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The Skills for Jobs White Paper and Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) have been anticipating changes in UK policy. Participation in adult education and work-based opportunities has been in decline for over 15 years, but without a clear information, advice and guidance (IAG) strategy and framework, there is reasonable doubt if the intended outcomes will be met. Using a narrative literature review relating to IAG, mature students and lifelong learning, this article finds the key to the success in supporting the adult education agenda involves collaboration. This should involve regional-level partnerships to map out provision with education providers, employers and local government, ensuring representation of the group through targeted initiatives, personal support and guidance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People routinely conceive of themselves in their career in both stable and dynamic ways. Individuals may draw common threads across their various career experiences and aspirations to form a stable anchor for their career identity, yet, at the same time, dynamically adapt their self-concept in the context of their career. In this paper, we call attention to the anchoring and evolving forces that people experience as a paradox for their career identity and theorize "career identifying" as an ongoing process of career identity maintenance and change. As individuals contend with career identity tensions, they make adjustments to maintain a balance of anchoring and evolving forces on their career identity or to make shifts that accumulate into career identity change. The career identifying process accounts for both career identity maintenance and change in a single theoretical model that explains how career identity can change over time while being stable enough to make coherent career choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Journal of Social Work is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines the wage earnings of refugee immigrants in Sweden. Using administrative employer–employee data from 1990 onward, approximately 100,000 refugee immigrants who arrived between 1980 and 1996 and were granted asylum are compared to a matched sample of native-born workers. Employing recentered influence function (RIF) quantile regressions to wage earnings for the period 2011–2015, the occupational-task-based Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition approach shows that refugees perform better than natives at the median wage, controlling for individual and firm characteristics. This overperformance is attributable to female refugee immigrants. Given their characteristics, refugee immigrant females perform better than native females across all occupational tasks studied, including non-routine cognitive tasks. A notable similarity of the wage premium exists among various refugee groups, suggesting that cultural differences and the length of time spent in the host country do not have a major impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professional accountability is considered important to the legitimacy and survival of a profession. Prior research has examined the role of top-down scrutiny by audiences, such as supervisors, regulators, and certification agencies, in improving professional accountability. But the advent of social media platforms has increasingly enabled the bottom-up scrutiny of professionals—especially professionals on the front line—by audiences such as customers and the public. In this research, I examine how and when bottom-up scrutiny through social media (hereafter, social media scrutiny) impacts the accountability of frontline professionals. Conducting an ethnography of 911 emergency management organizations, I find that social media scrutiny of 911 call-takers—the frontline professionals in this setting—can obscure rather than improve professional accountability. I elaborate on how, why, and under what conditions social media scrutiny pushes frontline professionals to deviate from their mandate, which, in turn, obscures their sense of professional accountability. These processes also generate spillover effects on the everyday work and mandate of downstream professionals (e.g., 911 dispatchers, police officers), producing a cascading set of unintended consequences that further obscures accountability for multiple actors across the professional ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the critical potential of rhetorical studies to inform a concept of reflexivity for social professions. In response to an increasing turn towards technical notions of professional identity across social professions, a renewed critical emphasis on reflective practice, critical reflection, and reflexivity positions professional practice as inevitably an interpretive and discursive endeavor. Despite the growing attention to professional discourse in the current reflection-debate in the social sciences, thus far there has not been a comprehensive exploration of how rhetorical studies can deepen our understanding of reflexivity and can stimulate reflexive attitudes in social professions. Building on conceptual and empirical research in the domain of 'new rhetorical studies' as well as on my own research, I examine the various methodological and pedagogical tools rhetoric offers to encourage students to reflect on the interpretive and discursive dimensions of their practice and discipline in critical and productive ways. I argue that a strengthened intersection between rhetorical studies and social sciences can add to the knowledge base on critical and reflexive professional attitudes by deepening our understanding of human interaction in the social world and of how knowledge about this social world can be reflexively produced and mediated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the backdrop of the COVID‐19 pandemic, workplace wellbeing is a key priority for employers. Severe market and health conditions continue to bring inevitable problems that could be reduced with the application of psychological interventions to prevent mental and physical health issues, making this study a highly pertinent and valuable contribution to the field. This paper reports the effects of a rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT) programme on the irrational beliefs and emotional reactivity of 56 office‐based sales professionals located in the northwest region of the UK. A pre‐test, post‐test experimental design was utilised, and a mixed model ANOVA (repeated measures) was adopted to assess changes in mean differences concerning irrational beliefs and emotional reactivity at pre and post‐test stages for the intervention group, in comparison to a control group. Results indicate that those in the REBT group reported significant reductions in irrational beliefs and emotional reactivity, whilst those in the control group reported no such changes. It is recommended that future research studies consider utilizing a mixed methods design and focus on a strategic collaboration of organisational and individual level interventions for improving the psychological wellbeing and performance of sales personnel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South African students have since 2015 returned to the forefront of the country's social movement struggles. Central to this wave of contention was the #RhodesMustFall (#RMF) movement at the University of Cape Town (UCT), which coalesced with uprisings at universities across the country under the banner of #FeesMustFall, focusing demands on abolishing tuition fees, decolonizing education and society, and ending campus worker exploitation. In the process, students imagined how education and society could be different. In this paper, we discuss the relationship between social movements, occupations, and imagination, by examining a crucial event in the #RMF movement: the student occupation of an administrative building at UCT. Because social movement theory has an underdeveloped conception of the imagination, we draw on Sartre's and Fanon's understanding of the imagination and apply it to students' activism. Based on original qualitative research we demonstrate how imagined futures guide movement activity, while their prefigurative practices in the occupation enacted these in the present. The #RMF occupation was seen as a break from reality that catalysed students' imaginations, honing their critiques of society and shaping two central imaginaries of alternative futures, decolonization and intersectionality. The #RMF movement's imaginaries and enactments were influential in reshaping the South African higher education landscape and even inspired movements internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of literature on online teaching and learning. Teaching mathematics in the fourth industrial revolution offers entry-level mathematics teachers formidable challenges. Despite using various teaching aids in explaining the learning area, entry-level mathematics teachers, those with zero to three years of teaching experience, have experienced challenges in blended teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. Such challenges could support the preconceived notion identified by others that the field of learning (mathematics) is difficult. This paper hinged on constructivist epistemology and investigated the challenges that entry-level mathematics teachers face in conducting blended teaching in the Sedibeng West District of Gauteng Province in the Republic of South Africa. Eight entrylevel mathematics teachers were purposely sampled from four selected schools that participated in the article. This article adopted a case study design and responses were analysed thematically. The focus group interviews were used as tools to collect data in this study. The study revealed a variety of perceptions that entry-level mathematics teachers shared about the impact of blended teaching in mathematics learning. These included, but were not limited to, the use of teaching programs or software, the effects of load shedding and blended teaching challenges related to learners' performance and behaviour. The results of this study could provide program developers, subject advisors, school principals with other members of the management team, and mathematics teachers to support the entry-level mathematics teacher's confidence, sense of future and communication skills, as well as foster multigenerational connections in blended teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the differential impact of input and output tariff liberalization on gender outcomes in India's labour markets. It is the first to distinguish between occupational categories based on their task content to analyse these effects. Recent evidence suggests that trade induced competition and technological upgradation can reduce gender-employment and gender-wage gaps in labour markets. This paper identifies the occupational categories most affected by these competition and technology adoption effects of trade liberalization. It finds that competition effects of output tariff liberalization increases employment of female workers in routine occupations – both manual and cognitive – and reduces gender-employment gaps in routine manual occupations. On the other hand, input tariff liberalization worsens gender-employment gaps in routine manual occupations. The effect of input tariff liberalization on female workers in routine cognitive occupations, however, is to increase cohort-level employment, and there is some evidence that it increases cohort-level average wages for female workers and reduces the gender-wage gap in non-routine cognitive occupations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pixo: Revista de Arquitetura Cidade e Contemporaneidade is the property of Pixo Revista de Arquitetura Cidade e Contemporaneidade and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objective: To determine age-related risk factors for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) with asthma. Methods: Data were obtained from a national survey of non-hospitalized civilians conducted by the Korean Center for Disease Control and Prevention. CRS diagnosis was based on the guidelines of the European Position Paper on Rhinosinusitis and Nasal Polyps 2020. Asthma was judged based on whether the patient had been diagnosed with asthma in the past. Of the 45,811 survey participants, 26,335 were included in the cross-sectional study. Participants included in the study were divided into the control, CRS, and CRS with asthma groups. Age-related risk factors were analyzed in patients aged < 60 or > 60 years. Univariate logistic analyses were performed to evaluate the relationship between groups. Risk factors included age, sex, household income, residence, education level, occupation, and body mass index (BMI). Results: Education level (Odds Ratio [OR]: 0.342, P =.0003), BMI (OR: 1.09, P =.0082), and total IgE (TIgE) levels (OR: 5.582, P =.003) were significantly different between the control and the CRS with asthma group. Education level (OR: 0.478, P =.0016) and TIgE levels (OR: 4, P =.0218) were significantly different between the CRS and CRS with asthma groups under 60 years of age. BMI (OR: 1.087, P =.0443; OR: 1.104, P =.0224) showed a significant difference between all three groups with age > 60 years. Conclusion: Progression to CRS with asthma is influenced by education level, occupation, and TIgE levels in patients under 60 years of age. BMI was the only influencing factor associated with the progression to CRS with asthma in those aged > 60 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Throughout the transition to motherhood, changes are experienced across a woman's physical, mental, social, and occupational self. Maternal chronic illness adds the complexity of increased healthcare needs and navigating a high‐risk, medicalised pregnancy, birth, and post‐natal period. Literature concerning motherhood transitions in chronic illness generally focusses on the mother's medical health and pregnancy outcomes; little is known about the impacts on women's occupations, balance, and quality of life. Understanding these issues may help support women in a more tailored and holistic way. Objective: This scoping review aims to gather, analyse, and synthesise existing empirical research on occupational engagement and occupational balance as they impact on wellbeing and quality of life in women with a lifetime chronic illness before and during pregnancy and in early motherhood. Method: The review follows the nine‐stage framework described in the Joanna Briggs Institute Manual for Evidence Synthesis (2020). Five databases were searched: Embase, Medline, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Scopus, and OT Seeker. Data were extracted and examined via content analysis, described in narrative synthesis, summarised into a conceptual framework, and tabulated. Findings: A total of 8,655 papers were discovered on initial search. Following title and abstract screening, 220 full‐text studies were assessed for eligibility, and 46 papers were finally included. Analysis generated four major themes: The Disrupted Transition Journey; Adaptation, Compromise and Choice; Outcomes; and Drawing on What's Available. The themes were conceptualised into a framework to explain how women sought to balance motherhood and illness‐related occupations. Adequate access to information, social support, expert care, and financial resources improved both quality of life and healthcare compliance. Conclusion: Findings of this scoping review deepen the understanding of occupational balance during the transition to motherhood in the context of lifetime chronic illness. Healthcare providers and supportive family and friends can use this knowledge to adapt their approach to assisting women with chronic illness on the motherhood journey. These findings may also inform further inquiry into the scope of occupational therapy practice with this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Sociologia Italiana is the property of EGEA S.p.A and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Recognition of psychological characteristics based on massive data and computer machine learning algorithms has gradually become a new way for psychological research. As we all know, person-job fit is an important consideration in recruitment and selection. Most existing selection process can reliably measure skills fit, i.e., matching job seekers' skills/work experience with job demand. What is often harder to assess is the compatibility between job seekers' motivational needs/career aspirations and job characteristics, which will ultimately determine their career progress and job satisfaction. With the increasing application of machine learning methods in psychology, this paper constructed classification models to predict individuals' needs, career aspiration, and occupation through their personality traits. This enables automatic access to individuals' psychological indicators, with the MLP (Multi-Layer Perceptron) method showing the highest prediction accuracy. In addition, it conducted a comparative analysis of the distribution of personality characteristics in different occupations. Based on the study results, we put forward some countermeasures and suggestions for application in human resource management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The importance of career path planning in organizations has increased and has been recognized across various domains. The aim of this research was to present a model for professional career path planning for essential and key human resources. Methodology: The methodology of this research was quantitative-qualitative, employing a survey approach with a practical orientation. The study population consisted of managers and employees of Saipa automotive group companies. The data collected through questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistics for demographic characteristics and inferential statistics (single-sample t-test, paired t-test, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling) in SPSS and LISREL software. The current status of the study population was evaluated using a one-sample t-test, and the significance of each indicator across the five dimensions was examined. Findings: The results showed that individual needs, job rotation, job characteristics, job promotion, and organizational needs are of high importance in the current situation, respectively. Additionally, the results of the second-order factor analysis indicated that the dimensions of career path planning in terms of importance according to respondents are: 1-Job rotation with a factor load of 0.94, 2-Individual needs with a factor load of 0.91, 3-Job characteristics with a factor load of 0.90, 4-Job promotion with a factor load of 0.89, and 5-Organizational needs with a factor load of 0.85. Conclusion: It can be concluded that job rotation and the needs of organization employees in professional career path planning are of significant importance, which warrants special attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In European countries, there is a growing interest in integrating traditional statistical sources on the labour market with online job ads. They offer detailed and timely information on the use of the Internet for recruiting and the specific skills required at different levels (particularly at a territorial and sectoral level). In this context, this paper proposes an analysis of the similarity between the Italian regions regarding required skills by employers. The study looks at a specific group of innovation-related occupations, ICT professionals, that are believed to be sufficiently represented by online data. The results highlight a regional gap in the use of online offers and differences in professional profiles regarding required skills. Finally, regional skill similarities are compared with some regional features related to the labour market and training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automating workplaces that results in a loss of jobs has become a topic of public debate and study but has paid little attention to differential impacts on age groups. This paper applies OECD data on the risk of jobs being automated to Australian longitudinal survey data following 15 years old students over a ten-year period as they enter the job market. Whilst in the early stages of their working lives, these young Australians often worked in jobs projected to be at high risk of automation, they gradually moved into jobs and occupations projected to be less exposed to automation. Young Australians were also less likely to work in jobs at risk of automation than the average Australian. Besides socio-demographic factors, including educational attainment but also domestic wealth, the incidence and kind of computer use at home were associated with working in jobs at a higher or lower risk of automation, as were young workers' type of employment contract and whether young employees changed employers. Whilst suggestions of large-scale job losses owing to automation may be exaggerated, the socio-economic divide that extends to exposure to at risk occupations ought to be a matter of policy concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper quantifies the role that occupations play in explaining wage differences among 12 gender–race/ethnicity groups without including occupations as control variables in wage equations. Our approach, based on a counterfactual analysis that involves a re-weighting scheme, has three advantages. First, it allows enlarging the small list of occupations usually employed in the literature. Second, it directly addresses the fact that occupational sorting is not a gender- and race-blind mechanism. Third, it allows for the comparison of all the groups simultaneously after controlling for characteristics. Our analysis shows that, after controlling for characteristics other than gender and race/ethnicity, occupational segregation accounts for around 40–50% of the earnings losses of White, Hispanic, Native American, and “other race” women (relative to the economy’s average wage) and it reaches 63% in the case of Black women. Black men’s occupational sorting also harms them after controlling for attributes, a finding that we do not see in any other male group. On the contrary, around half of the earnings advantages of White and Asian men arises from their occupational sorting. Additionally, this paper develops a decomposition that allows identifying the occupations that bring losses/gains to each group beyond what is expected based on its characteristics, which is also a novelty in respect to what has been done in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to identify patterns of functional specialisation (FS) in global value chains (GVCs) and determinants of upgrading them for selected Central Eastern European (CEE) economies. By combing the World Input-Output Database with data on occupations, we reveal a new FS pattern among subgroups of CEEs. Poland and Slovakia have an unfavourable GVC position and specialise in low value-added fabrication function. In contrast, other CEEs have competitive advantages in high value-added tasks: the Baltic countries and Slovenia in management services, the Czech Republic and Slovenia in R&D. We identify upgrading factors for different types of FS in GVCs. The wages convergence of CEEs with developed economies, and strong GVC backward linkages support the path to higher value-added in almost all business functions. Higher GDP per capita and lower economic distance to Germany allow CEEs to escape from 'factory economies' status and also generate higher value-added in R&D activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The probable impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on work, including professional work, is contested, but it is unlikely to leave them untouched. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to consider the likelihood of the adoption of different approaches to AI in academic libraries. As theoretical lenses to guide the analysis the paper draws on both the library and information science (LIS) literature on librarians' competencies and the notions of jurisdiction and hybrid logics drawn from the sociological theory of the professions. The paper starts by outlining these theories and then reviews the nature of AI and the range of its potential uses in academic libraries. The main focus of the paper is on the application of AI to knowledge discovery. Eleven different potential approaches libraries might adopt to such AI applications are analyzed and their likelihood evaluated. Then it is considered how a range of internal and external factors might influence the adoption of AI. In addition to reflecting on the possible impact of AI on librarianship the paper contributes to understanding how to synthesize the competencies literature with the theory of the profession and presents a new understanding of librarians as hybrid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The American Dental Hygienists' Association (ADHA) defines direct access as the ability of a dental hygienist to initiate treatment based on their assessment of patient's needs without the specific authorization of a dentist, treat the patient without the physical presence of a dentist and maintain a provider–patient relationship. In 2000, there were nine direct access states; currently, there are 42 states that have authorized some form of direct access. The ADHA has been instrumental in these legislative initiatives through strong advocacy efforts. While research and data support the benefits of direct preventive/therapeutic care provided by dental hygienists, many barriers remain. This paper chronicles key partnerships that have influenced and advocated for direct access and the recognition of dental hygienists as primary healthcare providers. The National Governors Association released a report in 2014 suggesting that dental hygienists be 'deployed' outside of dental offices as one strategy to increase access to oral health care along with reducing restrictive dental practice acts and increasing the scope of practice for dental hygienists. The December 2021 release of the National Institutes of Health report, Oral Health in America, further supports greater access to dental hygiene preventive/therapeutic care. This paper also reflects on opportunities and barriers as they relate to workforce policy, provides examples of effective state policies and illustrates an educational curriculum specifically created to prepare dental hygienists to provide oral health services in settings outside of the dental office. Dental hygiene education must ensure that graduates are future‐ready as essential healthcare providers, prepared to deliver direct access to dental hygiene care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understood as a direct claiming and remaking of vacant space by marginalized urban residents, occupations claim the right to housing and disrupt property relations, surfacing conflicting rationalities between different valorizations of land and infrastructure. We are interested in occupation as a reparative practice, intervening into the socio-material fabric of the city, with the potential to remake urban life-worlds. We draw inspiration from scholarship on infrastructural repair, conceived as the necessary labor of sustaining and filling in the gaps of fragile systems of provisioning that would otherwise be abandoned or left to decay. We situate our reflection in Cape Town, at the Cissie Gool House occupation, a former hospital that was vacant when it was occupied in 2017. In paying attention to the labors of endurance at CGH, this paper advances an expanded conceptual framework of repair, conceiving of occupations as a reparative urban infrastructure that includes material and affective practices. Our concern is with the enactment of more emancipatory forms of reparative practices that prefigure more hopeful futures. In thinking with CGH, we draw out a set of practices that can be read as central to sustaining, reclaiming, and future-making, naming these: infrastructural repair, prefiguration, defiant endurance, and refusal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the relationship between genre and knowledge in the dynamics of occupational resistance to genre change. Using critical genre analysis, we investigate the response of French diplomats to the introduction of modifications in a key institutionalized communicative practice, the diplomatic telegram. As the organization modified genre rules for knowledge distribution, the perceived loss of control over audience and purpose threatened the elite occupational community values of autonomy and secrecy. In response, diplomats subverted the new organizational communicative practices by invalidating its content through knowledge fragmentation, repetition and depletion. At the same time, they enhanced the content of the hybrid new genre of the 'political email', through knowledge integration, differentiation and amplification. Our work contributes to critical genre analysis by revealing the political dimension of organizational genre change for elite occupational communities. Also, in examining the relationship between genre and knowledge, we identified genre resistance mechanisms that (de)authorized communicative practices by (in)validating knowledge. Our work suggests that genre resistance is an essential tool for elite occupational communities, whose power depends on control over esoteric knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are numerous examples of the reemergence of old technology, such as vinyl records and film cameras. Yet, the literature on technology trajectories has focused almost exclusively on linear models of technology progression, and we have little understanding of the processes that may instead drive reemergence. In fact, no prior research has examined how users' occupational considerations may shape technology trajectories, despite a large literature on how occupations condition interactions with technological tools. This article sheds light on these processes through an inductive study of the music synthesizer industry's shifts from analog to digital and back to analog technology. Leveraging more than 40 years of data, we trace the relationship between technological developments and synthesizer players' occupational meaning. While synthesists initially embraced the ease of use and novelty of digital's black-boxed preset sounds, widespread adoption of digital sounds ultimately undermined musicians' occupational goal of distinctive creative expression. In response, synthesists articulated preferences for technology that afforded control, enabling them to use their expertise to create sounds, and that provided an embodied connection with the tool. Synthesists associated these affordances with analog rather than digital instruments, leading to renewed demand for analog and the reemergence of a formerly displaced technology. Our work integrates occupational considerations into the literature on technology trajectories, uncovers new mechanisms that can underlie technology reemergence, and extends the literature on occupations and technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Adolescents who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, asexual, and plus (LGBTQIA+) have reduced quality of health care because of stigma, lack of awareness, and insensitivity. Recently the American Occupational Therapy Association added sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) as a personal factor in the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework. It is important to understand how occupational therapists incorporate SOGI into their services provided to adolescents. Purpose: This study explored if occupational therapists considered an adolescent client’s SOGI when providing services. Research questions included: do occupational therapists perceive that SOGI influences adolescents’ occupations, and do occupational therapists perceive gaps in their knowledge related to SOGI? Method: A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews was conducted with four participants. Data was analyzed via open coding, then placed into categories, and then final themes. Results: Three themes were identified from the data: Open and empathetic but uneducated about SOGI; SOGI does not influence practice; and occupational therapy could have a role with SOGI. Conclusion: Occupational therapists may not consider SOGI when providing occupational therapy services to adolescents, and they may not be prepared to include SOGI because of gaps in their knowledge about SOGI-related factors and the influence on occupational engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative research aimed to conduct a risk assessment for developing occupational standards for environmental work in Thailand by collecting data through semi-structured interviews from 49 key informants using purposive sampling from consultants, working groups, and the endorsement board. Content analysis was applied by selecting content pertinent to the research question, defining coding categories, coding the content, and analyzing the results in relation to the keywords and risk assessment. The results were interpreted according to: 1) Publicizing the project (low and moderate risks); 2) Studying role model countries (moderate risk); 3) Conducting functional analysis (moderate risk); 4) Making and testing assessment tools (low risk); and 5) Proposing to the endorsement board (moderate risk). The new processes were proposed as: 1) Determining the conditions of selection target group (government agencies, private sector, and independent); 2) Determining the public relations and period; 3) Training on Functional Analysis; 4) Recruiting the working group; 5) Determining common and specific competency; 6) Determining the ratio of academic and practical tool; 7) Meeting for understanding and self-assessment of the testing groups and examiners; 8) Compiling the list of professional experts; 9) Collecting feedback for improvement; and 10) Creating benefits perception of the occupational standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives There is growing interest in the role of airborne mycotoxins in occupational environments, however, their impact on human health still remains poorly investigated. This review aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the existing literature on the occurrence of inhalable mycotoxins in working environments to investigate which sectors and tasks are at greater risk of exposure. Methods We have performed a systematic search in the PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science databases from 2010 to date, without limitation of geographic location. Results Database searches yielded 350 articles. After the removal of duplicates and applying our inclusion and exclusion criteria, 31 papers remained. Results show that the most exposed workers are those engaged in activities related to animal care and management and, in particular, in feeding tasks, while harvester cleaning seems to be the activity with the highest levels of exposure in agriculture. In healthcare settings mycotoxin concentrations are low but HVAC systems can be a source of contamination and this reinforces the relevance of further studies in this sector. The most common scenario is the exposure to multiple mycotoxins with variable concentrations depending on the working environment, the products handled or the tasks performed by workers. Some authors emphasize the importance of multi-approach sampling and analysis protocols to achieve an accurate and more realistic risk characterization. Conclusions Results brought forward by this review can be utilized by health and safety professionals to recognize activities in which workers may be potentially exposed to airborne mycotoxins and thus undertake suitable preventive and protective measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Businesses face a challenge recruiting and maintaining a high-quality salesforce. Increasingly, recruiting focus for entry-level sales positions has turned to university business students and sales centers. Unfortunately, research shows that most students have persistent negative misconceptions about professional sales careers and there is little research examining comprehensive and structured decision-making frameworks used by students when evaluating a sales career. This paper develops and tests an integrative framework that maps students' decision-making process to their intention to pursue a sales career. Specifically, we examine how perceived sales knowledge, perceptions of selling ethics, perceptions of salespeople, and perceptions of the selling profession impact their intent to pursue a sales career both pre- and post-exposure to sales professionals in the classroom. Utilizing structural equation modeling, we investigate the interactive relationships of these four areas (sales knowledge, selling ethics, salespeople, and the selling profession) on intent to pursue. Results show empirical evidence of how sales professionals affect the structural orientation of students' intent to pursue a sales career and constructs hypothesized to impact this intent after only one interaction. The findings offer an opportunity for how businesses may increase student interest in both sales and their organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Digital technologies, digitalised consumers and the torrent of customer data have been transforming marketing practice. In discussing such trends, existing research has either focussed on the skills marketers need or broad-based approaches such as agile methods but has given less consideration to just how such skills or approaches might be developed and used in marketers' day-to-day activities and in the organisation of marketing in the firm. This is what the authors address in this paper. Design/methodology/approach: This paper adopts an in-depth case study approach to examine an exemplary digital enterprise in transformation of their digital marketing. The insights were gathered from 25 interviews, netnography and document analysis of the case organisation in addition to 10 interviews with independent experts. Findings: Drawing on practice-oriented approach, the authors show how organisations respond to the emerging trends of digital consumers and big data by taking a 'hacking marketing' approach and developing novel marketing expertise at disciplinary boundaries. The authors put forward three sets of practices that enable and shape the hacking marketing approach. These include spanning the expertise boundary, making value measurable and experimenting through which their adaptive, iterative and multidisciplinary work occurs. This explains how managing digital consumers and big data is not within the realm of information technology (IT) functions but marketing and how marketing professionals are changing their practice and moving their disciplinary boundaries. Practical implications: This study offers practical contributions for firms in terms of identifying new work practices and expertise that marketing specialists need in managing digital platforms, digitalised consumers and big data. This study's results show that enterprises need to design and implement strong training programmes to prepare their marketing workforce in adopting experimentations of agile approach and data-driven decision making. In addition, Marketing education should be changed so that programmes consider a review of their courses and include the novel marketing models and approaches into their curriculum. Originality/value: This study contributes to the nascent discussions by unpacking how enterprises can develop new marketing expertise and practices beyond skillsets and how such practices form new hacking marketing approach which addresses the problem of the inability of the conventional marketing approach to show its value within the firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: There are substantial differences in remaining life expectancy at higher ages between occupational groups. These differences may be the effect of work-related exposures, lifestyle factors of workers in specific occupations, socioeconomic position or a combination of this. The scope of this paper is the extent to which occupational differences in remaining life expectancy persist after retirement, which would suggest that occupational exposures alone are not likely to explain all the difference. Methods: All individuals born between 1925 and 1939 who reported occupational information in the Census 1985 and were residents in Sweden to the end of 2020 or who died were included and followed for death until 2020. The Nordic Classification of Occupations was used to create nine occupational groups. Partial life expectancy and age-specific death rates were applied to examine mortality differentials. Results: This study showed substantial differences in partial life expectancy across the occupational cohorts with the biggest difference being about 2 years. The mortality differences persisted with increasing age, both when measured as absolute numbers as well as relative numbers. Conclusions: The lack of convergence in mortality at high ages suggests that factors associated with lifestyle may play a larger role than occupational factors for the mortality differences between occupational groups at high ages. However, it cannot be ruled out that long-lasting effects of earlier occupational exposures also contribute. Regardless of the exact mechanism, we conclude that there is room for further reduction in mortality at high ages and, thus, for further improvement in life expectancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Approximately 50% of women in all workplaces experience sexual harassment. Women who work in male-dominated occupations may be more susceptible to sexual harassment than those who work in non-male-dominated occupations. Research on factors contributing to workplace sexual harassment in male-dominated occupations is limited. This paper reviews the known antecedents that put female workers at risk of sexual harassment in select male-dominated occupations and to identify gaps in the literature and opportunities for future occupational health nursing research. Methods: A search was conducted using PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Web of Science. Included articles addressed sexual harassment of female workers in male-dominated occupations such as law enforcement, firefighting, truck driving, and construction. Results: The search yielded 25 relevant research articles. Antecedents to sexual harassment in the workplace included lower rank, shorter tenure, physicality of the job, job insecurity, negative relationships with peers and/or supervisors, treating women as outsiders, exaggerated gender differences, unequal gender ratios, and promotions based on gender. Common antecedents to sexual harassment in the workplace identified in the literature include organizational culture and gender composition. Conclusion/Application to Practice: Workplace sexual harassment of women is a problem in male-dominated occupations. Research is needed to better understand the organizational antecedents of sexual harassment in male-dominated occupations within community settings to prevent workplace sexual harassment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collective skill formation systems thrive if employers' skill needs are reflected in apprenticeship training programmes and firms offer apprenticeship positions. Occupation-level adaptation processes underpin these systems, which offer upper-secondary level vocational education leading to hundreds of occupations. Yet, it is considered challenging to introduce new apprenticeships in sectors without training tradition. Based on the case of the newly created cableway mechanic occupation, this paper suggests that the institutional context in combination with effortful institutional work allowed a business association to introduce a small new occupation in the Swiss vocational education and training system. The cableway association mobilised firms, legitimised the new occupation towards public authorities, lobbied for more financial support, and fought to gain apprentices. Ten years after the introduction, finally, financial difficulties were overcome, and the apprenticeship institutionalised in the educational landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Rapid technological change – the digitalization and automation of work – is challenging contemporary welfare states. Most of the existing research, however, focuses on its effect on labor market outcomes, such as employment or wage levels. In contrast, this paper studies the implications of technological change for welfare state attitudes and preferences. Compared to previous work on this topic, this paper adopts a much broader perspective regarding different kinds of social policy. Using data from the European Social Survey, we find that individual automation risk is positively associated with support for redistribution, but negatively with support for social investment policies (partly depending on the specific measure of automation risk that is used), while there is no statistically significant association with support for basic income. We also find a moderating effect of the overall size of the welfare state on the micro-level association between risk and preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Adolescence is a critical period; the identity formed during this time impacts all major life decisions, including career decision-making. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of an awareness and preparedness model for career decision-making among 11th-grade high school girls in Khorramabad. Methods and Materials: This research was conducted using a sequential exploratory mixed-method design. The study population included 11th-grade female students from Behesht Aein School in Khorramabad during the 2021-2022 academic year. In the qualitative phase, 20 adolescents were selected through purposive sampling, and semi-structured interviews were conducted. The data were then analyzed using conventional qualitative content analysis, and a career decision-making awareness model was developed based on the findings. Then, 30 adolescents were selected through simple random sampling and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups of 15 each. Data were collected using the Dielas Career Identity Questionnaire (1981) and the Betz and Taylor Career Decision-Making Questionnaire (1996). The experimental group received twelve 1.5-hour sessions of the career decision-making awareness model. Data were analyzed using multivariate covariance analysis in SPSS version 25. Findings: In the qualitative results, three main categories emerged: "the process of self-concept discovery," "facilitating factors in the development of career self-concept," and "contextual factors in job selection." In the quantitative results, there was a significant difference between the pre-test (3.87) and post-test (4.8) scores of career identity in the experimental group (P=0.001, η²=0.388, f=17.091). There was also a significant difference in career decision-making scores between the pretest (2.96) and post-test (3.72) in adolescent girls before and after the career decision-making awareness model (P=0.001, η²=0.893, f=25.327). Conclusion: The awareness model intervention, designed considering the context, environment, and teachings relevant to 11th-grade high school girls, led to increased career identity formation and career decision-making readiness. School counselors can utilize this intervention to assist in career identity formation and enhance career decision-making readiness among adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses of the implementation of the goal -- oriented chatbot in order to prepare virtual resumes of candidates for job position. In particular the study was devoted to testing the feasibility of using Deep Q Networks (DQN) to prepare an effective chatbot conversation flow with the final system user. The results of the research confirmed that the use of the DQN model in the training of the conversational system allowed to increase the level of success, measured as the acceptance of the resume by the recruiter and the finalization of the conversation with the bot. The success rate increased from 10% to 64% in experimental environment and from 15% to 45% in production environment. Moreover, DQN model allowed the conversation to be shortened by an average of 4 questions from 11 to 7. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to technological change and growing digitalization of the workplaces, the post-pandemic economic recovery offers opportunities for workers to upgrade their industry-specific skills in different sectors, including tourism, where an increasing shortage in the seasonal tier of the labor market is emerging. Various barriers have been identified as key factors preventing both tourism firms from implementing skill development interventions, and workers from co-investing in training. An under-investigated possible barrier is women's occupational segregation, both horizontal and vertical. This paper looks at the former type of segregation, the most frequent in the tourism industry, by showing that this condition penalizes women's willingness to invest in specific training. Data come from a dedicated survey administered to a sample of seasonal employees who worked in the Rimini Province (Italy) during the summer of 2019 and applies a twofold regression analysis followed by an Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition. Our findings contribute to the debate on gender equality in the tourism industry and on the gendered impact of COVID-19 on workers' careers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Many taken-for-granted expectations for parents in Western societies are situated in normative assumptions. Social constructions of 'good' parenting may be a poor fit for parents whose children's development varies from a so-called typical trajectory. Normative assumptions about parenting can have harmful effects for parents of autistic children. Aims/Objectives: This paper examines representations of parenting autistic children in contemporary research and considers the potential effects of these representations on these parents' occupational possibilities. Methods: Informed by a critical occupational perspective, a critical interpretive synthesis (CIS) of 27 research articles focussed on parenting autistic children was conducted. Findings: Three major discursive threads were identified regarding how parents of autistic children are represented in research: gendered assumptions, caregiving as all-consuming, and disruption of normative expectations of parenting. Conclusions and significance: Normative discourses about parenting were (re)produced within this body of research which may perpetuate limitations in the occupational possibilities of parents of autistic children. Critical investigation into contemporary research is necessary to challenge taken for granted expectations for parents of children with autism, to mitigate harmful effects for parents, to inform transformative OT practices and policies, and to promote equitable service provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The public and academic debate about urban squatting in Western cities has been dominated by research on collectively organized, politically-motivated occupations. By contrast, occupations promoted to fulfil urgent housing needs by uncoordinated urban poor without any connection with activists (i.e. need-based squatting) have been far less explored. The present paper contributes to filling this research gap concerning squatting as a sheltering strategy by marginalized individuals. To this end, this article focuses on the overlooked phenomenon of the illegal occupation of public buildings for residential purposes in Italy that occurs outside any explicit political framework. In particular, it provides an ethnographic investigation of a case of squatting in an abandoned school located in a public housing neighbourhood in Naples. This investigation is the basis for the conceptualization of a specific type of need-based squatting, that is to say 'individualistic squatting', whose specific features (including its distinct political character) are highlighted, together with its peculiarity vis-à-vis other types of need-based squatting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Speech-language therapy is a growing field in many Asian countries, including Malaysia. Yet, no studies have examined the general public's awareness towards communication disorders and speech-language therapy in Malaysia. A total of 535 respondents completed a questionnaire, using Google form or paper-pencil format, to assess their awareness and attitudes about communication disorders and speech-language therapists. Public awareness towards communication disorders was generally positive, though negative trends were observed for some items related to the speech-language therapy services. Public awareness also differed according to age, education level, and occupation. Specifically, older individuals, individuals with higher levels of education and health professionals tended to have greater exposure to communication disorders and speech-language therapy. Awareness and attitudes towards speech-language therapy and speech-language therapist profession are still developing in Malaysia. We recommend continuous promotion of the profession of speech-language therapist to the public in order to improve community access to our therapy services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intoduction: Transactional sex (TS) is common in areas of sub-Saharan Africa, motivated by reasons beyond financial support. Through this qualitative study we sought to understand the motivation driving TS among adolescent schoolgirls in rural western Kenya where rates are reportedly high. Identifying and understanding drivers within the local context is necessary for implementation of successful public health policy and programming to reduce the associated harms impacting health and wellbeing. Methods: To understand the drivers of sexual behaviors, individual views, and sociocultural norms, we spoke with schoolgirls, male peers, parents and teachers. The three latter groups may influence, encourage, and shape girls' views and behaviors and thus contribute to the perpetuation of cultural and societal norms. Results: One hundred and ninety-nine participants took part across 20 FGDs; 8 comprised of schoolgirl groups, and 4 each of schoolboy, parent or teacher groups. Through thematic analysis, poverty emerged as the key driver of TS and a normative behaviour amongst secondary school girls. Subthemes including parental influence, need for menstrual pads, pressure from boda boda drivers, peer pressure, and blame were part of a complex relationship linking poverty with TS. Discussion: We conclude that whilst TS is perceived as inevitable, normal and acceptable it is not really a choice for many girls. Exploring ways to encourage communication between families, including around menstruation, may help enable girls to ask for help in acquiring essential items. In addition, education at a community level may shift social norms over time and decrease the prevalence of age-disparate TS among schoolgirls and older, wealthier men in the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of generic skills for life scientists is commonly recognised by employers, graduates, and higher education institutes. As it remains unclear which generic skills are relevant for different life sciences career paths, this study aims to give an overview to inform and inspire universities and students, by analysing 179 Dutch entry-level job postings. We deductively coded nine career paths, namely: life sciences industry, PhD-student, quality compliance, research-related, sales & business, communication/education, information technology, consultancy, and policy. We coded generic skills using an adapted categorisation consisting of 46 generic skills within four categories, which were: self, others, information, and tasks. The descriptive statistics and cluster analysis results showed that although language, communication, and collaboration were the most requested skills, differences in requested generic skills between career paths and cluster composition were observed as well. We concluded that although some generic skills are important in general, other generic skills are relevant for specific life sciences career paths. To educate skilled life scientists, universities should consider the flexible integration of these generic skills in their life sciences programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shift workers support critical 24-hr operations; their health can be impaired by disrupted circadian rhythms and dysfunctional sleep. Shift work sleep disorder (SWSD) is a prevalent condition with significant psychological consequences. Nurse leaders have not yet implemented effective policies to prevent SWSD and optimize shift workers' mental health. The purpose of this integrative review was to examine research about SWSD within the context of neurobiological, sociological, and psychological perspectives that can inform policy changes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Policy Analytic Framework was used to determine the priority recommendations. A search of three databases provided 19 research articles about SWSD and mental health, which illustrated how SWSD is common around the world in many occupations. Backward-rotating schedules and quick returns were risk factors for SWSD. In addition, SWSD was associated with circadian languidity, sleep reactivity, depressive symptoms, and anxiety. Collectively, the studies lacked objective measures of sleep and circadian rhythms, which has hindered the ability to devise interventions that will target the neurobiological causes of SWSD. The research also lacked attention to important sociological factors, such as workers' pay and benefits. Using these findings, nurse leaders can contribute to public policy reforms that increase funding for more rigorous SWSD research. Lawmakers should be advised by nurse leaders to enforce new regulations that provide incentives for employers to create healthier workplaces, such as prohibiting the overuse of schedules that make employees vulnerable to SWSD and providing funds for interventions to prevent SWSD and support mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]