Civilian Workforce Research Articles

The Meaning of Occupation, Occupational Need, and Occupational Therapy in a Military Context

Despite occupational therapists having strong historical ties to the Canadian military, there are currently no uniformed occupational therapists and only a few permanent occupational therapists employed by Canadian Forces. Occupational therapy is provided, in the main, through civilian occupational therapists. Occupational therapists have unique skills that can contribute to the existing Canadian Forces Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Services Department. To establish the depth and scope of their work, this article explains the theoretical underpinnings of occupational therapy. Examples are provided of possible occupational therapy for populations of Canadian Forces members: (1) those with transient, intermittent injuries; (2) those returning from overseas missions with very serious injuries or severe injuries; and (3) those with permanent injuries who are transitioning from the Canadian Forces into the civilian workforce. Interventions for mental health issues are interwoven with those targeting physical issues. The article suggests that occupational therapists employed on a permanent basis by the Canadian Forces can contribute in a more comprehensive manner to the wider rehabilitation of Canadian Forces members. The article has applicability to occupational therapy military services in other countries.

‘Don't miss your great opportunity’: patriotism and propaganda in Second World War recruitment

During the Second World War, poster artists used visual metaphors to help promote actions and behaviour in the American public. Many campaigns were specifically targeted at women, encouraging them to enter the civilian and military workforce. This paper analyses the female recruitment poster campaigns of the Navy and Coast Guard. It argues that the posters successfully used specific visuals to counteract rumours about the character of military women, employing such familiar modes as the pin-up to craft an image of women which both appealed to the recruits and reassured their family members. By employing and subverting traditional notions of femininity, the Navy and Coast Guard were able to convince 1940s women to serve their country in a non-traditional way. The paper offers an example of how effective propaganda can be used to both inspire changes in behaviour while at the same time reinforce societal norms.

Posttraumatic stress disorder and memory: Evidence of maladaptations to stressors

AbstractPeople with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are entering the workforce in record numbers as they discharge from the military and attempt to enter the civilian workforce. Understanding how PTSD affects the human mind will help organizations manage their employees more effectively by allowing supervisors to set up systems that compensate for deficits. PTSD appears to cause significant memory and attentional deficits; however, it is difficult to determine whether the attentional deficits contribute to the memory deficits. The current study used the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) to examine the memory deficits separate from the attention difficulties in people with PTSD. Results demonstrated that PTSD severity correlated with attention issues, but not memory issues. The authors discuss these findings in terms of their clinical and organizational applications.

The Roundup

The Roundup

Journal Digest

Journal Digest

The Occupational JP8 Exposure Neuroepidemiology Study (OJENES): Repeated workday exposure and central nervous system functioning among US Air Force personnel

One of the most prevalent workplace chemical exposures historically and currently confronting the global military and civilian workforce is jet propellant (JP) fuel (e.g., JP4, JP5, JP8, jet A1), a complex mixture of numerous hydrocarbon compounds and additives. To date, numerous protective and preventive strategies (e.g., federal exposure limits, workplace procedure protocols, protective gear such as goggles, respirator use, gloves, and coveralls) have been put in place to minimize acutely toxic exposure levels. However, questions remain regarding the effect of repeated exposures at lower (than regulated) levels of JP fuel. The Occupational JP8 Exposure Neuroepidemiology Study (OJENES) was designed to examine the relationships between occupational JP8 exposure over multiple, repeated workdays and specific aspects of central nervous system (CNS) functioning among Air Force (AF) personnel. In this report, we present the OJENES methodology, descriptive findings related to participant characteristics, JP8 exposure levels observed over a work week among higher and lower exposure groups, and neuropsychological task performances at the first study assessment. Results indicated minimal differences between participants in the high and lower exposure groups in terms of descriptive characteristics, other than daily JP8 exposure levels (p<0.001). In addition, neuropsychological task performances for most task measures were not found to be significantly different from reported reference ranges. These findings demonstrated that confounding and misclassification of exposure and outcome status are not major concerns for the study. Therefore, future OJENES analyses targeting the more focused research questions regarding associations between JP8 exposure and CNS functioning are likely to provide valid conclusions, as they will be less influenced by these research biases.

Civilian Employment Among Recently Returning Afghanistan and Iraq National Guard Veterans

National Guard service members face deactivation from active duty soon after they return to the United States and rapid entry into the civilian workforce; therefore, it is important to examine employment among these Veterans. The sample included 585 National Guard service members. Bivariate and multivariable analyses were conducted examining the associations between mental health symptoms, alcohol use, number of deployments, and combat exposure with employment status and full-time versus part-time employment as outcomes. Forty-one percent of National Guard service members were employed 45 to 60 days following demobilization. Among those who were employed, 79% were employed full-time. Age, family income, and combat exposure were associated with employment; income and health status were associated with part-time versus full-time employment. Mental health status may not be strongly associated with initiating civilian employment among National Guard service members; however, better mental health status is associated with being employed full-time versus part-time.

A Snapshot of the Modeling and Simulation Community and Education

The Department of Defense’s need for modeling and simulation (M&amp;S) tools and professionals is growing at a rapid pace. From research to development, from training to acquisition, from requirements analysis to testing, M&amp;S has become invaluable to achieve the best performance, lowest cost and risk, best-trained and best-prepared, adaptive and effective modern services. The demands on M&amp;S professionals are constantly changing, adapting to different foci in application areas, shifting with increasing civilian workforce expertise and availability, and reallocating with budget priorities. Hence, instrumental to relevant education and training is adaptation to the current situation and setting sustainable long-term directions.We took a snapshot of the M&amp;S community in the US Army and their education via a survey of senior personnel, querying the importance of M&amp;S-related skills and the perceived proficiency of entry- and senior-level professionals. The goal was to obtain validation for education and training programs, and to determine areas for improvement. The most important skills were found to be communications, fundamental concepts of M&amp;S, distributed simulations, training systems, computer networks, program management, and VV&amp;A (Verification, Validation and Accreditation). M&amp;S education seems to be on the right track since the greatest expertise was observed in the areas of greatest importance (highly correlated, Pearson 0.74). Disconcertingly, however, we also found greater lack in more important skills than in less important ones, particularly for entry-level professionals. We propose a three-pronged approach for shaping the future of training and education in M&amp;S that addresses the observed shortfalls: (1) proper focus of the technical education, combined with (2) stronger emphasis on communication (e.g., through completion of a technical thesis including oral defense), better system overview (e.g., training systems, the greater processes of program management, and VV&amp;A), and stronger emphasis on the distributed and networked environment we live in; finally, (3) conduct concerted, interdisciplinary research and education efforts in human, social, cultural, and behavioral M&amp;S.

TERCEIRA 2008 Study—2008 Characterization of the Military and Civilian Workforce at the Air Base 4 Clinic “Tenente-Coronel Médico Viriato Garrett”

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Women's Work after War

In the more than 30 years following the all-volunteer force (AVF), the proportion of women serving in the military has increased from 1.8 percent just before the AVF to 14.2 percent in 2008. The majority of women do not stay in the military for a 20-year or longer career; like men, most women only serve a few years before transitioning to the civilian workforce. Although the fraction of the military who are women has risen, as has the fraction of veterans who are women, little research informs how female veterans of the AVF fare economically after leaving service, or whether military service benefits minority women who serve in such disproportionate numbers. This paper investigates the civilian employment experiences of female veterans of the AVF using two sources of data. First, population-based data from the American Community Survey are used to evaluate the employment experiences of female veterans. Second, data from an audit study of civilian hiring practices provides additional insight into the experiences of women veterans transitioning from military to civilian work. We find little evidence of a veteran labor market disadvantage, either for white or black women. Both groups exhibit strong patterns of labor force attachment. Only white women show slightly lower rates of employment (among those in the labor force), while black women veterans show consistently advantageous employment profiles. These positive employment outcomes among female veterans at least partly derive from employer preference for hiring veterans over equally qualified nonveteran women.

Employer and employee obligations and rights under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act

As more Reserve and National Guard troops are called to leave the civilian workforce and enter military service, employers must understand the legal rights those service members possess and the employers’ legal obligations that are now required under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). Current data and litigation trends suggest many employers are not fully aware of their legal obligations under USERRA and the punishing legal liability they may face. USERRA applies to virtually all employers, and the law uniquely provides for both corporate and individual liability for discriminating against employees or applicants because of military service. This article provides an overview of USERRA from the perspective of employers, employees, and potential employees. Practical advice is rendered herein not only for those covered by the Act, but also for employers regarding adherence to this law while avoiding liability under USERRA.

SECRETARY'S NOTES

By the time you receive this issue of the Journal, the 2008 elections for the ASNE National Council will be underway. All members who were eligible to vote on the day that the polls opened should have received notification regarding the availability of the online ballot and instructions on how to vote online. Those eligible to vote include all regular Members (both over 30 and under 30), Life Members and Members Emeritus. Note that in accordance with the Bylaws, Associate Members, Student Members and Honorary Members are not eligible to vote and therefore will not receive notice about the election. Initial notification is sent by e-mail to all eligible members for whom we have a valid e-mail address with a link to the online ballot location. Notification is then sent by mail to all eligible members for whom we do not have a valid e-mail address and to those with an e-mail address who did not vote within the first five days. The notice also includes instructions on how to obtain a paper ballot for those who prefer to submit their ballot by mail rather than voting online. This is the third year that we are using online voting. Members who have used the online voting system have been nearly unanimous in their praise for the process, and each year has set a new record for percentage of participation. I hope that this year an even greater percentage of you will take the time to consider the candidates and submit your vote for those you believe should help to lead the Society into the future. Also please take the time to complete the optional survey that accompanies the online ballot. Survey response in previous years has helped us to improve the election process, and this year the survey includes questions from the Membership Committee intended to help them better understand the composition of our membership and to gather ideas they can use in developing plans for how to improve member service, increase retention and enhance our recruiting efforts. Your participation in both the election and the survey are important. Please help the ASNE leadership to make your Society better for you. The question of how to grow the future leadership for our nation's naval engineering community is one of the primary concerns of the ASNE leadership, and indeed a great concern of many of our members. Therefore, I'm particularly pleased to announce an exciting venture with the ASNE Monterey Peninsula Section—the establishment of the Naval Engineering Collaboration Center (NECC) at the Naval Postgraduate School. This new multifunction space is available for use as a conference room, member lounge, study area and general gathering spot to discuss topics of interest to naval engineers. Located on the first floor of Watkins Hall on the Naval Postgraduate School campus, the NECC is ready to welcome new members, colleagues and friends alike. This project would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of the 2007–2008 Monterey Section Council and its members. ASNE Monterey Peninsula Section Council members conceived the plan for the NECC, designed the layout and purchased the necessary accoutrements with the assistance of ASNE National Headquarters. Section members who helped in the renovation of the space include Clint Hoskins, Gus Vergara, Jon Letourneau and Will Koszarek. The Naval Postgraduate School is a principal source of graduate technical education for many Navy officers and for some members of the Navy's civilian workforce. The Monterey Peninsula Section provides an ASNE presence on the campus in order to familiarize the students with the benefits of professional society membership and help them to prepare for a leadership role in the Navy technical community. The membership of the Monterey Peninsula Section is primarily made up of students and faculty of the Naval Postgraduate School, though membership is open to anyone working within the naval engineering profession. Many members pass through on short tours of duty. That allows for a continual influx of new ideas and talents but has made continuity of membership a challenge in the past. The Monterey Peninsula Section looks forward to sponsoring a number of activities in the near future that will allow for greater exposure outside the Naval Postgraduate School campus. Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Great White Fleet's visit to Monterey Bay at the Maritime Museum of Monterey, exclusive tours of the Monterey Bay Aquarium from an engineering perspective, a series of guest lectures and the occasional social event at the NPS Trident Room are just a few such events.

Newfoundlanders in a Highland Forest During WWII

A programme of historical research and archaeological walkover survey, topographic survey and trial trenching was undertaken within Strathmashie Forest, Highland, Scotland by Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (GUARD) and Laggan Heritage during 2005. The project investigated the remains of the Newfoundland Overseas Forestry Unit (NOFU) who operated within Strathmashie Forest during WWII and comprised an entirely civilian workforce run in a military manner. The fieldwork uncovered and recorded a variety of structures and artefacts relating to the lives and work of the Newfoundlanders within the forest. This was complimented by research into the NOFU activities in Scotland as a whole which, combined with the archaeological evidence present at Strathmashie, gave a valuable insight into an essential, but relatively unknown, contribution to the overall war effort.

New Respirator Fit Test Panels Representing the Current U.S. Civilian Work Force

The fit test panels currently used for respirator research, design, and certification are 25-subject panels developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and are based on data from the 1967 and 1968 anthropometric surveys of U.S. Air Force personnel. Military data do not represent the great diversity in face size and shape seen in civilian populations. In addition, the demographics of the U.S. population have changed over the last 30 years. Thus, it is necessary to assess and refine the LANL fit test panels. This paper presents the development of new respirator fit test panels representative of current U.S. civilian workers based on an anthropometric survey of 3997 respirator users conducted in 2003. One panel was developed using face length and face width (bivariate approach) and weighting subjects to match the age and race distribution of the U.S. population as determined from the 2000 census. Another panel was developed using the first two principal components obtained from a set of 10 facial dimensions (age and race adjusted). These 10 dimensions are associated with respirator fit and leakage and can predict the remaining face dimensions well. Respirators designed to fit these panels are expected to accommodate more than 95% of the current U.S. civilian workers. Both panels are more representative of the U.S. population than the existing LANL panel and may be appropriate for testing both half-masks and full-facepiece respirators. Respirator manufacturers, standards development organizations, and government respirator certification bodies need to select the appropriate fit test panel for their particular needs. The bivariate panel is simpler to use than the principal component analysis (PCA) panel and is most similar to the LANL panel currently used. The inclusion of the eight additional facial measurements allows the PCA panel to provide better criteria for excluding extreme face sizes from being used. Because the boundaries of the two new panels are significantly different from the LANL panel, it may be necessary to develop new respirator sizing systems. A new five-category sizing system is proposed.

Military Physician Assistants: Their Background And Education

The US military and the physician assistant (PA) profession have long been intertwined. The first few classes at the Duke University PA Program consisted largely of ex-military corpsmen and medics. Facing a shortage of providers in the early 1970s, the three service branches developed programs to train their own PAs; these programs were merged into the Interservice PA Program in 1996. Discrepancies in rank among the three service branches were finally resolved when Army PAs were commissioned in 1992. Today, retired military PAs bring invaluable experience to the civilian workforce and help meet the health care needs of society. The contributions of military and ex-military women and men have been instrumental in building and shaping the PA profession.

Continued barriers for breast-feeding in public and the workplace

n some parts of the United States, a woman waiting for a bus and breast-feeding her 6-week-old son could be arrested for violating “public indecency” laws; however, if she unzipped her bag, pulled out a bottle, and fed her son, she would be performing a perfectly decent act. Such a paradox should be matters of concern, especially because the scientific community, ederal agencies, and professional societies uniformly extol the virtues of breast milk and breast-feeding. Most countries are ignatories to the World Health Organization recommendation that infants should be exclusively breast-fed for 6 months. The S Healthy People 2010 target is to increase the proportion of mothers who breast-feed their babies for 6 months to 50%. Even uch a modest goal may be difficult to attain, however, because a large fraction of women in this country return to work after elivery. The US Department of Labor reported that in July 2005, 59.3% of women over age 16 were in the civilian workforce. eturning to work has been identified as an important cause of early termination of breast-feeding or of feeding expressed breast ilk. Some barriers to breast-feeding in the workplace include the perception that infants at work may impede mothers’ job erformance; lack of privacy for expressing breast milk or for breast-feeding; inability to find a day care facility at or near the orkplace; the high cost of day care and long waiting periods (up to 8 months in some localities); and insurance regulations, uilding codes, and other rules that limit infants and children in workplaces. Women in low-wage jobs may face substantially reater barriers for breast-feeding than those in higher-wage jobs. The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity econciliation Act (better known as the Welfare Reform Act) also may have had unintended negative consequences on reast-feeding rates, because mothers on welfare may have difficulty in finding jobs that support breast-feeding. There may be reluctance at the workplace to allow for adequate time for expressing breast milk, which may take up to 30 inutes a day. Employers may not appreciate the societal benefits accruing from high rates of breast-feeding, which may far utweigh the cumulative inconvenience of accommodating such efforts. Less well-appreciated issues that may affect breast-feeding rates are local and state laws related to breast-feeding. The able (available at www.jpeds.com) summarizes data from a study conducted by the La Leche League International, updated ay 2005. It is gratifying that 38 states (as of November 15, 2005) have enacted at least ome laws in support of breast-feeding. Some of these laws include exempting breasteeding from public indecency laws; considering breast-feeding a valid excuse for exempion from jury duty; requiring state Departments of Health to issue mercury alerts, xplaining the dangers of eating mercury-contaminated fish by women who are pregnant r breast-feeding; enacting antidiscrimination laws; and waiving sales and other taxes for roducts manufactured for initiating, supporting, and sustaining breast-feeding. The effect of these regulations on breast-feeding rates in the United States has yet o be studied. In a longitudinal survey currently underway, 2100 US women will be nrolled in the third trimester of pregnancy and followed through the first year of their nfants’ age. This study will evaluate the factors influencing women’s choices on feeding heir infant and also may shed light on the barriers to breast-feeding in the workplace. The LLLI data 16 also show that as of November 2005, no specific laws had been assed concerning breast-feeding in 12 states (Figure), but there are pending legislative roposals related to breast-feeding in several states. It is perhaps a sign of the times hat laws are required to “protect” women who plan on performing a perfectly normal iological act that is universally recognized as beneficial to the health and well-being of the ntire society. But regulatory actions do help. In Norway—arguably the breast-feeding capital of he West—high breast-feeding rates have been documented since the 1970s. More than 7% of women breast-feed their infants during the immediate postpartum period, 80% From the Pregnancy and Perinatology Branch, Center for Developmental Biology and Perinatal Medicine, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.

Natural language interface for multi‐agent contracting system (MACS)

AbstractFacing serious imbalances in the skills and experience of our highly talented and specialized civilian workforce, the Naval Postgraduate School has initiated the External Acquisition Research Program (EARP) to promote advances in basic and applied research as related to US defense acquisition. One of the projects funded under EARP over a 2 year period is the Multi‐Agent Contracting System (MACS) project (Liebowitz et al., 2000. Journal of Knowledge‐Based Systems 13: 241–250). MACS was designed to provide advice in the pre‐award phase of a defense contract. The original version of MACS allowed users to query the system using a list of predetermined keywords from pull‐down menus. An exact string of keywords had to be used to obtain an answer from MACS, forcing the users to memorize a list of keywords. This inflexible user interface could have caused problems for those users who did not know the right keywords and, in turn, reduced the usability of MACS. The objective of this study is to extend the capability of MACS by allowing users to interface with the system using natural language. The natural language user interface will provide the users with more flexibility in formulating queries on the pre‐award contracts, increasing the user friendliness of its interface. The paper presents the methods used to develop a natural language user interface for MACS. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Aggressively pursuing knowledge management over 2 years: a case study at a US government organization

As the US federal civilian workforce is ‘graying’, knowledge management (KM) can play a critical role in the strategic management of human capital in a government organization. KM should probably be a key pillar of the human capital strategy, along with competency management, performance management, and change management. Even though the need is great for knowledge management in government organizations, many of these agencies do not have a clear vision or strategy as to how to implement KM in their organization. To help those in the federal sector in implementing KM, this paper will discuss components of the knowledge management implementation plan at a leading US government organization (using GOV as the pseudonym) following a KM pyramid framework.

Regulating the labour market in Australia's wartime democracy

Governments all over the world met the Second World War's industrial expansion with attempts to expand and regulate civilian workforces. This article analyses an Australian workforce‐management project that aimed to transfer workers (in this case, women shop assistants) into work of a centrally determined higher priority. After examining departmental records and the case file of one woman, ‘Sarah’ of Cowandilla, it shows that (even in the depths of a major world war) labour market regulation was fraught with personal and sectional interests; and argues that lack of coordination and resolve at ministerial and departmental levels undermined the project's success.

Reduction in Force—Benefit or Detriment? A Look at Some Tangible and Intangible Results of Federal Sector Reductions in Force (RIF)

Through a review of some of the tangible and intangible results of Federal reduction in force (RIF), this article demonstrates that while the use of RIF procedures has resulted in a smaller Federal civilian workforce, it is a cumbersome and expensive process which negatively impacts the reputation of the Federal government as an employer. At one time, the Federal government was a model, progressive employer. Repeated RIFs have made the government a less desirable employer. This is an important loss, not only to Federal employees, but to the entire American workplace. If government cannot attract and retain a quality workforce in a stable environment, then critical programs cannot help but be negatively impacted.