This article reports findings from interviews that explored the meanings occupational therapists attach to independence as a value and a therapeutic goal in interactions with elderly clients. Through a historical review of the literature, we trace the changing use of this term and identify two analytically distinct concepts associated with it: independence as self-reliance in activity and indep...

OBJECTIVE To illuminate findings of the survey of the health status of Gypsies and Travellers by exploring their health-related beliefs and experiences. DESIGN Qualitative study of a purposive subsample from in-depth interviews using framework analysis. SETTING The homes or alternative community settings of the participants in five geographically dispersed study locations in England. PART...

Self-efficacy, self-reliance, and motivation were examined in a quasi-experimental study with 178 sophomore university students. Participants used an interactive cardiovascular anatomy and physiology CD-ROM, and completed a 15-item questionnaire. Reliability of the questionnaire was established using Cronbach’s alpha. Post-tests and course grades were examined using a t-test, demonstrating no s...

Resilience research with war-affected populations has long conceptualized resilience as the absence of psychopathology and operationalized it by use of standardized measures. However, literature on resilience increasingly highlights the importance of also including indicators of positively valued functioning as well as contextually sensitive indicators of resilience. This study used a participa...

We posit a female advantage in the relationship between self-reliance and leadership evaluations. We test this prediction in four studies. First, using multi-rater evaluations of young managers, we find that self-reliance relates positively to leadership evaluations for women, but not for men. Next, in each of three experiments, we manipulate the gender of a leader and the agentic trait he or s...

OBJECTIVE To gain a greater understanding of masculinity and its potential influence on health-improving behavior in midlife and older African American (AA) men. METHODS Forty-nine AA men aged 45-88 years completed in-depth interviews to ascertain their perspectives on masculinity, how masculine identity in this population might be influenced by age and physical activity level, or how it migh...