This study considered the nature of home/work stress and investigated the role of social support from both intra- and extraorganizational sources in reducing that stress and buffering its impact on burnout. Specifically, demographic factors affecting perceptions of home/work stress and the impact of various sources of social support were examined. Data were collected from nursing-home nurses and analyzed using regression techniques. Results suggested that participants with children and those cohabiting with their partners were particularly vulnerable to home/work stress. Results also indicated that different sources of social support worked in unique ways to relieve the strain of home/work stress. Implications of this research for theory on social support are considered, along with the pragmatic suggestions for using study results in dealing with home/work stress.

This article presents an integrative perspective on the role that doctor-patient communication and cultural competency training play in health care disparities. Communication between minority patients and physicians is characterized by doctors' biased expectations, patients' perceptions of discrimination, linguistic asymmetry, and self-fulfilling prophecy spirals. Cultural competency training, which has been put forth as a remedy, is itself a complex construct, and methodological variations in cultural competency research make it difficult to reach simple conclusions about its effects. The authors review and synthesize the cross-disciplinary literature in these areas. They propose several directions for research, emphasizing that new studies can lay the groundwork for more trusting verbal communication between doctors and minority patients.

This study examined the relationship among structural communicative variables and perceptions of social support, stress, and burnout in a sample of elementary school teachers. Specifically, it was hypothesized that participation in decision making, network link strength, and link multiplexity would influence perceptions of supervisory (principal) and co-worker support. These perceptions, and workload, then influence burnout and job satisfaction. The results provide support for a model that (a) suggests a differentiation between relational depth and relational breadth in predicting perceived support, (b) highlights the importance of supportive communication in reducing role ambiguity, and (c) suggests that burnout has distinctive affective and exhaustion dimensions that should be considered in future research.

Cancer recurrence presents oncologists with many challenges, including discussing prognosis. A thematic analysis of patient interviews was conducted to learn more about how this challenge is met by doctors and patients in their communication. Female patients being treated for a cancer recurrence at a comprehensive cancer center (N = 30) were asked to recall how they discussed their prognosis with oncologists when initially diagnosed and when the cancer recurred. All interviews were recorded, transcribed, and thematic analysis applied to patients' remarks concerning prognosis. Following comparison of prognosis quotes identified in the transcript, two primary themes were drawn from the data: communicating optimism at the initial diagnosis; and communicating chronic disease management at recurrence. Three subthemes were also identified in the recurrence communication: managing the new information; ambiguous communication about the prognosis; and the information seeking paradox. Problematic integration theory is offered as an important explanatory mechanism for understanding oncologist-patient communication about prognosis during a cancer recurrence.

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