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Employees with positive attitudes about accepting help from colleagues may perform better.

The willingness of American employees to accept colleagues’ offers of help was examined in four studies. Five common negative beliefs about accepting help were uncovered: finishing work with assistance may reduce their image at work, accepting help will indebt them to their coworkers, it is more satisfying to complete work without assistance, colleagues may be offering help for self-serving reasons and colleagues may not be providing high quality assistance.

The researchers found that employees with higher levels of such beliefs had poorer job performance, showed less citizenship behaviour and less creativity, and more negative job attitudes, according to their supervisors. Contrary to the negative beliefs, employees who accepted colleagues’ assistance were viewed more favourably by their supervisors than those who did not accept help.

The research suggests the need for workplace interventions to ease employee’s concerns about accepting help from colleagues.

doi.org/10.1037/apl0000300

Museum visitors more likely to have positive intentions if they feel good about being green.

A number of tourist venues are implementing measures to minimise harm to the environment, for example by recycling items, installing energy-efficient heating and cooling systems, using eco-friendly architectural design, selling environmentally friendly foods, and encouraging sustainable practices among visitors and employees.

Researchers in South Korea examined factors that influence museum visitors’ willingness to practice green activities. A model was tested via a field survey of 270 museum visitors. The strongest influence on intention of being green was positive anticipated feelings about being green. Such feelings were directly and indirectly influenced by environmental awareness, which in turn influenced the intention of being environmentally responsible.

These findings highlight the potential of influencing visitors’ (to museums and other tourist venues) environmental attitude by enhancing their feelings of being proud, confident and worthy through adopting environmentally responsible intentions.

doi.org/10.2224/sbp.6558

Emotional vulnerability linked to greater risks.

A Swedish study examined the influence of emotional reserve on post-concussion symptoms following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Patients (n=122) were recruited from three emergency departments. They were assessed within one week of injury and one-year post-injury. It revealed more symptoms of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress in the acute stage for patients who developed post-concussion symptoms than in those who did not.

At one year post-injury, patients with post-concussion symptoms reported more mental health difficulties pre-injury and concurrent with the injury, a lower level of functioning before the injury and more stress. They also showed more physical symptoms of anxiety, mistrust, embitterment and less resilience.

This research suggests psychological vulnerability prior to injury can influence the emergence and persistence of post-concussion symptoms after mTBI. The researchers recommend considering pre-injury emotional and cognitive state in clinical management of post-concussion symptoms.

doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-020884

Brothers and sisters of chronically ill children may experience difficulties at school.

While it is known children with chronic illness often experience difficulties at school, little is known about whether their siblings do also. In an Australian study, interviews were undertaken with 27 parents, about the experiences of 31 siblings. Forty-five per cent of siblings were believed to be having school difficulties related to the ill child, including lack of attention from teachers, reduced attention from parents at home; increased stress or anxiety at school; increased absenteeism, and changes in behaviour from increased carer responsibilities.

Anxiety impacted on school behaviour in different ways, including through withdrawing from social activities, misbehaving and truanting. The researchers recommend a school-based sibling support model with psycho-education for staff and siblings, individualised psychological support for siblings, normalising the sibling experience, and providing consistent support.

doi.org/10.1017/edp.2018.3

Some men feel it is ‘unmasculine’ to ask for help and feel unmotivated to get help.

Young men are often reluctant to seek help for mental health difficulties. An Australian study conducted interviews and focus groups with 29 adolescent males with and without clinical anxiety symptoms to understand barriers to and facilitators of help-seeking.

The main barriers to help-seeking included stigma given social norms of masculinity, a preference for self-reliance, limited understanding about anxiety, a feeling that discussing emotional problems with a health professional was too confronting and finding it difficult to get motivated to put in the effort required to obtain help. Common facilitators of help-seeking were increasing the accessibility of school-based information and resources on mental health, including making these highly visible and available quickly.

The men also suggested there was a need for a wider range of formal and informal help-seeking options, including discrete help-seeking options and high speed/low effort options. They also indicated that resources should contain more informal terms and be written in a more ‘masculine’ tone.

doi.org/10.1111/ajpy.12191

Sport psychologists working in cricket report challenges in their roles and a lack of client understanding.

The experiences of 12 British sport psychologists working in elite cricket were examined through interviews. Key issues identified in their feedback included a lack of role clarity, a lack of job security, the need for clients to view them as trustworthy, a lack of understanding from clients of the meaning of a sport psychology qualification and the need for sport psychologists to work with multiple stakeholders.

The hybrid nature of the role, working with clients, coaches and other stakeholders, also contributed to lack of role clarity and extra workload. Further themes identified were the need to have sufficient time to work with players and lack of transparency in advertisement for and recruitment of sport psychologists. These barriers make it difficult for sport psychologists to meet role expectations and make long-term plans.

The researchers recommended sport psychology professional bodies work more closely with sporting organisations to increase understanding of what sport psychologists do, who to recruit and how to determine success.

doi.org/10.1123/tsp.2017-0010