Global Judgments Research Articles

Relationship of Emotion Labour Strategies with General Well-Being and Work Engagement in Retail Sector Employees

Hochschild (1983) termed regulation of one's emotions to comply with occupational or organizational norms as labor. She defined emotional labor as the management of feeling to create a publicly observable facial and bodily display; emotional labor is sold for a wage and therefore has exchange value (Hochschild, 1983).Based on impression management, Ashforth and Humphrey (1993) defined emotional labor as the act of displaying appropriate emotion.Research focuses on strategies which people use to deal with emotion work (e.g., Brotheridge & Lee, 2002; Grandey, 2000). More specifically, they describe antecedents, functions, and consequences of two main strategies which Hochschild (1983) called surface acting (changing emotional display while leaving affective state untouched) and deep acting (changing affective state itself).Researchers proposed that employees perform emotional labor through two types of acting mechanism: surface acting and deep acting. (Hochschild, 1983; Ashforth & Humphrey, 1993).Surface acting involves employees simulating emotions that are not actually felt, by changing their outward appearances (i.e., facial expression, gestures, or voice tone) when exhibiting required emotions. Using surface acting technique, people alter outward expression of emotion in service of altering their inner feelings. Surface acting is a discrepancy between felt and displayed emotion (Ashforth & Humphrey, 1993).Another acting technique is deep acting. Deep acting can be classified as (1) exhorting feeling, whereby one actively attempts to evoke or suppress an emotion, and (2) trained imagination, whereby one actively invokes thoughts, images, and memories to induce associated emotion (thinking of a wedding to feel happy or a funeral to feel sad). In other words, employees use their training or past experiences to help conjure up appropriate emotions or responses (empathy, cheerfulness) for a given scene (Kruml & Geddes, 2000).General well being is defined as subjective feelings of contentment, happiness, satisfaction with life's experiences and of one's role in world of work, sense of achievement, utility, belongingness, no distress, dissatisfaction or worry etc. Well-being is a positive outcome that is meaningful for people and for many sectors of society, because it tells us that people perceive that their lives are going well. Well-being generally includes global judgments of life satisfaction and feelings ranging from depression to joy.* Well-being integrates mental health (mind) and physical health (body) resulting in more holistic approaches to disease prevention and health promotion.* Well-being is a valid population outcome measure beyond morbidity, mortality, and economic status that tells us how people perceive their life is going from their own perspective.* Well-being is an outcome that is meaningful to public.* Advances in psychology, neuroscience, and measurement theory suggest that well-being can be measured with some degree of accuracy.Individuals with high levels of well-being are more productive at work and are more likely to contribute to their communitiesKahn defined personal as ...harnessing of organization member's selves to their work roles: in engagement, people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively, emotionally and mentally during role performances (Kahn, 1990). Work engagement is defined as a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption. Vigor is characterized by high levels of energy and mental resilience while working, willingness to invest effort in one's work, and persistence even in face of difficulties; dedication by being strongly involved in one's work, and experiencing a sense of significance, enthusiasm, inspiration, pride, and challenge; and absorption by being fully concentrated and happily engrossed in one's work, whereby time passes quickly and one has difficulties with detaching oneself from work. …

A Core-Item Reviewer Evaluation (CoRE) System for Manuscript Peer Review

Manuscript peer review is essential for ensuring accountability to all involved in the publication process, including authors, journals, and readers. Lack of consensus regarding what constitutes an accountable manuscript peer review process has resulted in varying practices from one journal to the next. Currently, reviewers are asked to make global judgments about various aspects of a paper for review irrespective of whether guided by a review checklist or not, and several studies have documented gross disagreement between reviewers of the same manuscript. We have previously proposed that the solution may be to direct reviewers to concrete items that do not require global judgments but rather provide a specific choice, along with referee justification for such choices. This study evaluated use of such a system via an international survey of health care professionals who had recently reviewed a health care--related manuscript. Results suggest that use of such a peer review system by reviewers does indeed improve interreviewer agreement, and thus, has the potential to support more consistent and effective peer review, if introduced into journal processes for peer review.

The Anterior Hippocampus Supports a Coarse, Global Environmental Representation and the Posterior Hippocampus Supports Fine-grained, Local Environmental Representations

Representing an environment globally, in a coarse way, and locally, in a fine-grained way, are two fundamental aspects of how our brain interprets the world that surrounds us. The neural correlates of these representations have not been explicated in humans. In this study we used fMRI to investigate these correlates and to explore a possible functional segregation in the hippocampus and parietal cortex. We hypothesized that processing a coarse, global environmental representation engages anterior parts of these regions, whereas processing fine-grained, local environmental information engages posterior parts. Participants learned a virtual environment and then had to find their way during fMRI. After scanning, we assessed strategies used and representations stored. Activation in the hippocampal head (anterior) was related to the multiple distance and global direction judgments and to the use of a coarse, global environmental representation during navigation. Activation in the hippocampal tail (posterior) was related to both local and global direction judgments and to using strategies like number of turns. A structural shape analysis showed that the use of a coarse, global environmental representation was related to larger right hippocampal head volume and smaller right hippocampal tail volume. In the inferior parietal cortex, a similar functional segregation was observed, with global routes represented anteriorly and fine-grained route information such as number of turns represented posteriorly. In conclusion, moving from the anterior to the posterior hippocampus and inferior parietal cortex reflects a shift from processing coarse global environmental representations to processing fine-grained, local environmental representations.

Maternal responsiveness and sensitivity reconsidered: Some is more

Is it always or necessarily the case that common and important parenting practices are better, insofar as they occur more often, or worse, because they occur less often? Perhaps, less is more, or some is more. To address this question, we studied mothers' microcoded contingent responsiveness to their infants (M = 5.4 months, SD = 0.2) in relation to independent global judgments of the same mothers' parenting sensitivity. In a community sample of 335 European American dyads, videorecorded infant and maternal behaviors were timed microanalytically throughout an extended home observation; separately and independently, global maternal sensitivity was rated macroanalytically. Sequential analysis and spline regression showed that, as maternal contingent responsiveness increased, judged maternal sensitivity increased to significance on the contingency continuum, after which mothers who were even more contingent were judged less sensitive. Just significant levels of maternal responsiveness are deemed optimally sensitive. Implications of these findings for typical and atypical parenting, child development, and intervention science are discussed.

Affective states contribute to trait reports of affective well-being.

Asking people to provide global judgments, or trait reports, of their affective experience is a standard method for assessing trait affective well-being, with countless applications in the social sciences. Trait reports reflect numerous influences that generally go unnoticed. Although state affect is a highly plausible candidate for such influences, this source of unwanted variance does not receive much attention and is usually not controlled for in empirical studies. Using 100-day data from the COGITO study, we provide direct and strong evidence that trait reports of affect depend on how people feel at the time they provide the evaluations (i.e., their affective state). For example, participants experiencing more positive affect on a specific day relative to their individual mean also provide more positive ratings of their global affective experience. Furthermore, we found that current affect influences trait ratings in a surprisingly differentiated way--those particular facets of affect that are more/less prevalent at a certain moment are believed to occur more/less often in general. We stress the need for repeated observations within individuals to estimate state contributions to standard assessments of trait affect, to distinguish between state and trait in psychological assessment, and to achieve good indicators of affective experiences in the social and medical sciences.

What patient characteristics guide nurses’ clinical judgement on pressure ulcer risk? A mixed methods study

BackgroundNurses’ clinical judgement plays a vital role in pressure ulcer risk assessment, but evidence is lacking which patient characteristics are important for nurses’ perception of patients’ risk exposure. ObjectivesTo explore which patient characteristics nurses employ when assessing pressure ulcer risk without use of a risk assessment scale. DesignMixed methods design triangulating observational data from the control group of a quasi-experimental trial and data from semi-structured interviews with nurses. SettingTwo traumatological wards at a university hospital. ParticipantsQuantitative data: A consecutive sample of 106 patients matching the eligibility criteria (age ≥18 years, no pressure ulcers category ≥2 at admission and ≥5 days expected length of stay). Qualitative data: A purposive sample of 16 nurses. MethodsQuantitative data: Predictor variables for pressure ulcer risk were measured by study assistants at the bedside each second day. Concurrently, nurses documented their clinical judgement on patients’ pressure ulcer risk by means of a 4-step global judgement scale. Bivariate correlations between predictor variables and nurses’ risk estimates were established. Qualitative data: In interviews, nurses were asked to assess fictitious patients’ pressure ulcer risk and to justify their risk estimates. Patient characteristics perceived as relevant for nurses’ judements were thematically clustered. Triangulation: Firstly, predictors of nurses’ risk estimates identified in bivariate analysis were cross-mapped with interview findings. Secondly, three models to predict nurses’ risk estimates underwent multiple linear regression analysis. ResultsNurses consider multiple patient characteristics for pressure ulcer risk assessment, but regard some conditions more important than others. Triangulation showed that these are measures reflecting patients’ exposure to pressure or overall care dependency. Qualitative data furthermore indicate that nurses are likely to trade off risk-enhancing conditions against conditions perceived to be protective. Here, patients’ mental capabilities like willingness to engage in one owns care seem to be particularly important. Due to missing information on these variables in the quantitative data, they could not be incorporated into triangulation. ConclusionsNurses’ clinical judgement draws on well-known aetiological factors, and tends to expand conditions covered by risk assessment scales. Patients’ care dependency and self-care abilities seem to be core concepts for nurses’ risk assessment.

Potential Benefits of Slow Titration of Paroxetine Treatment in an Elderly Population

Late-life depression, often in association with anxiety, affects approximately 15% of individuals older than 65 years. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are the first-line treatment but could be responsible of an early exacerbation of anxiety, possibly reduced by a very gradual titration of drugs. The main aim of this study is to compare gradual and rapid (standard) titration of paroxetine in an elderly population. In a naturalistic setting, 50 elderly (≥60 years old) outpatients with unipolar mood disorder or anxiety disorder were naturalistically assigned to abrupt initiation of 10 mg of paroxetine or to a gradual increase with 2.5 mg on alternate days up to 10 mg in 7 days. Then dosage could be maintained at 10 mg or increased according to clinical response. Primary outcome was efficacy as assessed by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D) 21, HAM-D symptom subscales (core, psychic anxiety, somatic anxiety cluster), and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale changes. Secondary outcome was evaluation of overall dropouts at eighth week and evaluation of most common adverse effects through the global judgment of the Dosage Record and Treatment Emergent Symptom Scale. All data were recorded weekly for the first 8 weeks of treatment (with 1 more evaluation after 3 days from the baseline). Samples were comparable at baseline, with patients in gradual titration showing a higher level of psychic anxiety. During the first 3 days of treatment, a significant worsening in psychic anxiety was observed in patients treated abruptly with 10 mg of paroxetine (difference in HAM-D psychic anxiety subscale from baseline: 110.61% vs 89.38% with rapid and slow titration, respectively; t test P = 0.03). Overall, a significantly greater improvement in depressive and anxious symptoms favored gradual titration (HAM-D core cluster and HAM-D psychic anxiety cluster, respectively, P = 0.014 and P < 0.001, also when controlling for confounders). At the eighth week, significant higher dropouts in patients administered with abrupt dosage was observed (12.00% vs 40.91%, P = 0.02, respectively for slow and rapid titration). Our results suggest that a gradual titration of paroxetine could avoid the initial treatment anxiety worsening and dropout at the beginning of the treatment.

Satisfaction With Family Life Scale

We wanted to present validity and reliability data for the Satisfaction With Family Life (SWFL) scale. This instrument has been successfully used in a variety of family samples and offers a brief, widely applicable tool to measure satisfaction with family life. The SWFL scale, modeled after the Satisfaction With Life scale, was designed to assess an individual's global judgment of family satisfaction, which is theoretically predicted to depend on a comparison of family life circumstances with one's own standards and expectations. The scale consists of five items on a Likert-type scale. Data were collected from parents and adolescents in 15 different family samples that vary across time, place, and culture. Across all samples a consistent unidimensional factor structure was maintained, with Cronbach's alpha ranging from .94 to .79. Evidence of usability, criterion, and construct validity were also established. The SWFL scale consistently distinguishes differences in family satisfaction among samples that would theoretically be predicted to have different levels of family satisfaction. The SWFL scale provides a brief, psychometrically sound, and widely applicable option for measuring satisfaction with family life.

Satisfaction with life and hope in youth

Youth is a very important phase in the development process of human being. In this stage of life an individual is practically launched into the outside world. The success of youth in challenging world in academics and other spears of life depends upon innate abilities and psychological resources. Hope and life satisfaction plays a significant role for development of youth.Now, with availability of plentiful opportunities, the choices are becoming increasingly complex and confusing. The youths who are hopeful and satisfied with life can take up these challenges and can prepare for their better future. Snyder (2000) has conceptualized Hope as the sum of the capability to plan one's ways to attain your desired goals, regardless of barriers and motivation to use these pathways. Hopeful thoughts are centered on the belief that one can discover pathways to desired objectives and become motivated to make the most of those pathways. Hope includes a belief that one knows how to reach one's goals (Pathways) and a belief that one has the motivation to use those pathways to reach one's goals (Agency)' (Snyder, Rand, & Sigmon, 2002).Satisfaction with one's life implies contentment with or acceptance of one's life circumstances, or the fulfilment of one's wants and needs for one's life as a whole. The Satisfaction with Life Scale was created to assess a person's global judgment of life satisfaction (Diener et al., 1985). Life satisfaction may be defined as a conscious, cognitive, global judgment of one's own life. It is not an assessment based on externally imposed objective standards, but rather depends upon a comparison of one's life circumstances to one's own internal standards or criteria (Diener et al., 1985; Pavot et al., 1991; Pavot & Diener, 1993).In present study temporal dimension of life satisfaction is used. The temporal focus allows for a more comprehensive examination among past, present and future level of global life satisfaction. This could be useful in examining the life satisfaction across the life span of an individual or examine an individual who has undergone significant life changes, which might denote sharp contrast in levels of life satisfaction between different temporal frames (Pavot & Diener, 1993 ).Hopeful youths have a tendency to be happy and satisfied with life. People with high hopes are successful in their goal pursuits and, as a result, tend to experience more positive emotions. The relationship between hope and other factors is assessed and reported by various researchers (Lopez et al., 2003; Snyder et al., 2002; Argyle, 2001; Snyder et al., 1999; Marques, Lopez, & Mitchell, 2012). People with low hopes tend to have more difficulty in overcoming the barriers to goal attainment and, therefore, tend to experience more negative emotions (Lopez et al., 2003; Snyder et al., 2002). Hope plays a significant role in an individual's achievement of life. Hope improves athletic performance, aids psychological adjustment and increases perceived social support. Hopeful thinking can increase sense of mastery and self-efficacy (Argyle, 2001 ; Snyder et al., 1999). These factors seem to increase a sense of satisfaction with life.A longitudinal study examined the relation between hope, spirituality, religious practice and life satisfaction of students. The results from the cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis suggest that hope and spirituality, but not religious practice, were strongly linked to adolescents' life satisfaction. Hope significantly predicted life satisfaction at a single time point, 6-months and 1-year later, and spirituality scores added significant variance beyond hope scores. All the variables demonstrate moderate to high stability across 6-months and 1year time frame; no significant changes were found between the variables across the administration's (Marques, Lopez, & Mitchell, 2012).The purpose of present study is to understand the relationship between satisfaction with life and hope in the lives of youths. …

Applying the peak‐end rule to reference prices

PurposeThe objective of this paper is to propose and empirically test a potential mechanism for how consumers form reference prices. The proposed peak‐end rule of reference price formation says that reference prices are formed as a weighted average of the highest observed price and the most recent price.Design/methodology/approachThe authors argue why the peak‐end rule observed in satisfaction contexts may also apply to the process by which consumers form reference prices. They then test the proposed peak‐end rule using IRI scanner panel data for decaffeinated coffee.FindingsFit and predictive validity of a choice model improves when a reference price term based on the peak‐end rule is added. While the most recent price has a greater impact on reference price, the effect of the highest observed peak price is also significant, managerially and statistically.Research limitations/implicationsThe study provides evidence for a novel and behaviorally plausible reference price formation process.Practical implicationsTemporarily charging a high price has a longer‐lasting effect on reference price than would be suggested by other reference price models, which typically involve a quickly decaying lag effect. Temporarily charging a very high price to restore the reference price may therefore be a useful pricing tactic.Originality/valueWhile the peak‐end rule is amply supported as a mechanism by which consumers form global satisfaction judgements, its application to reference price formation is novel, and has some potentially useful implications.

A New User‐Oriented Index, Based on a Fuzzy Inference System, for Quality Evaluation of Rural Roads

AbstractUsers of road facilities generally express a judgment on road quality based on their psychophysical conditions, in relation to the environment they refer to. This judgment is made considering many aspects, for example, the presence of traffic lights, the frequency of interchanges, of lay‐bys and gas stations, route conformation, environmental conditions, quality of road signs, etc. In this article, we propose a new index called Global Satisfaction Index, which uses vehicular traffic quality and quality of road pavement, to summarize these aspects, and to express the users’ global judgment about the ride comfort on rural roads. Since in this kind of judgment a subjective perception process is involved, we have used fuzzy theory to handle uncertainty embedded in the process. The attributes of the aspects considered have been expressed through fuzzy numbers, and the global judgment has been obtained through a fuzzy inference system. In this way the proposed index overcomes the limits of other existing indices, since it incorporates uncertainties and/or imprecision inherent in the drivers’ perception of the ride comfort. Moreover, it can be used for evaluation and comparison of different types of road sections. Finally, a numerical example is presented to assist in understanding the practical aspects of the proposed index.

Measuring Organizational Capacity for Integrated Treatment

Behavioral health program leaders, practitioners, policy makers, and researchers have a keen interest in understanding how best to implement and sustain evidence-based practices. Among the most important determinants of successful implementation are organizational factors, such as an organization’s structure, climate, resources, and leadership. Yet despite the recognition that organizational characteristics matter, the field remains largely in a prescientific stage of development. For example, experienced leaders believe they know, by reputation, which are the most competent service agencies in their state or region, and further, which ones are most competent in implementing innovative practices. But how accurate are these beliefs? Are reputational ratings predictive of success in implementing a new program? Over a half-century ago, Meehl (1954) showed that clinical judgment was often useless in predicting client outcome. In nearly every study, actuarial calculation based on objective indicators was a better predictor of outcome than clinical prediction. Thus global clinical judgments, whether they be about predicting improvement in client outcomes or readiness of an organization to change are poorer guides to action than are objective scales measuring discrete aspects of performance. But the development and validation of scales requires hard work, and much has yet to be done at the organizational level in integrated treatment.

The Effects of Vision-Related Aspects on Noise Perception of Wind Turbines in Quiet Areas

Preserving the soundscape and geographic extension of quiet areas is a great challenge against the wide-spreading of environmental noise. The E.U. Environmental Noise Directive underlines the need to preserve quiet areas as a new aim for the management of noise in European countries. At the same time, due to their low population density, rural areas characterized by suitable wind are considered appropriate locations for installing wind farms. However, despite the fact that wind farms are represented as environmentally friendly projects, these plants are often viewed as visual and audible intruders, that spoil the landscape and generate noise. Even though the correlations are still unclear, it is obvious that visual impacts of wind farms could increase due to their size and coherence with respect to the rural/quiet environment. In this paper, by using the Immersive Virtual Reality technique, some visual and acoustical aspects of the impact of a wind farm on a sample of subjects were assessed and analyzed. The subjects were immersed in a virtual scenario that represented a situation of a typical rural outdoor scenario that they experienced at different distances from the wind turbines. The influence of the number and the colour of wind turbines on global, visual and auditory judgment were investigated. The main results showed that, regarding the number of wind turbines, the visual component has a weak effect on individual reactions, while the colour influences both visual and auditory individual reactions, although in a different way.

A Framework for Decision Fusion in Image Forensics Based on Dempster–Shafer Theory of Evidence

In this work, we present a decision fusion strategy for image forensics. We define a framework that exploits information provided by available forensic tools to yield a global judgment about the authenticity of an image. Sources of information are modeled and fused using Dempster-Shafer Theory of Evidence, since this theory allows us to handle uncertain answers from tools and lack of knowledge about prior probabilities better than the classical Bayesian approach. The proposed framework permits us to exploit any available information about tools reliability and about the compatibility between the traces the forensic tools look for. The framework is easily extendable: new tools can be added incrementally with a little effort. Comparison with logical disjunction- and SVM-based fusion approaches shows an improvement in classification accuracy, particularly when strong generalization capabilities are needed.

The dual lens model: A comprehensive framework for understanding self–other agreement of personality judgments at zero acquaintance.

An integrative framework for the examination of self-other agreement of personality judgments at zero acquaintance is outlined that integrates dualistic approaches to personality, behavior, and personality judgments within the Brunswikian (1956) lens model. The dual lens model (DLM) distinguishes between explicit and implicit self-concepts of personality, controlled and automatic cues, and deliberate and intuitive personality judgments. In a first application of the DLM, targets (N = 56) were videotaped during short self-introductions, and direct and indirect measures of extraversion as well as a number of physical, kinesic, vocal, and verbal cues were obtained. Perceivers judged targets' extraversion based on these short video sequences either in a global judgment condition (Study 1: N = 95) or in a deliberate versus an intuitive judgment condition (Study 2: N = 82). In both studies, results showed that extraversion judgments at zero acquaintance were correlated with both the explicit and the implicit self-concept of extraversion (self-other agreement). The self-other correlation for explicit extraversion was fully mediated by the utilization of valid controlled cues, and it was fully mediated by the utilization of valid automatic cues for the implicit self. Whereas judgment condition did not moderate self-other agreement, perceivers' intuitive judgment style was associated with higher levels of self-other agreement, a relation that could be explained by DLM analyses. Results underline the utility of the proposed framework for the study of interpersonal judgments.

Responsiveness to change for the Brazilian Scale of Oral Health Outcomes for 5-year-old children (SOHO-5)

BackgroundThe responsiveness of oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) instruments has become relevant, given the increasing tendency to use OHRQoL measures as outcomes in clinical trials and evaluations studies. The purpose of this study was to assess the responsiveness of the Brazilian Scale of Oral Health Outcomes for 5-year-old children (SOHO-5) to dental treatment.MethodsOne hundred and fifty-four children and their parents completed the child self- and parental’ reports of the SOHO-5 prior to treatment and 7 to 14 days after the completion of treatment. The post-treatment questionnaire also included a global transition judgment that assessed subject’s perceptions of change in their oral health following treatment. Change scores were calculated by subtracting post-treatment SOHO-5 scores from pre-treatment scores. Longitudinal construct validity was assessed by using one-way analysis of variance to examine the association between change scores and the global transition judgments. Measures of responsiveness included standardized effect sizes (ES) and standardized response mean (SRM).ResultsThe improvement of children’s oral health after treatment are reflected in mean pre- and post-treatment SOHO-5 scores that declined from 2.67 to 0.61 (p < 0.001) for the child-self reports, and 4.04 to 0.71 (p < 0.001) for the parental reports. Mean change scores showed a gradient in the expected direction across categories of the global transition judgment, and there were significant differences in the pre- and post-treatment scores of those who reported improving a little (p < 0.05) and those who reported improving a lot (p < 0.001). For both versions, the ES and SRM based on change scores mean for total scores and for categories of global transitions judgments were moderate to large.ConclusionsThe Brazilian SOHO-5 is responsive to change and can be used as an outcome indicator in future clinical trials. Both the parental and the child versions presented satisfactory results.

3009 – Randomized, double-blind, study of vortioxetine versus agomelatine in adults with MDD after inadequate response to SSRI or SNRI treatment

Introduction Vortioxetine (Lu AA21004) is an investigational antidepressant, a multimodal 5-HT 3 , 5-HT 7 and 5-HT 1D receptor antagonist, 5-HT 1B receptor partial agonist, 5-HT 1A receptor agonist and inhibitor of the 5-HT transporter. Objectives To compare efficacy and tolerability of flexible-dose treatment with vortioxetine versus agomelatine in MDD patients who presented with an inadequate response to SSRI/SNRI monotherapy. Aims The primary efficacy endpoint was the change from baseline to Week 8 in MADRS total score analysed by MMRM using a non-inferiority test. Secondary endpoints included assessment of anxiety symptoms (HAM-A), global clinical judgment (CGI), and overall functioning (SDS). Methods Randomized, double-blind comparator study (NCT01488071). Results Eligible patients were randomized (1:1) to vortioxetine (10-20mg/day) or agomelatine (25-50mg/day) for 12 weeks of double-blind treatment. On the primary efficacy endpoint, vortioxetine (n=252) was statistically significantly superior to agomelatine (n=241) (p Conclusions The primary efficacy endpoint of this comparator study was met, with vortioxetine also showing a significant benefit compared to agomelatine in MDD patients who changed antidepressant after an inadequate response to SSRI/SNRI treatment. Statistically significant differences were seen from Week 4 onwards. This study confirms that vortioxetine is efficacious and well-tolerated.

The validity of well-being measures: A multiple-indicator–multiple-rater model.

In the subjective indicators tradition, well-being is defined as a match between an individual's actual life and his or her ideal life. Common well-being indicators are life-satisfaction judgments, domain satisfaction judgments, and measures of positive and negative affect (hedonic balance). These well-being indicators are routinely used to study well-being, but a formal measurement model of well-being is lacking. This article introduces a measurement model of well-being and examines the validity of self-ratings and informant ratings of well-being. Participants were 335 families (1 student with 2 parents, N = 1,005). The main findings were that (a) self-ratings and informant ratings are equally valid, (b) global life-satisfaction judgments and averaged domain satisfaction judgments are about equally valid, and (c) about 1/3 of the variance in a single indicator is valid. The main implication is that researchers should demonstrate convergent validity across multiple indicators by multiple raters.

Comparison of tolerability and efficacy of a combination of paracetamol + caffeine and sumatriptan in the treatment of migraine attack: a randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, cross-over study

In this study, we compared the efficacy and tolerability of the combination of paracetamol 1,000 mg + caffeine 130 mg (PCF) with sumatriptan 50 mg (SUM) in migraine attacks. This was a multi-center randomized double-blind, double-dummy, cross-over controlled trial. The efficacy was assessed by the sum of pain intensity differences, the curve of mean pain intensity, the number of pain free at 2 h, and the total pain relief. Tolerability was assessed by recording adverse events within 4 h after drug assumption and evaluating the global judgement of patients. The comparison of these parameters did not show differences between the two drugs which resulted absolutely overlapping in pain relief and patients evaluation. In conclusion, we confirm the efficacy and safety of PCF such as SUM in the treatment of migraine attacks.

Glitch in the gradient: Additional education does not uniformly equal better health

While the relationship between education and general health has been firmly established in the literature, surprisingly little research has analyzed individual components of the global health judgments, such as chronic conditions or pain. We present a systematic account of the health gradient for multiple health outcomes by detailed educational categories among U.S. working-age adults. Using the 1997–2010 National Health Interview Surveys (N = 204,764), we analyze individual health outcomes ranging from cardiovascular disease to vision problems with a series of logistic regression models. The results at the presecondary and baccalaureate levels are consistent with the health gradient. An unexpected finding occurs among adults with some college but no degree, and those with technical/vocational associate degrees: these groups report more pain and a higher prevalence of a broad range of conditions than high school graduates who never attended college. We discuss several explanations for the observed patterns. The findings challenge the broadly accepted educational gradient in health; additionally, the lower postsecondary groups comprise a quarter of American adults. Jointly, there is a clear research and policy impetus to understand the source of this ‘glitch’ in the health gradient.