We argue that behavioural public policies (BPP) should be categorized by the kind of mechanism through which they operate, not by the kind of treatment they implement. Reviewing the energy consumption BPP literature, we argue (i) that BPPs are currently categorized by treatment; (ii) that treatment-based categories are subject to mechanistic heterogeneity: there is substantial variation of mechanisms within each treatment type; and (iii) that they also display mechanistic overlap: there is substantial overlap between mechanisms across treatment types. Consequently, current categorizations of BPPs do not reveal the conditions of their efficacy and should be revised to better reflect mechanistic information.

Botswana's Trade Disputes Act was enacted to provide for a settlement of trade disputes by the Commissioner of Labour, mediators and arbitrators and for the establishment of the Industrial Court as a court of law and equity. Mediators therefore play a critical role in the resolution of trade disputes within Botswana's labour law framework, and while their role is facilitative, their contribution to the trajectory of resolving labour disputes is significant. This article analyses the form of mediation envisaged under the act, and the mediator's role and powers. It further considers circumstances under and the extent to which the Industrial Court may intervene in the decisions of mediators.

The 1988 constitution has led to the introduction of ethno-legal categories grounded on the dual premises of exceptionality and territorial administration. This article offers an explanation of why mobilizations based on ethnicity have not petered out despite the evident disengagement of the state, suggesting that it is important to distinguish between two ways of envisioning the articulation of singularity with territory: while the state considers that differences between populations pre-exist prior to territorial delimitation, local populations are convinced that the intention to proceed with demarcation suffices in itself to demonstrate their specificity. Moreover, from their perspective, a territorial claim is important as a way of accessing other rights that they consider equally essential. Our second section examines not only recent declarations of identity but also the observed switching between ethno-legal categories, building on a comparison with religious conversion as a meandering, complex, sometimes paradoxical process. Ethnicity, like religious affiliation, can thus be seen as a language developed at the national level but reappropriated by various populations in the service of local issues and usages. A final section examines particularism, whether quilombola, traditional or Indian, as the currently dominant norm and form of expression for social protest, while reflecting on the role of outside actors as “institutional hosts” [Houtzager 2004]. It should be noted, moreover, that such standardization of the forms of political involvement no more precludes the replication of the social hierarchies between outsiders and natives, than it prevents social protest from being co-opted by the authorities.

We conducted a longitudinal dietary intervention study to assess the impact of a store-based intervention on mediators and moderators and consequent dietary behaviour in Indigenous communities in remote Australia. We assessed dietary intake of fruit, vegetable, water and sweetened soft drink, mediators and moderators among 148, eighty-five and seventy-three adult participants (92 % women) at baseline (T1), end of intervention (T2) and at 24 weeks post intervention (T3), respectively. Mediators included perceived affordability and self-efficacy. Moderators were barriers to eat more fruit and vegetables and food security. Mixed-effects models were used to determine changes in mediators and moderators with time and associations between these and each dietary outcome. Perceived vegetable affordability increased from T1 (19 %; 95 % CI 11, 27) to T2 (38 %; 95 % CI 25, 51) (P=0·004) and returned to baseline levels at T3. High self-efficacy to eat more fruit and vegetables and to drink less soft drink decreased from T1 to T3. A reduction in soft drink intake of 27 % (95 % CI −44, −4; P=0·02) was reported at T3 compared with T1; no changes with time were observed for all other outcome measures. Regardless of time, vegetable intake was positively associated with self-efficacy to cook and try new vegetables, no barriers and food security. The dietary intervention went someway to improving perceived affordability of vegetables but was probably not strong enough to overcome other mediators and moderators constraining behaviour change. Meaningful dietary improvement in this context will be difficult to achieve without addressing underlying constraints to behaviour change.

Every ethnic group in Mali has at least one social category of specialists in conflict mediation and resolution. These are casted groups whose duties include the maintenance of a moral as well as structural social order, even in times of great turmoil. Recent research on the activities of these actors shows that the role of traditional mediator has not vanished, but it has evolved through bureaucratic institutionalization. A thickly described case study of the formation of RECOTRADE, the largest nongovernmental organization of traditional communicators in West Africa, demonstrates how this traditional institution is keeping pace with the political and civil development of the country.

The present study tests the mediating role of hypochondriasis to explain the relation between anxiety sensitivity and panic symptomatology. Fifty-seven outpatients with clinically significant levels of panic symptomatology were selected to participate in the study. Measures of anxiety sensitivity, hypochondriasis, and panic symptomatology were obtained from standardized, self-administered questionnaires: the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI; Reiss, Peterson, Gursky, & McNally, 1986), the Whiteley Index of Hypochondriasis (WI; Pilowsky, 1967), and the Panic-Agoraphobic Spectrum Self-Report (PAS-SR; Cassano et al., 1997; Shear et al., 2001). Regression analyses were performed to test for the mediation models. The results show that the effect of anxiety sensitivity on panic symptomatology is not significant when controlling the hypochondriacal concerns, whereas the latter predicted panic symptoms. This result holds for the overall ASI as well as for the Physical Concerns and the Mental Incapacitation Concerns dimensions of the ASI scale. No evidence of a direct relation between the Social Concerns dimension and panic symptoms was found. The findings suggest that hypochondriacal concerns might represent the mechanism through which anxiety sensitivity is able to influence panic symptoms.

Background: Disaster recovery is a complex phenomenon. Too often, recovery is measured in singular fashion, such as quantifying rebuilt infrastructure or lifelines, without taking in to account the affected population's individual and community recovery. A comprehensive framework is needed that encompasses a much broader and far-reaching construct with multiple underlying dimensions and numerous causal pathways; without the consideration of a comprehensive framework that investigates relationships between these factors, an accurate measurement of recovery may not be valid. This study proposes a model that encapsulates these ideas into a single framework, the Socio-Ecological Model of Recovery.

Methods: Using confirmatory factor analysis, an operational measure of recovery was developed and validated using the five measures of housing stability, economic stability, physical health, mental health, and social role adaptation. The data were drawn from a sample of displaced households following Hurricane Katrina. Measures of psychological strength, risk, disaster exposure, neighborhood contextual effects, and formal and informal help were modeled to examine their direct and indirect effects on recovery using a structural equation model.

Findings: All five elements of the recovery measure were positively correlated with a latent measure of recovery, although mental health and social role adaptation displayed the strongest associations. An individual's psychological strength had the greatest association with positive recovery, followed by having a household income greater than $20 000 and having informal social support. Those factors most strongly associated with an absence of recovery included the time displaced since the hurricane, being disabled, and living in a community with substantial social disorder.

Discussion: The socio-ecological framework provides a robust means for measuring recovery, and for testing those factors associated with the presence or absence of recovery.

(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2010;4:S46-S54)

This study examined the relationship between sickness absence from work, loss of the benefits of employment, and depression in injured workers. A sample of 112 clients of Australian occupational rehabilitation service providers were the participants: (men = 56; women = 56; mean age = 45.25 years, SD = 10.34). Each had a chronic (>3 months) work-related musculoskeletal injury; 49% were sickness absent (n = 55) and 51% were partially fit and performing modified duties (n = 57). All completed self-report measures of the nature and duration of sickness absence, access to the benefits of employment, and severity of depression symptoms. Bootstrapping mediational analyses found that the relationship between duration of sickness absence and depression was fully mediated by financial strain and psychosocial benefits of employment. Financial strain was also the strongest predictor of depression in circumstances of sickness absence, but collective purpose was the strongest predictor when modified duties were being performed. These findings support injury management policies aimed at minimising injured workers' social and physical separation from the workplace and assisting sickness absent workers to maintain connections with their work team.

Background: Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) has proven to be effective for anxiety-based school refusal, but it is still unknown how CBT for school refusal works, or through which mechanisms. Aims: Innovative statistical approaches for analyzing small uncontrolled samples were used to investigate the role of self-efficacy in mediating CBT outcomes for anxiety-based school refusal. Method: Participants were 19 adolescents (12 to 17 years) who completed a manual-based cognitive-behavioural treatment. Primary outcomes (school attendance; school-related fear; anxiety) and secondary outcomes (depression; internalizing problems) were assessed at post-treatment and 2-month follow-up. Results: Post-treatment increases in school attendance and decreases in fear about attending school the next day were found to be mediated by self-efficacy. Mediating effects were not observed at 2-month follow-up. Conclusions: These findings provide partial support for the role of self-efficacy in mediating the outcome of CBT for school refusal. They contribute to a small body of literature suggesting that cognitive change enhances CBT outcomes for young people with internalizing problems. Regarding methodology, the product of coefficient test appears to be a valuable way to study mediation in outcome studies involving small samples.

The aim of the study was to examine the nature of perfectionism, to gain a better understanding of the construct using the Chinese population. The study also explored the relationships between perfectionism, self-esteem and depression after identifying the three dimensions of perfectionism. A sample of 292 Chinese university students completed the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS), the Hewitt Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (HMPS), the Almost Perfect Scale — Revised (APS-R), the Self-Esteem Scale (SES), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). As hypothesised, the confirmatory factor analyses revealed that multidimensional perfectionism is explained as a three-factor construct with dimensions of maladaptive perfectionism, adaptive perfectionism and order factor. As predicted, the structural equation model analyses indicated that self-esteem partially mediated the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and depression. Implications for counselling interventions and future research are discussed.

Research concerned with relations between adult age and cognitive functioning is briefly reviewed. The coverage is necessarily selective, and is organized in terms of five major questions. These are what abilities are related to age, how many distinct influences are contributing to the relations between age and cognitive functioning, do the differences between people increase with advancing age, what is responsible for the discrepancies between cross-sectional and longitudinal age comparisons of cognitive functioning, and what methods can be used to identify causes of age-related influences on cognition. Although definitive answers are not yet possible, quite a bit of information relevant to the questions is now available. Moreover, the existing information has implications for the design, analysis, and interpretation of cognitive and neuropsychological research concerned with aging. (JINS, 2010, 16, 754–760.)