Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to examine the deep conceptual underpinnings of trust and communication breakdowns via selected health inquiries into things that go wrong using evolutionary psychology. Design/methodology/approach – This paper explains how this is carried out, and...

Clinical directorate service structures (CDs) have been widely implemented in acute settings in the belief that they will enhance efficiency and patient care by bringing teams together and involving clinicians in management. We argue that the achievement of such goals depends not only on...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how, and the degree to which, superior and peer managers exerted pressure on middle managers' work cross‐culturally. Design/methodology/approach – Australian ( n =251) and Singaporean ( n =340) health managers, respectively of Anglo and...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate in an Anglo and a Confucian‐Asian nation how pressure is exerted on middle managers by their subordinate staff, and the managerial activities affected. Design/methodology/approach – In a survey, Australian ( n =251) and Singaporean ( n...

Health practitioners (N = 665) from the Chinese, Italian, German, Greek, Arabic and Anglo Australian communities used social distance scales to rate the attitudes of people in their communities toward 20 disability groups. Significant differences were found in community attitudes toward people...

Scott hypothesised that there are national differences in the theories held by health professionals regarding rehabilitation. Thus they have different perceptions of and reactions to patient behaviours. This was tested by comparing the reactions of female physiotherapists, occupational...

Patients (N = 126) interviewed during hospitalization at the onset of chronic illness were found to be experiencing considerable emotional arousal. Their psychological reactions were assessed by applying content analysis scales to accounts of their current experiences and comparing these with...