The complexity of breast-specific body image concerns among women considering cosmetic breast surgery (CBS) underscores the need for a nuanced assessment tool. Despite numerous existing body image measures, there remains a need for a concise, validated instrument focusing on satisfaction with breast appearance. The development of the Breast Appearance Concerns Scale (BACS) aimed at assessing the multifaceted nature of breast-specific concerns through a patient centered lens within a population of otherwise healthy young adult women. The BACS was developed through a comprehensive review of existing literature and refined using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, in addition to Rasch measurement analysis. The scale's psychometric properties were evaluated, including its internal consistency, test-retest reliability, divergent validity, and predictive validity through its relationship with established measures of appearance investment, self-esteem, anxiety, and depression. The BACS demonstrated a robust two-factor structure, emphasizing nipple-areola satisfaction and general breast satisfaction, with good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. The scale's divergent validity was supported by significant correlations with related psychological measures, establishing its distinctiveness in assessing breast-specific concerns. Discriminant analyses highlighted the scale's predictive efficacy, particularly for general breast satisfaction in relation to CBS consideration. The BACS scales also demonstrated superior specificity and sensitivity compared to other measures of psychological functioning. These findings indicate that the BACS is a reliable and valid instrument, offering deeper insights into the motivations behind CBS. While the scale has potential to improve the clinical consultation process, further research and refinement of the scale is needed to establish its broader applicability. Future directions should explore the BACS's comparative effectiveness with other instruments, its relevance across diverse populations, and its potential to predict post-surgical satisfaction. This study contributes to the ongoing efforts to address body image concerns and improve the quality of care for individuals considering CBS.

Online users struggle with different concerns whenever they use information systems. According to Miyazaki and Fernandez (2001), there are three important categories of concerns for online users: privacy concern, third party fraudulent behavior concern ("system security"), and online website fraudulent behavior concern ("security"). Kim, Sivasailam, and Rao (2004) proposed a similar categorization for web assurance dimensions. They argue that online websites are supposed to address users' privacy, security, and business integrity concerns to decrease user concerns. Although several researchers tried to answer how different factors affect these concerns and how these concerns affect users' behavior, there are so many ambiguities and contradictions in this area. This Essay I in this work develops a comprehensive map of the role of online privacy concern to identify related factors and categorize them through an in-depth literature review and conducting meta-analysis on online privacy concern. Although users have concerns about their privacy and security, there is still growth in the number of internet users and electronic commerce market share. One possible reason is that websites are applying assurance mechanisms to ensure the privacy of their users. Therefore, it could be an interesting research topic to investigate how privacy assurance mechanisms affect users concern and, consequently, their behavior in different concerns such as e-commerce and social networking sites. Different types of web assurance mechanisms are used by websites. The most prevalent among these assurance mechanisms include web assurance seals and assurance statements and privacy customization features. Essay II and III aims to address how these mechanisms influence e-commerce and social networking sites users' behavior. Essay II applies the procedural fairness theory by Lind and Tyler (1988) to explain how and why the web assurance mechanisms affect consumers' perceived risks. Essay III addresses the issue of self-disclosure on social networking sites. Applying protection motivation theory, this study aims to evaluate the effect of web assurance mechanisms on online privacy concern and self-disclosure behavior on the social networking sites.

This study sought to understand concerns and levels of use of a group of teachers in the process of developing a project-based learning (PBL) program, and the effect of a change facilitator on these processes. The research was guided by the following research questions: One, what are the concerns of teachers regarding the planning of a PBL curriculum? Two, what are the levels of use of teachers in the process of planning the PBL curriculum? Three, how does a change facilitator affect the process of change in the planning of a PBL curriculum? The population of this study consisted of seven subject area high school teachers and one district level administrative staff member. This study used the concerns-based adoption model (CBAM) to study the PBL innovation. CBAM is a conceptual framework that describes, explains, and predicts teachers' concerns and behaviors throughout the change process in education. In this study, the teachers progressed through the levels of use on a timeline at a rate that was much more rapid that what is typical for implementation of an innovation in an educational setting. This rapid progression was the function of the teacher population studied and the change facilitator that led the PBL curriculum design process. With the leadership of the change facilitator, the goals of the PBL curriculum innovation were realized, and the team created a PBL curriculum with multidisciplinary PBL products that could be implemented after the development phase.

Concern about privacy is an important consideration for users of information and communication technologies (ICT), particularly when using computer-mediated communication (CMC), i.e. Internet usage. Several researchers have studied privacy issues by taking into account the views of users to include individuals, organisations, privacy policy makers, governments and trust organisations. This thesis investigates whether an individual's perspectives about privacy are culturally relevant when using the Internet. This research used a survey in the form of a questionnaire in two countries, namely, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia to compare online privacy perspectives of young and mature (male and female) Saudi and Malaysian students. The research examines the relationship of the effect of the cultural background including the effect of social norms, religious belief, Internet regulation and IT skills of these Internet users upon their attitude towards privacy online and their perspectives about privacy. It also examines the effect of nationality (Malaysian and Saudi), gender and age groups. In this study, online privacy perspectives are a synthesis of three perceptions; what is 'personal' information online, the online privacy concerns and the Internet trust, whereby the cultural effects are the effect of religious beliefs, social norms, Internet regulation and IT skills in the privacy attitudes of keeping personal information safe, caring about their and others' privacy online and when revealing personal information. The demographic factors in this research are nationality, gender and age. To study these relationships, the research uses t-test, ANOVA, and single regression methods as data analysis techniques. The results show that the level of concern and degree of trust exhibited by Malaysian students with regard to submitting personal information via the Internet was affected the most by their gender, and social norms upon their online privacy attitudes. For Saudi students, the level of concern and trust with regard to submitting personal information via the Internet was found to be related to the effect of their age, gender, and religious beliefs on their online privacy attitudes. The other cultural factors, i.e. Internet regulation in force in each country and the IT skills of participants, are likely to have equal effects on both Malaysian and Saudi privacy perspectives. This research adds the cultural background, age and gender effects to the model of the calculus of the privacy concern that is proposed by Dinev and Hart (2006, pp. 63-64). The research also establishes what is 'private' in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, by identifying 'what counts as personal information with regard to Internet users' and provides a comparison in this concept between the two countries, their gender and age groups. For examples, Malaysian students consider name, e-mail address, date of birth, nationality and religion as 'personal' information and Saudi students consider home address, phone number, photographic image and credit card number as 'personal' information. In addition Saudi females tend to consider, particularly, home address, phone number, and photographic image as 'personal' information more than Saudi males. These findings should help both web designers and Internet policy makers in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia to consider these cultural effects when designing the privacy policies of their websites.

Attacks on computer systems continue to be a problem. The majority of the attacks target home computer users. To help mitigate the attacks some companies provide security awareness training to their employees. However, not all people work for a company that provides security awareness training and typically, home computer users do not have the incentive to take security awareness training on their own. Research in security awareness and security behavior has produced conflicting results. Therefore, it is not clear, how security aware home computer users are or to what extent security awareness affects the security behavior of home computer users. The goal of this study was to determine if there is a relationship between security awareness and users practicing good security behavior. This study adapted its research model from the health belief model (HBM), which accesses a patient’s decision to perform health related activities. The research model included the HBM constructs of perceived severity, perceived susceptibility, perceived threat, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, cues to action, and self-efficacy. The research model also contained the security awareness (SA) and concern for information privacy (CFIP) constructs. The model used SA to ascertain the effect of security awareness on a person’s self-efficacy in information security (SEIS), perceived threat, CFIP, and security behavior. The research model included CFIP to ascertain its effect on security behavior. The developed survey measured the participants' security awareness, concern for information privacy, self-efficacy, expectations of security actions, perceived security threats, cues to action, and security behavior. SurveyMonkey administered the survey. SurveyMonkey randomly selected 267 participants from its 30 million-member base. The findings of this study indicate home computer users are security aware. SA does not have a direct effect on a user’s security behavior, perceived threat, or CFIP. However, it does have influence on SEIS. SEIS has a weak effect on expectations. CFIP has an effect on a user’s security behavior after removing perceived threat from the research model. Perceived susceptibility has a direct effect on a user’s security behavior, but perceived severity or perceived threat does not.

Privacy has always been a respected value regardless of national borders, cultural differences, and time in every society throughout history. This study focuses on the unprecedented changes in the traditional forms of privacy and consequent concerns with regard to invasion of privacy along with the recent emergence and wide use of the Internet. Government intrusion into private domains through the Internet is examined as a major concern. Privacy invasions by Web marketers, hacker threats against privacy, and employer invasion of employee privacy at the workplace are discussed respectively. Then a set of possible solutions to solve the current problems and alleviate the concerns in this field is offered. Legal remedies that need to be performed by the government are presented as the initial solution. Then encryption is introduced as a strong technical method that may be helpful. Finally, a set of individual measures emphasized as complementary practical necessities. Nevertheless, this study indicates that technology will keep making further changes in the form and concerns of privacy that possibly may outdate these findings in the near future, however, privacy itself will always remain as a cherished social value as it has always been so far.

A paradox exists in attempting to resolve ecocrisis: awareness of ecological concerns is growing, but the crisis continues to escalate. John Firor, a well-known scientist, suggests that to resolve the paradox and hence ecocrisis, we need an alternative definition of "human beingness"--that is, a human ontology.

D. Litt. et Phil. / Factor analytic techniques were used to investigate the psychometric properties of three measuring instruments, namely the Adult Career Concerns Inventory (Super, Thompson & Lindeman, 1988), the Career Attitudes and Strategies Inventory (Holland & Gottfredson, 1994), and the Career Resilience Questionnaire (Fourie & Van Vuuren, 1998). The analyses served the purpose of elucidating the conceptual meanings of the constructs of career concerns, career status and career resilience in adult vocational adjustment. In an exploratory factor analysis of the Adult Career Concerns Inventory theoretical considerations suggested the extraction of four factors which explained 74% of the variance in the correlation matrix. The communalities of the variables were determined by means of squared multiple correlations of the subscales. On oblique rotation by means of Promax, a four factor solution was supported, reflecting the underlying dimensions of Exploration, Establishment, Maintenance and Disengagement. High correlations among the factors suggested the presence of a general factor, which may be termed career concerns. A factor extension analysis indicated the high quality of the test items, and a high level of correspondence between the Maintenance and Establishment factors. Maximum likelihood confirmatory factor analyses of the Adult Career Concerns Inventory were subsequently performed to test four and three factor measurement models. The estimated standardised factor pattern coefficients of both the models were found to be statistically significant. High correlations between the Maintenance and Establishment factors from the four factor model however favoured the three factor model, which allows for the merging of these two latent dimensions. In an exploratory factor analysis of the Career Attitudes and Strategies Inventory use were made of constructed item parcels. Theoretical considerations suggested the extraction of nine factors, which accounted for 54% of the variance in the correlation matrix. The squared multiple correlations of the Career Attitudes and Strategies Inventory item parcels were used to determine the initial communalities, and the nine factors were obliquely rotated by means of Promax. With the exception of two of the parcels, the factor pattern coefficients indicated that all the item parcels could be explained by nine factors that correspond with the Career Attitudes and Strategies Inventory subscales, namely Job Satisfaction, Career Worries, Family Commitment, Interpersonal Abuse, Skill Development, Geographical Barriers, Risk-taking Style, Work Involvement, and Dominant Style. The relative independence of these factors were inferred from the interfactor correlation matrix. A factor extension analysis indicated the overall high quality of the test items. A maximum likelihood confirmatory factor analysis of the Career Attitudes and Strategies Inventory at item parcel-level was based on a measurement model in accordance with the nine factors mentioned above. This analysis supported the nine factor model and revealed interesting relations among the dimensions of the Career Attitudes and Strategies Inventory. An exploratory factor analysis of the Career Resilience Questionnaire at item-level was also performed. Although the Kaiser criterion suggested the extraction of as many as 15 factors, and the MAP values suggested six factors, the initial communalities based on the squared multiple correlations were also considered. The initial communalities were reiterated twice, and the residual four factors accounted for 27% of the variance. An oblique rotation of the factors by means of Promax resulted in the tentative labelling of four latent dimensions, namely Leadership, Sense of Security in One’s Career, Acceptance of Uncertainty, and Values. These factors had satisfactory reliability coefficients, but no significant intercorrelations. Due to the theoretical inadequacies of this analysis, an oblique multiple groups factor analysis of the Career Resilience Questionnaire was performed in an attempt to cross-validate the factor solution reported by Fourie and Van Vuuren (1998). Low reliability coefficients of the factors were however obtained, an the postulated measurement model could not be supported. In an interbattery factor analysis of the Adult Career Concerns Inventory and the Career Attitudes and Strategies Inventory both theory and reliability coefficients of various factor solutions were considered, which resulted in the extraction of six factors. The factors were rotated obliquely by means of Direct Quartimin. The resultant factor solution met theoretical expectations by indicating several shared dimensions of the two instruments. Implementation, Advancing, Holding and Updating were grouped with Career Worries and Risk-taking Style. Job Satisfaction related negatively in a shared dimension with Crystallisation, Specification, Implementation, Retirement Planning and Retirement Living. Innovation was associated with Work Involvement, Skill Development and Dominant Style. Stabilisation, Risk-Taking Style and Geographical Barriers formed a shared dimension. Deceleration and Interpersonal Abuse were likewise associated. Lastly, Family Commitment and Updating shared a negative relation within another dimension. In essence, these factor analyses support the construct validity, theoretical generalisability, and usefulness of both the Adult Career Concerns Inventory and the Career Attitudes and Strategies Inventory, but fails to support the construct validity of the Career Resilience Questionnaire. Moreover, a foundation has been laid for the theoretical integration of the constructs of career concerns and career status.

Sharing economy services have grown significantly in the last decade. Thereby, P2P accommodation sharing services represent one of the largest sectors and play a crucial role in the tourism industry. The purpose of this paper is to explain the relationship between motives as well as concerns and the customer satisfaction of users in accommodation sharing services. Furthermore, it is investigated if the generation is affecting this relationship. In order to answer the research questions a quantitative method was used. A survey was carried out, which delivered 157 valid responses from existing users of accommodation sharing services. The findings of this research support the positive impact of the motives and the negative impact of the concerns on customer satisfaction. However, no effect of generation on the relationship could be found, whereas there is an indication that nationality might be an influencing factor. Since only the motives and concerns of existing users are studied, the sample is limited to a small share of the whole population, which has already used accommodation sharing services. The paper tests empirically the concept of generation and its impact on the relationship between the motives as well as concerns and the customer satisfaction in the setting of accommodation sharing services. This study shows that it is important for P2P accommodation sharing platform providers and hosts of P2P accommodations to deal with the concerns of the customers as well as to address aspects of the motives in their marketing campaigns to increase the customer satisfaction.

Submitted by Jorge Silva (jorgelmsilva@ufrrj.br) on 2018-11-01T17:47:44Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2013 - Bruno de Oliveira Costa.pdf: 983143 bytes, checksum: b24e9c2bdd02555eebb874922bce5db6 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-01T17:47:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2013 - Bruno de Oliveira Costa.pdf: 983143 bytes, checksum: b24e9c2bdd02555eebb874922bce5db6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-08-29 / CAPES / Thought and action are the result of interactions and professional experiences along teachers? careers. The knowledge and skills of teachers towards teaching context lead to different levels of concerns. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between pedagogical concerns of physical education teachers and the stages of professional development. This research is descriptive and was conducted in two phases. The first phase involved the application of Teachers Concerns Questionnaire - Physical Education (TCQ-PE, MCBRIDE, 1998) to 254 physical education teachers from education municipality of Rio de Janeiro, to identify their pedagogical concerns. The TCQ-P, (McBride, 1998), consists of 15 assertions that characterizes teachers' concerns into categories self, task and impact. In the second phase were selected eight teachers according to the stage they were at in their careers. These teachers were interviewed in order to know if their pedagogical concerns corresponded to the stage where they were in the teaching career. Data analysis in the first phase was quantitative and descriptive, while in the second phase proceeded content analysis of the transcribed interviews. The results show the predominance of concerns about the impact at all career stages, except those teachers of disinvestment phase that were more concerned with the task. Concerns about task and the impact were stable between career stages, while there was a slight decrease of self concerns when teachers progressed in his career. There was a tendency of teachers' concerns correspond with career stages, except the case a teacher in the diversification phase. Thus, partial match was found between teachers concerns and stages of professional development, despite commonalities and interactions established as teachers advance the teaching profession. / O pensamento e a a??o resultam da intera??o das distintas experi?ncias profissionais vivenciadas ao longo da carreira docente dos professores e o contexto em que trabalham. Os conhecimentos e compet?ncias dos professores confrontados com as demandas de contexto do ensino geram diferenciados n?veis de preocupa??es. O objetivo central deste estudo foi verificar se existe correspond?ncia entre as preocupa??es pedag?gicas manifestadas pelos professores de educa??o f?sica e os est?gios de desenvolvimento profissional. A pesquisa ? descritiva e foi realizada em duas fases. A fase extensiva de car?ter quantitativo e a fase intensiva de car?ter qualitativo. A amostra da fase extensiva ? composta de 254 professores de educa??o f?sica do munic?pio do Rio de Janeiro. Desta amostra selecionou-se oito professores para compor a amostra da fase intensiva, consoante com a fase da carreira. O instrumento utilizado na fase extensiva foi o Teachers Concerns Questionnaire ? Physical Education (TCQ-PE, MCBRIDE, 1998), composto de 15 assertivas que classifica as preocupa??es dos professores nas categorias consigo, com a tarefa e com o impacto. Na fase intensiva, o instrumento utilizado foi uma entrevista semi-estruturada com quest?es baseadas nas categorias de preocupa??es da teoria de Fuller (1969) e que constam do TCQ-PE. O tratamento dos dados da fase extensiva deu-se mediante estat?stica descritiva, destacando-se valores de m?dia e desvio padr?o das preocupa??es dos professores de educa??o f?sica. As entrevistas da fase intensiva da pesquisa foram transcritas e a an?lise das transcri??es foi realizada mediante an?lise de conte?do. Os resultados apontam que as preocupa??es com o impacto foram predominantes em todas as fases da carreira, exceto na fase de desinvestimento que apresentou maiores valores com a tarefa. Observou-se tamb?m que os escores das categorias de preocupa??es com a tarefa e com o impacto se mantiveram est?veis entre as fases da carreira, enquanto as preocupa??es consigo mostraram leve decr?scimo. Quanto a rela??o entre as preocupa??es dos professores e as fases da carreira identificou-se que h? uma tend?ncia de correspond?ncia entre as preocupa??es relatadas pelos professores e a fase em que se encontravam na carreira, exceto um caso da fase de diversifica??o. Dessa forma, foi verificada correspond?ncia parcial entre preocupa??es dos professores e as fases de desenvolvimento profissional, apesar de verificar-se comunalidades e intera??es estabelecidas conforme os professores avan?am na carreira docente.