Given the strategic relevance of Human Resources Management (HRM) in organizations and the lack of scientific instruments to measure employees' perceptions about policies and practices of HRM, this study aimed to validate the Human Resources Management Policies and Practices Scale (HRMPPS) through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis using the maximum likelihood method. The study has a quantitative design, but also included qualitative analysis required for the development of a scale. Employees from various organizations composed a sample of 632 people. Scale reliability was assessed by Cronbach's alpha and Jöreskog's rho. A six-factor model was generated showing high-reliability and good fit. Construct validity was provided through convergent and discriminant analyses. The factors were consistent with the literature review and explained about 58% of the construct's total variance. This study contributes to the scientific production in the area of Human Resources Management since HRMPPS can be used not only in relational studies but also as an evaluation instrument by managers who wish to improve their employees' well-being as well as organizational outcomes.

Introduction: self-efficacy matches the belief that a person has that she is able to produce the results she wants to achieve. The beliefs of self-efficacy that parents have about the baby emerge as a powerful predictor of positive parenting. Objective: this study aimed to evaluate the maternal self-efficacy behavior in hospitalized mothers and validate an instrument for measuring this concept developed and validated in England by Barnes and Adamson-Macedo, in 2007. Method: this crosssectional exploratory study convenience cohort comprised 87 mothers of newborn babies, 26 premature and 61 full-term infants. The scale Perceived Maternal Parenting Self-Efficacy (PMP S-E), which consists of 20 items that represent four subscales was tested for reliability and validity. Results: the internal consistency of the scale PAEPM reached a value of .86, the internal consistency and reliability estimates for each of the subscales also reached acceptable values. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) confirmed the validity of the construct and the scores of self-efficacy were normally distributed for both subgroups and total sample. Conclusions: PMP S-E scale proved to be an easy application tool and psychometrically robust, reliable and valid for use with mothers of hospitalized new-borns both premature as the term clinically stable. It is a reliable method of identifying mothers of babies who need more support from the hospital staff.

Perceiving individual and organizational change: the role of attitudes, values, power and organizational capacityThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the individual and organizational changes perceived by the employees of a public sector organization that suffered interventions for four years. The study had three stages: measurement of organizational characteristics prior to the interventions using questionnaires; investigation of the objectives of a specific intervention and the demand for change mentioned by the organization’s employees in order to construct a tool to evaluate the perceived change; and the investigation of the factors that influenced the perception of individual and organizational change. The factors that foretold the perception of organizational changes were organizational characteristics, taken as cultural variables - organizational values and power configurations (measured before and after the intervention); organizational characteristics that were change facilitators; and individual variables, such as attitudes in the face of organizational change (measured after the intervention). The criterion or dependent variable for the study was the perception of organizational and individual change. Hierarchical regressions were used to analyze the relations postulated in the study. The results indicated that the organizational values of autonomy and egalitarianism and the attitudes of acceptance and fear were the most frequent predictors of the perceived changes

This study investigates the role of attributes of organizational change, the attitudes toward change as an antecedent of well-being at work, and how these antecedents vary over the course of an organizational change. Organization change planning, perceived risk level, and attitudes toward organizational change are examined as antecedents. Attitudes toward change were tested as mediators in the relationship between change attributes and well-being. Hypotheses were tested in a three-wave study (N = 505, N = 390, and N = 348 respondents, respectively) of employees from a public organization in Brazil undergoing a strategic reorientation. Attitudes toward change had stable positive effects in each wave, conducted 12, 24, and 48 months after the change was initiated. This study corroborates findings that uncertainty and risk contribute to the formation of negative cognitions and feelings throughout the process of organizational change but do not necessarily result in discomfort in relation to the work. The effects of planning the change and the perceived risk level of the change were not moderated by time. This study’s results do not support the ideas of gradual shifts and discontinuous information processing in cognitive models of employees. In contrast, it is possible to conclude that perceptions are confirmed over time. Implications for managing employee reactions and well-being in different phases of change are discussed.

This study investigated the auditory sensory-perceptual level of specific learning disorder (SLD) and explored relationships among neuropsychological assessments for SLD, auditory processing, and short and long latencies of auditory event-related potentials (ERPs). Fifteen children (7-14 years old) comprised the control group; 34 children comprised the SLD group. Audiologic assessments included tone audiometry, acoustic immittance measurements, acoustic reflex, central auditory processing, brainstem evoked response audiometry, and long latency potentials (P3 and N2). Children's intelligence levels were assessed with 2 intelligence batteries, 1 verbal and 1 non-verbal, as well as with visuomotor skills. Multiple regression showed a significant interaction effect of APE tests and P3/N2 over Wechsler Scale performance in freedom of distractibility indexes and multiple subtests. Errors in the Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test were predicted by lower parental education, lower performance in APE tests: dichotic digits and pediatric/synthetic sentence identification-ipsilateral, and longer P3/N2 latencies, particularly regarding integration and rotation distortions. Children with altered auditory processing exhibit a specific cognitive profile, including lower verbal and spatial reasoning performance, that is sensitive to parental education level. Children with SLD should undergo a complete multimodal examination to identify their specific difficulties and needs.