Workforce productivity has become a critical factor in the strength and sustainability of a company's overall business performance. Absenteeism affects productivity; however, even when employees are physically present at their jobs, they may experience decreased productivity and below-normal work quality--a concept known as decreased presenteeism. This article describes the creation and testing of a presenteeism scale evaluating the impact of health problems on individual performance and productivity. A total of 175 county health employees completed the 34-item Stanford Presenteeism Scale (SPS-34). Using these results, we identified six key items to describe presenteeism, resulting in the SPS-6. The SPS-6 has excellent psychometric characteristics, supporting the feasibility of its use in measuring health and productivity. Further validation of the SPS-6 on actual presenteeism (work loss data) or health status (health risk assessment or utilization data) is needed.

Supportive-expressive therapy, with its emphasis on providing support and helping patients face and deal with their disease-related stress, can help reduce distress in patients with metastatic breast cancer.

A versatile, ultralight, N‐doped, 3D graphene framework (GF) is prepared. In their Communication on L. Qu and co‐workers show that this GF has an ultra‐low density ((2.1±0.3) mg cm−3; a GF block can balance on a dandelion) and its adsorption capacity for oils is much higher than that of the best carbonaceous sorbents. The 3D open‐pore structure and N doping make GF promising as an electrode material for supercapacitors and as a metal‐free catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction in fuel cells.

A reliable and valid measure is needed for assessing the psychological symptoms experienced in the aftermath of a traumatic event. Previous research suggests that trauma victims typically experience dissociative, anxiety and other symptoms, during or shortly after a traumatic event. Although some of these symptoms may protect the trauma victim from pain, they may also lead to acute stress, posttraumatic stress, or other disorders. The Stanford Acute Stress Reaction Questionnaire (SASRQ) was developed to evaluate anxiety and dissociation symptoms in the aftermath of traumatic events, following DSM-IV criteria for acute stress disorder. We present data from multiple datasets and analyses supporting the reliability and construct, convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity of the SASRQ.

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BACKGROUND. This study was designed to replicate our earlier finding that intensive group therapy extended survival time of women with metastatic breast cancer. Subsequent findings concerning the question of whether such psychosocial support affects survival have been mixed. METHODS. One hundred twenty‐five women with confirmed metastatic (n = 122) or locally recurrent (n = 3) breast cancer were randomly assigned either to the supportive‐expressive group therapy condition (n = 64), where they received educational materials plus weekly supportive‐expressive group therapy, or to the control condition (n = 61), where they received only educational materials for a minimum of 1 year. The treatment, 90 minutes once a week, was designed to build new bonds of social support, encourage expression of emotion, deal with fears of dying and death, help restructure life priorities, improve communication with family members and healthcare professionals, and enhance control of pain and anxiety. RESULTS. Overall mortality after 14 years was 86%; median survival time was 32.8 months. No overall statistically significant effect of treatment on survival was found for treatment (median, 30.7 months) compared with control (median, 33.3 months) patients, but there was a statistically significant intervention site‐by‐condition interaction. Exploratory moderator analysis to explain that interaction revealed a significant overall interaction between estrogen‐receptor (ER) status and treatment condition (P = .002) such that among the 25 ER‐negative participants, those randomized to treatment survived longer (median, 29.8 months) than ER‐negative controls (median, 9.3 months), whereas the ER‐positive participants showed no treatment effect. CONCLUSIONS. The earlier finding that longer survival was associated with supportive‐expressive group therapy was not replicated. Although it is possible that psychosocial effects on survival are relevant to a small subsample of women who are more refractory to current hormonal treatments, further research is required to investigate subgroup differences. Cancer 2007. © 2007 American Cancer Society.

The aim of this study was to determine whether psychological adjustment to advanced breast cancer was positively associated with expressing emotion and adopting a fighting spirit and negatively associated with denial and fatalism. Total mood disturbance on the Profile of Mood States was used as the measure of psychological adjustment. The Courtauld Emotional Control Scale measured emotional expression, and the Mental Adjustment to Cancer measured fighting spirit, denial, and fatalism. The sample included 101 women with a diagnosis of metastatic or recurrent breast cancer. Fighting spirit and emotional expressiveness were found to be associated with better adjustment. No association was found between mood disturbance and denial or fatalism. Because this was a cross-sectional study, no conclusions regarding a causal relationship between adjustment and emotional expressiveness or adjustment and fighting spirit were possible.