Home Satisfaction Research Articles

Evaluation of a school-based health promotion programme for adolescents aged 12–15 years with focus on well-being related to stress

The aim of this study was to evaluate a school-based adolescent health promotion programme with focus on well-being related to stress. Interventional and evaluative with tests before and after the intervention. The study was performed in two secondary schools in a town on the west coast of Sweden. A health promotion programme comprising massage and mental training was implemented for a single academic year in one school (intervention school, 153 participants) in order to strengthen and maintain well-being. No intervention was implemented in the other school (non-intervention school, 287 participants). A questionnaire was developed and tested, resulting in 23 items distributed across the following six areas: self-reliance; leisure time; being an outsider; general and home satisfaction; school satisfaction; and school environment. A pre- and postintervention comparison of the six areas was made within each school. In the intervention school, the boys maintained a very good or good sense of well-being related to stress in all six areas, while the girls' sense of well-being was maintained in five areas and deteriorated in one area. In the non-intervention school, the boys maintained a very good or good sense of well-being related to stress in four areas and deteriorated in two areas, while the girls' sense of well-being was maintained in two areas and deteriorated in four areas. Massage and mental training helped to maintain adolescents' very good or good sense of well-being related to stress. A questionnaire with acceptable validity and reliability was developed and tested in order to evaluate the health promotional approach. However, there is a need for further study to develop both the intervention and the questionnaire for young people.

National Differences in Predictors of Suicide Among Young and Elderly Citizens: Linking Societal Predictors to Psychological Factors

ABSTRACT Suicide is usually conceptualized as arising either because of social phenomena or individual dynamics. In this study, these approaches were combined by analyzing suicide rates of younger people aged 15–24 and elderly aged 65–74 from 54 nations using societal variables in conjunction with psychological measures of citizen characteristics as mediators. A mediated analysis showed that psychological citizen factors, like home satisfaction and happiness, mediated the impact of societal variables, like the sex ratio, in predicting suicide rates. We found different psychological and societal predictors for young and elderly suicides, with elderly suicide rates being much more predictable. An age-responsive Durkheimian framework focusing on the dynamics of social integration at different ages was used to interpret these results.

Consumer Satisfaction in Nursing Homes

Surveys of resident satisfaction are commonplace in most nursing homes, although surveys used in many facilities may be biased toward concerns of providers and regulators instead of residents. In this study, content for a nursing home satisfaction survey was synthesized from analysis of 11 published and 5 commercially available instruments, as well as qualitative data from interviews with a diverse group of 15 residents in three New Jersey nursing homes. Content analysis of the 16 instruments yielded six broad domains of resident satisfaction: activities, care and services, caregivers, environment, meals, and well-being. Data from residents yielded 87 discrete areas of content across the six domains. In all domains except meals, existing instruments failed to address at least one area of content considered important by residents. Findings from this study provided a framework to generate items for a standardized resident satisfaction survey to be used in New Jersey nursing homes.

Relationships of alcohol use, stress, avoidance coping, and other factors with mental health in a highly educated workforce.

The relationships of drinking, stress, life satisfaction, coping style, and antidepressant use to mental health were examined in a highly educated workforce. This study used a one-time mail-out, mail-back cross-sectional survey design to examine the relationships of mental health with three kinds of stress (life events, work stress, home stress); two kinds of life satisfaction (work and home); use of avoidance coping; and antidepressant use. This study was conducted at a large worksite in northern California in which the workforce was comprised of predominantly highly educated employees. Questionnaires were mailed to a random sample of 10% of 8567 employees, and 504 were completed and returned by participants (59%). Complete data were provided by 460 participants (53%). Respondents completed the Mental Health Index, the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), and measures of coping style, work and home stress and satisfaction, stressful life events, and antidepressant use. Mean Mental Health Index scores were at the 32nd percentile of the U.S. population-based norms, with low percentile values associated with worse mental health. Using multiple regression analysis, the factors examined in this study were significantly related to Mental Health Index scores as the dependent variable [F(16, 443) = 27.41, p < .001, adjusted overall R2 = .48]. Poor mental health scores were significantly related to the following: age (p < .05); screening positively for current harmful or hazardous drinking (p < .05); having high levels of stress at work (p < .05) or home (p < .01); experiencing dissatisfaction with work (p < .001) or home life (p = .01); engaging in avoidance coping (p < .001); and using antidepressants (p < .001). Employees currently using antidepressants had significantly more outpatient medical and mental health visits, indicating higher health costs. Furthermore, mental health status was also significantly related to the interactions between several pairs of these variables: education and gender, age and job stress, home satisfaction and work stress, home satisfaction and avoidance coping, and home satisfaction and use of antidepressants. Mental health status was poorer on average in a highly educated workforce compared with general U.S. norms. Most of the factors that were found to be associated with poorer mental health were ones that are potentially modifiable, such as experiencing more stress and less satisfaction in work and home life and engaging in current hazardous or harmful drinking. The findings that mental health is worse among individual employees who exhibit combinations of these factors suggest that we need to better understand possible effects of these factors in the context of one another. As interpretation of these results may be limited by the single worksite that participated in this study, future research should re-examine these relationships in other worksites varying from this one in geography and demographic characteristics.

Satisfaction With Work and Family Life: No Evidence of a Cultural Reversal

Hochschild (1997) argued that in recent decades the rewards of work have increased relative to those of family life and that this cultural reversal has aggravated the time bind that families face by increasing working hours. To the contrary, pooled data from the 1973–1994 General Social Surveys indicate that in working families, women have shifted away from finding work more satisfying than home toward finding home a haven. Moreover, were it not for women's growing labor force participation and the changing distribution of marital status, the shift would have been even larger. Men's relative work–home satisfaction has been stable. Finally, finding work a haven is unrelated to weekly working hours, and it has not contributed to any increases in working hours over time.

Stress at Home, Peace at Work: A Test of the Time Bind Hypothesis

Objective. We test the central thesis of Hochschild’s (1997) The Time Bind: people who are unsatisfied with housework, parenting, or their marriage work more hours, or at a minimum prefer to work more hours, especially if satisfaction with work is high. Methods. Using the data from the 1987–1988 National Survey of Families and Households, we analyzed the influence of work and home satisfaction on the actual and desired work hours of 1,533 respondents who were employed, married to an employed spouse, and had one or more resident children under age 18. Results. We found that people who were more satisfied with work than home or who were dissatisfied with home life in general did not work more hours or even desire to do so. Conclusions. Contrary to Hochschild’s assertions, there was little evidence that working parents dissatisfied with home life worked more hours or desired to spend more time at work.

How Neighborhood Features Affect Quality of Life

In this paper we report on the development ofthree conceptual models that explain howsatisfaction with neighborhood features affectresidents' quality of life (life satisfaction). The first model posits that satisfaction withsocial, economic, and physical features of theneighborhood affects life satisfaction throughthe mediation effect of one's overall feelingstoward the neighborhood. That is, satisfactionwith the social, economic, and physicalfeatures tend to contribute to one's overallsatisfaction with the neighborhood(neighborhood satisfaction), which in turnplays a positive role in overall feelingstoward life (life satisfaction). Survey datafrom a variety of communities located insouthwest Virginia were collected, and the datafailed to provide support to this model. The second model posits that satisfaction withthe neighborhood features (social, economic,and physical) does affect life satisfactionthrough a hierarchy-of-satisfaction effects –satisfaction with the neighborhood featuresimpacts neighborhood satisfaction, which inturn affects community satisfaction and housingsatisfaction. Housing satisfaction, in turn,affects home satisfaction. Both homesatisfaction and community satisfaction, inturn, affect life satisfaction. The surveydata failed to support this model too. The third model posits that satisfaction withdifferent features of the neighborhood (social,economic, and physical) affect different domainsatisfactions, which in turn affect lifesatisfaction. Specifically, the model arguesthat satisfaction with the physical featuresaffects both neighborhood satisfaction andhousing satisfaction. Neighborhoodsatisfaction plays a role in communitysatisfaction, whereas housing satisfactionplays a role in home satisfaction. Bothcommunity satisfaction and home satisfaction,in turn, play a role in life satisfaction. Satisfaction with the social features of theneighborhood plays a role in the satisfactionwith the neighborhood and the community – thelatter feeds into life satisfaction. Satisfaction with the economic features of theneighborhood plays a role in the satisfactionwith the house and home – the latter feeds intolife satisfaction. The data were mostly supportive of this model.

Nursing home satisfaction, biography, and the life worlds of psychiatrically disabled residents

The stereotype of nursing home life as a uniformly dismal experience is pervasive in American culture, but this examination of the attitudes of psychiatrically disabled residents calls this generality into question. Residents in this study exemplified a range of opinions about the nursing home — some were clearly satisfied or dissatisfied, but most were ambivalent. In this paper, I explore the relationship between nursing home satisfaction and individual interpretive activity through the biographies of three residents. I find that how residents made sense of their lives was powerfully linked to their perspectives on nursing home residence. In particular, satisfaction was linked to how each resident viewed his or her illness, institutionalization, and life purpose. Understanding the phenomenological contributors to the meaning of nursing home life is essential to appreciating how it is that residents in the same environment can have vastly different outlooks on their surroundings.

Health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) in nursing home residents with dementia: Stability and relationships among measures

Assessing QOL in nursing home residents with dementia is potentially unreliable or invalid due to their reduced ability to understand and respond to test items. This study measured aspects of health-related QOL (cognition, activities of daily living [ADLs], pain, depression, frequency of problem behaviours, and nursing home satisfaction) in nursing home residents with dementia. The purpose of this analysis was to examine the stability of the measures over time, possible relationships between the measures, and possible differences among proxy and resident responses. Six nursing homes provided the setting for the testing. A total of 105 residents with dementia and 90 nursing assistants participated. Results showed stability over time for all measures. Cognition was positively correlated with ADL ability, and negatively correlated with problem behaviours. Nursing assistants' reports of resident depressive symptoms were positively correlated with their reports of resident problem behaviours. Residents' own reports of depressive symptoms were negatively correlated with nursing home satisfaction. There was no relationship between resident self-reports and nursing assistant proxy reports of depressive symptoms at either testing period.

Household Structure, Satisfaction And Distress In India And The United States: A Comparative Cultural Examination

In this research, we examine the different relationships between household structure, household satisfaction and distress in samples from the United States and India. Results show that while marriage is consistently the strongest predictor of well-being in the United States, marriage is less important for Indian well-being in comparison to socio-economic variables such as education and income. Children have the effect of decreasing home satisfaction for United States women, while increasing home satisfaction for Indian women. Finally, while work is a significant positive predictor for home satisfaction in India for men, it does not predict Indian men’s distress. Alternatively, while work does not affect Indian women’s household satisfaction, it does significantly decrease their levels of distress. These results are interpreted in light of the cultural and social differences between countries in the cultural construction of the meaning of love and intimacy, along with the differing nature of gender roles within the family

Rationale for Individualizing Interventions to Promote Adjustment to the Nursing Home

This study was designed to determine whether certain variables were predictors of nursing home residents' membership in groups representing qualitative categories of nursing home adjustment. Responses of 186 residents to an open-ended question about how they handled the change to nursing home life were coded as very good, fair, or poor; an adjustment variable was created on the basis of this classification. Analysis of variance of random samples from each adjustment group showed that affect and social support varied significantly with adjustment. However, when discriminant analysis was applied, the three groups could not be differentiated using measure of affect, life satisfaction, social support, participation in the decisions leading to admission, nursing home satisfaction, or health. Based on the conclusion that adjustment to the nursing home is a unique experience for each individual, strategies were proposed for individualizing interventions to enable adjustment.

The Effect of Channeling on Home Care Utilization and Satisfaction With Care

This study examined the relationship between participation in two home and community-based long-term care case management interventions (collectively known as the Channeling demonstration), use of formal in-home care, and satisfaction with care. Maximum likelihood estimation techniques were used to analyze the National Long-Term Care Demonstration data set. It was hypothesized that participation in the two Channeling interventions would indirectly (rather than directly) enhance satisfaction by operating through the increased use of formal in-home care. However, both Channeling models were found to have favorable direct and indirect effects on patient satisfaction.

Home Satisfaction: Related Health and Psychosocial Variables

In later life, the home plays an increasing role as a site for leisure activities, social interaction, and personal growth. This research examined variables that were hypothesized to relate to home satisfaction for older adults. Home satisfaction was also compared to life satisfaction. Sixty-four older adults provided information on home satisfaction; health capacity; the psychosocial variables of self-esteem, locus of control, and social support; and life satisfaction. Home satisfaction was best predicted by health and by self-esteem In contrast, life satisfaction was best predicted by the three psychosocial variables. The outcomes of this research suggested the usefulness of a goodness-of-fit model for understanding and augmenting home satisfaction in later life.

Personal and environmental influences on nursing home satisfaction.

Data were collected from the administrator, staff, and a sample of 289 residents in 51 nursing homes in order to assess the influence of organizational factors on residents' satisfaction with the nursing home. Longevity of personnel, level of benefits, wages for nursing assistants and their perception of the charge nurse's fairness and competence as well as the degree of personalization of residents' rooms were all related to residents' satisfaction with the nursing home.

Interpersonal Relationships of Nursing Home Residents

Interviews were conducted with 332 intellectually intact residents in 54 nursing homes to study their patterns of interpersonal relationships with staff, other residents, and family and friends outside the home. Results indicate the importance of having a close friend for residents' participation in activities, life satisfaction, and nursing home satisfaction.

The Reciprocal Relationship Between Work and Home Satisfaction for Home Economics Teachers

The primary purpose of this study was to test a structural equation model of the reciprocal relationship between work satisfaction and home satisfaction. To test the model, a random sample (n = 132) of home economics teachers in Virginia was surveyed to examine dimensions of work and home satisfaction. The all‐ female sample was mostly white, married, and of relatively high income levels. From responses to the survey, four home satisfaction factors and four work sat isfaction factors were identified. These factors were hypothesized as the manifest indicators of their respective latent satisfactions. Using Linear Structural Relation ship (LISREL) analysis, resulting maximum likelihood estimates suggest that the model was appropriate for the data, that the relationship between home satisfac tion and work satisfaction was significant, and that home satisfaction had a greater effect on work satisfaction than the reverse. Implications for teacher ed ucation and further research are discussed.

Preadmission screening: an efficacy study.

The effectiveness of hospital social work preadmission screening and assessment is compared with postadmission screening and assessment. Outcome variables include length of stay, readmission rates, posthospital home management, resource attainment, and satisfaction with hospital services. The patients screened postadmission were assessed within forty-eight hours of admission, while the patients screened preadmission were assessed one to two weeks prior to admission. Telephone follow-up was conducted with both groups. Preadmission patients reported better home management and attained more resources. Patients' satisfaction with hospital care was inversely related to the need for more resources in the post-hospital period.

The Use of Home Care in Terminal Cancer

In order to identify factors associated with the use of home care services and satisfaction with those services, interviews were conducted with 72 percent of the surviving relatives and 92 percent of the physicians of a random sample of 133 patients from the Rochester, New York, area who had died of cancer and who had been diagnosed at least two weeks before death. These interviews included a self-administered attitude questionnaire from which ten attitude-scale scores were derived. Forty-one percent of the sample had used organized home care services, almost all under a home-hospice program. In comparison with nonusers, home care users tended to be younger, married, to have a longer terminal care period, and to spend more of it at home. Relatives of patients who had used home care services, in comparison with relatives of nonusers, were less satisfied with the availability of care and reported that the patient had experienced more pain. This study also highlights problems in communication, particularly between the physician and the patients and their families, and the effects of home care on the families, especially the primary care-giver. In order for home care and home death to be viable options for a larger number of terminal cancer patients, family members need to be assured of around-the-clock availability of care, adequate pain control, and respite care to provide temporary relief from the burden of home care.

The Relationship of Heston Personal Adjustment Inventory Scores To Other Measures Commonly Employed in Counseling

MEASURES OF personality are commonly employed in batteries of tests which counselors use in their advisement of students. Many personality inventories are difficult to interpret. The Heston Personal Adjustment Inventory (1) has enjoyed some popularity because it is fairly easy to administer and the results can be interpreted with ease. The inven tory consists of 270 items which are de signed to yield scores on six personality traits: analytical thinking, sociability, emotional stability, con fidence, personal relations and home satisfaction. Subjects are requested to answer yes or no to ques tions pertaining to these areas and the results are profiled for counseling purposes. Despite the length of time the inventory has been available (1949), few studies have been pub lished regarding its validity or usefulness. The writer found only one study which reported theuse of the instrument. Michaelis and Tyler (2) reported correlations among subscales which were similar to those found by the author of the inventory and also concluded that the instrument might be useful for diagnostic purposes. The present study is designed to verify the reported relationships among the sub scales of the inventory and to determine the degree to which scores on the inventory correlate with measures of interest, mental ability, and reading achievement.