Attitudes.

PURPOSE: The effects of media coverage of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study on the attitudes and behavior of women regarding hormone replacement therapy (HRT) were studied. METHODS: This cross-sectional observational study took place in 12 counties in western North Carolina from 1997 to 1999. Participants were recruited from among women who participated in a previous study, which examined the effects of osteoporosis education on adherence to prevention guidelines. Women in the current study were limited to those previously reporting postmenopausal status and use of HRT. Participants were interviewed by telephone with a 41-item scripted survey. Main outcomes included primary sources of information regarding HRT, perception of the accuracy of information from various sources, and changes in HRT use. RESULTS: Every woman in the study (n = 97) reported having heard about the WHI study, and 52% reported that it had affected their use of HRT. Women using estrogen alone were as likely as women using an estrogen-plus-progestin combination to have had their use affected (48% versus 59%, respectively). Women making a change after hearing about the WHI study results were significantly less likely to trust information from their physicians regarding HRT. CONCLUSION: A survey of women who had received HRT found that media reports on the WHI study had a significant influence on their use of HRT.

Attitude↗

PubMed2005

Diversity in context: how organizational culture shapes reactions to workers with disabilities and others who are demographically different.

Successfully integrating workers with disabilities into their organizations is both a challenge and an opportunity facing managers today. Despite laws and business practices prohibiting discrimination against those with disabilities, people with disabilities are consistently underutilized in organizations. This article applies theories of demographic diversity in organizations to assert that a richer understanding of organizational cultures and their implications for workers with disabilities may shed light on the question of how and why workers with disabilities may be excluded from mainstream work experiences and career progression. The article briefly reviews business arguments that support integration of workers with disabilities into organizations based on their contribution to the overall diversity within the organization, and reviews complications in the research on diversity to date that leave important questions of the potential gains or detriments from increasing this diversity unanswered. The article then goes on to introduce organizational culture as an underinvestigated but likely potent tool in explaining how and when workers who are demographically different, in general, and with disabilities, specifically, may be successfully integrated into an organization's work force. The article introduces three types of organizational culture: culture of differentiation, culture of unity, and culture of integration. Each is explained in terms of its content and its implications for managing diversity. A discussion of the implications of culture as a primary tool for managing the integration of workers with disabilities concludes the paper.

Attitude↗