PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to construct and test a structural equation model on nursing work outcomes based on Youssef and Luthans' positive psychological capital and integrated conceptual framework of work performance.METHODS: This study used a structured questionnaire administered to 340 nurses. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.RESULTS: Positive psychological capital showed indirect and direct effects on job satisfaction, retention intention, organizational citizenship behavior, and nursing performance. While, the nursing work environment had direct and indirect effects on job satisfaction and nursing performance, it only had indirect effects on intention to work and organizational citizenship behavior. Additionally, a mediating effect on retention intention and organizational citizenship behavior was found between job satisfaction and nursing performance variables.CONCLUSION: The nursing organization needs to build a supportive work environment and reinforce positive psychological capital to improve nursing performance. Additionally, it needs to actively manage the necessary parameters involved in the stages of job satisfaction, retention intention, nursing performance, and organizational citizenship behavior of nurses. The findings propose the continuous management of nursing personnel based on nurses' attitude outcome, behavioral intention, behavioral outcome, and stage of role performance.
Attitude of Health Personnel ; Intention ; Job Satisfaction ; Negotiating ; Nursing ; Psychology, Industrial ; Task Performance and Analysis ; Work Performance

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on neurological and functional recovery in patients with central cord syndrome (CCS) involving the upper extremities between the treated and non-treated sides of the treated group and whether the outcomes are comparable to that of the untreated control group. METHODS: Nineteen CCS patients were treated with high-frequency (20 Hz) rTMS over the motor cortex for 5 days. The stimulation side was randomly selected, and all the subjects received conventional occupational therapy during the rTMS-treatment period. Twenty CCS patients who did not receive rTMS were considered as controls. Clinical assessments, including those by the International Standard for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury, the Jebsen-Taylor Hand Function Test, and the O'Connor Finger Dexterity Test were performed initially and followed up for 1 month after rTMS treatment or 5 weeks after initial assessments. RESULTS: The motor scores for upper extremities were increased and the number of improved cases was greater for the treated side in rTMS-treated patients than for the non-treated side in rTMS-treated patients or controls. The improved cases for writing time and score measured on the Jebsen-Taylor Hand Function Test were also significantly greater in number on the rTMS-treated side compared with the non-treated side and controls. There were no adverse effects during rTMS therapy or the follow-up period. CONCLUSION: The results of the application of high-frequency rTMS treatment to CCS patients suggest that rTMS can enhance the motor recovery and functional fine motor task performance of the upper extremities in such individuals.
Central Cord Syndrome ; Classification ; Fingers ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hand ; Humans ; Motor Cortex ; Occupational Therapy ; Spinal Cord Injuries ; Task Performance and Analysis ; Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ; Upper Extremity ; Writing

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate whether birth experience affects short-term memory (1,2-back task) by examining parturient and non-parturient women. METHODS: A total of 31 women were enrolled in this study, of which 16 were parturient women who had given birth within the past 2 years (mean age: 33.9±2.2 years) and 15 were non-parturient (mean age: 31.4±2.1 years). The mean age did not significantly differ between the two groups, so the effects of age were eliminated. To match the level of education between the two groups, college graduation was an inclusion criterion. A 1,2-back task consisting of six alphabets from A–F was created using the SuperLab software. For each task, there were 100 stimuli (alphabets) and 30 answers. The participants practiced the task prior to the main experiment to ensure that they adequately understood the procedure. RESULTS: The correct answer rates in the 1-back and 2-back tasks were 93.56±22.23% and 76.89±21.98%, respectively, in the non-parturient group and 95±10.04% and 80.83±13.67%, respectively, in the parturient group. The reaction time in the 1-back and 2-back tasks were 650.57±173.77 ms and 736.77±138.35 ms, respectively, in the non-parturient group and 621.91±81.90 ms and 737.5±195.99 ms, respectively, in the parturient group. There were no significant differences in the answer rates between the two groups, suggesting that parturition did not have a significant impact on the 1,2-back task performance. CONCLUSION: Birth experience does not significantly impair cognitive function. However, the findings of this pilot study are not highly reliable because of the limitations of the small sample size, degree of load, various types of working memory, and impact of hormones.
Cognition ; Education ; Female ; Humans ; Memory, Short-Term ; Parturition ; Pilot Projects ; Pregnancy ; Reaction Time ; Sample Size ; Task Performance and Analysis

PURPOSE: To analyze the job of nursing unit managers working at women's hospital, using DACUM (developing a curriculum), DACUM is a method for analyzing job-focused competency. METHODS: This study involved a descriptive survey. A DACUM workshop was held to define women's hospital nursing unit managers' role and identify their duties and tasks. For the workshop, a committee was formed consisting of 5 women's hospital nursing unit managers. Finally, after validation, the developed contents were made into a survey asking about nursing unit manager's duties and tasks. RESULTS: Sixteen duties and 83 tasks were identified on the DACUM chart. The importance, difficulty, and frequency of the tasks were ranked in terms of A, B, and C, with A being the highest degree. Eight tasks received A's all in importance, difficulty, and frequency of performance. The 8 tasks were: ‘taking over’, ‘taking care of seriously ill patients on handover’, ‘ward rounding’, ‘analyzing and resolving demands identified during handover and patient tour’, ‘reporting patient status during rounding’, ‘promoting breast-feeding’, ‘uterine contraction, and training for breast-feeding’. The duty with the biggest determinant coefficient (DC) was ‘patients complaint management’ (DC=7.09). Based on tasks, the one with the biggest DC was ‘solving patient and patient guardian's complaints’ (DC=7.53), followed by ‘making infection control guidelines’ (DC=7.5). CONCLUSION: When expanding the nursing staff of the hospital, women's hospitals nursing unit managers also need to use administrative functions as intermediaries to focus on the operation management of the entire hospital rather than direct nursing to suit their role.
Education ; Hospitals, Maternity ; Humans ; Infection Control ; Methods ; Nursing Staff ; Nursing ; Nursing, Supervisory ; Task Performance and Analysis

PURPOSE: This study was performed to measure the level of nursing tasks and practice environment of nursing work (PENW) perceived by nurses working on comprehensive wards or general wards, and to investigate the relationship between these two variables. METHODS: This study was a cross-sectional survey. Participants were 97 nurses working on comprehensive or general wards of one general hospital in Gyeonggido, Korea. Data were collected from October 17 to 21, 2016 using the structured questionnaires and analyzed with SPSS/PC ver 18.0 programs. RESULTS: The scores for nursing tasks (performance, importance, and knowledge) perceived by nurses working on comprehensive wards were higher than nurses on general wards. The score for PENW perceived by nurses working on comprehensive wards was significantly higher than that of nurses on general wards. For comprehensive ward nurses, there was a relationship between nursing tasks and PENW, but no relationship was found for general ward nurses. CONCLUSION: This findings show that nurses working on comprehensive wards evaluate nursing tasks and PENW higher than nurses working on general wards indicating that nursing managers should work to raise the perception of general ward nursing tasks and PENW.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Gyeonggi-do ; Hospitals, General ; Korea ; Nursing ; Patients' Rooms ; Task Performance and Analysis

PURPOSE: In this study, effects of positive, negative, and mixed verbal feedback were examined for accuracy of self-assessment, emotional responses, self-efficacy, and perceived quality of feedback in skill performance assessment. METHODS: Participants were a convenience sample of 104 second-year nursing students who had completed their fundamentals of nursing class. Participants were assigned randomly to a positive, a negative or a mixed feedback group. All participants completed the performance measure and then received the assigned the type of feedback from an evaluator. After delivery of feedback, they assessed their own performance using the same sheet as the evaluator and completed the survey for emotional response, self-efficacy for learning, and quality of feedback. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in accuracy of self-assessment and perceived quality of feedback among the three groups (χ²=4.74, p=.094; χ²=3.30, p=.192, respectively). The negative feedback group had significantly lower self-efficacy and positive emotions and more negative emotions than the other two groups (F=9.43, p=.009; χ²=16.29, p < .001; χ²=5.69, p=.005, respectively). CONCLUSION: Negative feedback can affect emotions and motivations for learning in nursing students and may interfere with the effectiveness of feedback, so instructors should pay more attention when providing negative feedback. Mixed feedback with an effect similar to positive feedback could be an alternative.
Education, Nursing ; Humans ; Learning ; Nursing* ; Self-Assessment* ; Students, Nursing ; Task Performance and Analysis

PURPOSE: This study aimed to identify the effect of role conflict, self-efficacy, and resilience on the nursing task performance of emergency department (ED) nurses. METHODS: Data were collected from 140 ED nurses working in 6 general hospitals, using self-reporting questionnaires. Data were analyzed using SPSS 23.0, and the analyses included descriptive statistics, a t-test, an ANOVA, the Pearson's correlation coefficient test, and a stepwise multiple regression. RESULTS: Nursing task performance differed significantly in terms of the following general characteristics of the participants: age, marital status, total clinical experience, clinical experience in the ED, and position at the hospital. Nursing task performance was positively correlated with role conflict, self-efficacy, and resilience. Self-efficacy, role conflict, clinical experience in the ED, and resilience were significant predictors of nursing performance, and they accounted for 36.9% of the variance. CONCLUSION: Self-efficacy was identified as the most significant factor affecting the nursing task performance of ED nurses. Therefore, it is necessary to develop programs to improve the self-efficacy of ED nurses.
Emergencies ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Hospitals, General ; Marital Status ; Nursing ; Task Performance and Analysis

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a cognitive training program on neurocognitive task performance and activities of daily living (ADL) in patients who had a stroke. METHODS: The research design for this study was a nonequivalent control group non-synchronized design. Patients were assigned to the experimental (n=21) or control group (n=21). The experimental group received a 4-week cognitive training program and usual care (i.e., rehabilitation service), while the control was received usual care only. Cognitive function was measured with a standardized neurocognitive test battery and ADL was assessed at baseline and one and two months after completion of the intervention. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to determine changes in cognitive function and ADL over 2 months. RESULTS: The interaction of group and time was significant indicating that the experimental group showed improvement in attention, visuospatial function, verbal memory, and executive function compared to the control group which had a sustained or gradual decrease in test performance. A significant group by time interaction in instrumental ADL was also found between the experimental group with gradual improvement and the control group showing no noticeable change. CONCLUSION: Findings show that the cognitive training program developed in this study is beneficial in restoring cognitive function and improving ADL in patients following a stroke. Further study is needed to investigate the long-term relationship between cognitive training participation and cognitive improvement and effective functioning in daily living.
Activities of Daily Living* ; Cognition* ; Cognitive Therapy ; Education* ; Executive Function ; Humans ; Memory ; Rehabilitation ; Research Design ; Stroke* ; Task Performance and Analysis

BACKGROUND: We examined the current status of specialized agencies for occupational health management (SAs) and their workforce. Furthermore, we aimed to clarify the current practice status of SA healthcare professionals and factors that influence their performance. METHODS: To examine the current SA workforce, we analyzed data from the 2014 Survey of Current Status of SA and their Workforce from the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL). Furthermore, we mailed out an original questionnaire to SA professionals to determine their current health management status and factors that affect their performance. Data from the respondents (N = 384) were analyzed. RESULTS: In 2014, the workforce performing health management in SAs comprised 232 physicians, 507 nurses, and 312 occupational hygienists, with no significant regional differences in the distribution of physicians and nurses. According to the findings of the questionnaire, the average daily number of worker consultations by physicians and nurses was 22.8, while the average time taken for health management ranged from 74.3 to 104.3 min, depending on the size of the firm. Most of the respondents (41.5%) answered that they were following-up on more than 80% of individuals with illnesses. Among health management tasks, performance scores of “consultations for general diseases” and “consultations for lifestyle habits” were relatively high, whereas health promotion activities at workplaces were relatively low. There was a significant correlation between the utilization of general and special health examination results and task performance. CONCLUSION: Among health management tasks, follow-up management of individuals with illnesses and consultations for disease/lifestyle habits were relatively well performed, whereas health promotion activities at workplaces were not performed well. Among factors that positively influenced SA performance at workplaces, only the utilization of health examination results had significant effects. Therefore, to accomplish health management goals and perform effective health management at workplaces, there is a need to establish a comprehensive system of occupational health service outsourcing integrating health examinations and health management services. Furthermore, the current task system, which focuses on follow-up management, should be expanded to incorporate preventive and health promotion functions—the fundamental functions of occupational health services (OHS).
Cross-Sectional Studies* ; Delivery of Health Care ; Employment ; Follow-Up Studies ; Health Promotion ; Life Style ; Occupational Health Services ; Occupational Health* ; Outsourced Services ; Postal Service ; Referral and Consultation ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Task Performance and Analysis ; Work Performance

BACKGROUND: The law enforcement officer profession requires performance of arduous occupational tasks while carrying an external load, consisting of, at minimum, a chest rig, a communication system, weaponry, handcuffs, personal protective equipment and a torch. The aim of this systematic review of the literature was to identify and critically appraise the methodological quality of published studies that have investigated the impacts of body armour on task performance and to synthesize and report key findings from these studies to inform law enforcement organizations. METHODS: Several literature databases (Medline, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, EMBAS) were searched using key search words and terms to identify appropriate studies. Studies meeting the inclusion criteria were critically evaluated using the Downs and Black protocol with inter-rater agreement determined by Cohen's Kappa. RESULTS: Sixteen articles were retained for evaluation with a mean Downs and Black score of 73.2 ± 6.8% (k = 0.841). Based on the research quality and findings across the included studies, this review determined that while effects of body armour on marksmanship and physiological responses have not yet been adequately ascertained, body armour does have significant physical performance and biomechanical impacts on the wearer, including: a) increased ratings of perceived exertion and increased time to complete functional tasks, b) decreased work capability (indicated by deterioration in fitness test scores), c) decreased balance and stability, and d) increased ground reaction forces. CONCLUSIONS: Given the physical performance and biomechanical impacts on the wearer, body armour should be carefully selected, with consideration of the physical fitness of the wearers and the degree to which the armour systems can be ergonomically optimized for the specific population in question.
Humans ; Jurisprudence* ; Law Enforcement* ; Personal Protective Equipment ; Physical Fitness ; Police ; Task Performance and Analysis ; Thorax