Seattle University Collaborative Projects - International Academy of ...

What Do You Mean?Monica Broome, University of Miami School of Medicine (mbroome@med.miami.edu)For communication to flow smoothly and to improve outcomes in communication, it is essentialto understand important underlying principles. There are multiple factors that influence how wecommunicate with each other, including but not limited to: nationality, ethnicity, background,class, age, race, culture, and gender. There is now extensive research from the scientific fields ofpsychology, neurology, anthropology, and sociology that show us that men and womencommunicate differently. This presentation will focus on some of the gender differences incommunication. Understanding the different ways that men and women communicate is a keyfactor in understanding what is really being said and increases the odds of getting to the heart ofthe matter. Understanding these gender differences in the workplace will also give needed insightto pre-empt conflict and improve the outcome of meetings and the overall workplaceatmosphere. Understanding these differences may also help with clients and in the courtroom toknow when further questioning is needed to clarify what was said as opposed to what was meant.Using this insight in relationships will prevent strife and decrease misunderstandings. Thispresentation will offer some of the background research and basic principles of genderdifferences in communication, and will offer practical suggestions to increase understanding andimprove conversational outcomes between men and women.Cortisol Concentrations and Workers Self-Reported Mental Health: Are TheyRelated?Alain Marchand, University of Montreal – School of Industrial Relations(alain.marchand@umontreal.ca)Pierre Durand, University of Montreal – School of Industrial Relations(pierre.durand@umontreal.ca)Sonia Lupien, University of Montreal, Montreal – Department of Psychiatry(sonia.lupien@umontreal.ca)The cortisol hormone is a biomarker of stress. One possible use of cortisol measurements inoccupational mental health is to better calibrate mental questionnaires based on subjectiveevaluation. Sound cut-points may be established to scores based on subjective evaluation. Casesand non-cases may be more reliably estimated, as well as developing sound workplacepreventive strategies to intervene on symptoms before they reach an undesired level. However,all of these assume a significant relationship between cortisol excretions and scores on mentalhealth questionnaires. This study aims to model the relationship between three self-reportedmental health outcomes (psychological distress, depression, and professional burnout) andcortisol concentrations by comparing non-working day to working day ones. Saliva sampleswere collected on 132 workers employed in 13 workplaces in Canada. Consenting workers145