of 0.50. Rejection of null hypotheses provided evidence to indicate differences between veterans' and nonveterans' TP, CP, CWB, and the composite index of IWP. Veterans measured higher compared to nonveterans for all hypotheses tested. The results of the study have several implications for positive social change. Business managers, veterans, and society benefit by improving understanding of veterans' transferable IWPs. Results of this study could lead to an improvement in perceptions of veterans as possessing positive and sought-after work attributes and with a competitive advantage in the workplace, leading to lower unemployment of veterans and higher productivity of companies that hire veterans.

Millennials in retail account for a large portion of the U.S. workforce and have the highest number of body image modifications from tattoos, piercings, and/or gauges. Following Moustakas concept of perception, the purpose of this transcendental phenomenology study was to explore how Millennial-aged retail employees describe and experience leaders with body image modifications from tattoos, piercings, and/or gauges. Participants were sought from various retail locations and were required to be born between 1981 and 1996. Data were collected through interviews with 6 participants and the data were analyzed using Moustakas modification of the Van Kamm Method. The results showed that employees typically felt good about their experiences with their leaders, yet varied on how effective and personable their leaders were; however, employees did not ascribe any impact on leadership effectiveness to the body image modifications of their leaders. Implications of this result extends to an increased openness towards traits that make others different, theoretical changes that note visual cues are important for ideal leader categorization, and increased understanding of follower views in relation to leader-follower relationship development.

Policing has long been recognized by experts in the field as a stressful, unpredictable, emotionally exhausting, and dangerous occupation. Stress and contributing risk factors have lasting and sometimes fatal results among police officers. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if there is a relationship between symptoms of depression and 3 constructs of the Personal Observation Wellness and Evaluation Report--Power Portfolio (PP) survey, specifically administrative and organizational pressures, emotional, physical, psychological threats, and lack of administrative support. Archival data from the National Police Suicide Foundation were used. The independent variable was symptoms of depression as measured by the PP. The dependent variables were administrative and organizational pressures, physical and psychological threats, and lack of support as measured by the work-related problems domain of the PP. The participants (N = 150) consisted of officers employed by local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies throughout the United States. The results of the regression analysis and ANOVA were significant for the 3 research questions. The independent variable depression was related to work-related problems, work-related punishments, and the overall score reflecting participants feelings about their work as police officers. The results illustrate that police officers encounter organizational/administration demands with added stressors that accumulatively can develop into maladaptive coping mechanism and skills. Implications for positive social change include the development of mandatory interventions tailored to meet the need of individual police officers. These and other regulations, training, and protocols may reduce officers' work-related stress and improve the relationship between line and administrative personnel.

Romantic relationship factors have been linked to both physical and mental health outcomes. Previous research has lacked attention not only on associations among these constructs, but on ways by which gender attitudes and beliefs impact romantic heterosexual relationships. The Biobehavioral Family Model (BBFM) is a biopsychosocial approach to health that integrates couple/family emotional climate, biobehavioral reactivity (emotion regulation), and physical health outcomes into one comprehensive model. The present study was conducted to examine the ability of the BBFM to explain connections between couple processes and health while integrating an additional construct of gender attitudes and beliefs. The sample consisted of 595 adults (age range 18-65+ years) who have been in committed romantic relationships for at least two years. Data were collected through online surveys which asked participants about their relationship satisfaction, mental health symptoms, physical health, and attitudes and beliefs about gender in relationships. Confirmatory factor analyses were used to test measures of romantic partner emotional climate, gender attitudes and beliefs, biobehavioral reactivity, and disease activity. Structural equation modeling was used to test associations among all constructs. Results demonstrated some support for the BBFM in explaining health quality for the sample. Specifically, romantic partner emotional climate was positively associated with biobehavioral reactivity, and gender attitudes and beliefs were significantly associated with both biobehavioral reactivity and disease activity. Applying the BBFM while incorporating gender attitudes and beliefs through a feminist lens demonstrates ways by which couple processes affect the mental and physical health of these individuations. Recommendations for future research and clinical implications are discussed.

Pain is the oldest medical condition and has been referenced through the ages. TENS is a non-invasive treatment for pain. Despite conflicting reports of treatment outcomes, TENS has enjoyed widespread clinical utilization. Seminal work by Sluka and colleagues reported low frequency TENS produces anti-hyperalgesia through µ-opioid receptors and high frequency TENS produces anti-hyperalgesia through ä-opioid receptors in an animal model of inflammation. The experimental results suggested that pain can be reduced by both high and low frequency TENS but by differing opioid receptors. These important findings require translational experiments to be conducted in humans. Providing an adequate placebo for experimental investigation of any physical intervention presents as a challenge. An improvement in the placebo intervention is critical to ascertain the true effects of TENS on painful conditions. Clinical TENS experiments often only examine a single outcome - resting pain. Recent work suggests TENS is less effective on resting pain as compared to movement pain. Investigation to determine which outcome measures (pain at rest, movement pain, pain sensitivity, and function) are most likely to be affected by TENS in human subjects with pain are critical to inform the design of future studies. The least investigated parameter for application of TENS electrode site determination. One method of selection employs a technique of finding points on the skin with suspected lower impedance. To date, no literature exists to determine the effectiveness of this clinical practice and speculation has existed for decades regarding the existence of distinct electrical properties associated with specific points on the body. This series of experiments accomplishes the goals of improving the TENS placebo, testing established parameters from basic science experiments in a patient population, testing multiple outcome measures to direct future investigation; and examined the effect of electrode site selection in TENS analgesia. These experiments were the first to establish a placebo that can 100% blind the TENS examiner, to test this placebo in a patient population, and to show that although there are differences in impedance between optimal and sham sites, that this difference had no effect in the amount of analgesia produced by TENS.