Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs about Food Additives and Obesity by Lorna Theresa Ingram MS, Long Island University, 2007 BA, Florida International University, 1999 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Walden University November 2019 Obesity is a chronic health problem that affects the health and well being of its population. The purpose of this cross-sectional, descriptive study was to examine whether there is a relationship between individuals’ knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs regarding food additives and obesity. The research questions concerned knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs participants had regarding food additives and obesity. The theoretical foundation for this study was the social learning theory. The participants for this study were recruited from a religious organization in central Florida via announcements in the church bulletin. The method of study was a survey using Survey Monkey online website and the data analysis method was using SPSS software program. According to study results, on average, the level of knowledge regarding food additives and obesity was a score of 5 out of 7, and there was no difference in knowledge, attitudes, or beliefs among the study participants based on age, income, gender, education, or racial group. The linear regression model indicated that there was a statistically significant relationship between associate degree and knowledge; however, assumption testing revealed that there were issues of heteroscedasticity indicating that the results should be treated with caution. Social change implications based on the findings of this study include a need for additional education regarding the relationship between food additives and obesity, particularly among individuals with lower levels of education.

Mathematical proofs are a part of mathematics that involves thinking and reasoning, rather than computation. The conceptions of Ontario high school mathematics teachers, of what they consider to be mathematical proofs and the role proofs have in their teaching practice, were examined through the use of individual interviews (60 minutes per participant) and a focus group discussion (one 90 minute session). The transcripts were each analyzed through emergent coding before themes were formed from comparing codes across transcripts. The interpretive lens included looking at teacher beliefs on the nature of mathematics, roles of proofs, and mathematical authority. The participants distinguished their university experiences with mathematical proofs from their high school teaching experiences. They saw proofs through the Mathematical Process Expectation, Reasoning and Proving, and they also used proof-related words when describing how they would enact Reasoning and Proving. The participants valued the development of argumentation and sense-making, based on logic and reasoning, as an enduring life-skill, and outcome of school mathematics. The perspectives of the participants provided insight on how teachers inform their teaching practice with the Ontario Mathematics Curriculum. It also revealed some thoughts, desires, values, and struggles teachers may face when teaching mathematics.

Producing highly skilled elementary mathematics teachers capable of facilitating mathematics learning in ways aligned with The Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM, 2000) and the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM), is a common objective of teacher preparation programs (National Governors Association & Chief Council of State School Officers, 2010). After decades of effort, Brown (2003) argues, teachers continue to teach in the way they were taught; thus, they disregard mathematics standards. As Abell, Appleton, and Hanuscin (2010) note, students’ preexisting ideas relevant to the nature of learning and teaching stem from experiences in their schooling, life, and formal classes. Specifically, related to mathematics, these experiences often reflect the difficulty in learning mathematics, fear of mathematics, and consequently, a dislike for the subject (Abell et al., 2010; Wilson, 2014). These preconceived beliefs influence how preservice teachers (PSTs) perceive subject matter. Beliefs also impact the decisions they make about teaching and learning mathematics. In this exploratory descriptive case-study I investigated in what ways three PSTs describe their experiences as K-12 mathematics learners, how the PSTs perceive their abilities to teach mathematics prior to participating in an introductory elementary mathematics methods course, how the PSTs perceive their abilities to teach mathematics after participating in an introductory elementary mathematics methods course, and what catalysts, relative to their experiences, do the PSTs consider noteworthy in the development of their beliefs and concurrent pedagogy about teaching mathematics to elementary students. I utilized constant comparative methods (Strauss and Corbin, 1998; Denzin and Lincoln, 1994; Strauss, 1987; Miles and Huberman, 1984) to analyze the data and identify overarching themes related to the goals of the study.

Magister Artium (Child and Family Studies) - MA(CFS) / Background: Over the past decade, the influx of Zimbabweans into the Diaspora heightened after the dismal failure of the Land Reform Policy saga, resulting in a political, social and economic crisis. South Africa being the first and ranked highest destination for Zimbabwean immigrants became a second home to these immigrants, however, little is known about their legacy beliefs. This study was guided by the theory of typology for legacy beliefs and generativity, which is the seventh stage of Erik Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development. Aim: The aim of this research was to explore and describe the perceptions of Zimbabwean immigrants regarding their legacy beliefs while living in South Africa. Two main objectives identified were: (i) To explore and describe Zimbabwean immigrants’ perceptions and their understanding regarding legacy beliefs. (ii) To explore and describe the factors influencing the Zimbabwean immigrants’ legacy beliefs. Methods: A social constructivism paradigm that embraced explorative and descriptive qualitative research designs was utilised to answer the research question: How do Zimbabwean immigrants perceive legacy beliefs while living in Cape Town, South Africa? Fifteen participants were purposively selected and they participated in the unstructured individual interviews that were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data collected was thematically analysed utilising Creswell's (2009) six steps of data analysis and the process was trustworthiness, as the researcher adhered to credibility, transferability, conformability, and dependability. Ethical approval was sought from HSSREC and the principles of confidentiality, self-determination, no harm, and beneficence were ensured. Four main themes emerged: Understanding of legacy beliefs; Categories of legacies shared in families; Re-emerging legacies in families and Challenges in preserving family legacy beliefs. Conclusion: Based on the research findings recommendations were made to immigrant parents, social service professionals and governmental institutions on how to alleviate the challenges that come with being an immigrant and trying to preserve one's legacy beliefs.

1 ABSTRACT BELIEFS ABOUT MEDICINES, COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE USE AND MEDICATION ADHERENCE Student: Drapáková Tereza Tutor: PharmDr. Matoulková Petra, Ph.D. Department of Social and Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic Introduction: Medication non-adherence is a very complex problem across different diseases leading to failure of treatment and increasing costs for medical care. Medication adherence is influenced by various factors and is also connected with different patients' attitudes to classical pharmacotherapy and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). CAM is nowadays quite often used option for chronically treated patients. Aim of the study: The aim of the study was to analyse medication adherence at chronically treated patients visiting pharmacies in the Czech Republic, their attitudes to CAM including percentage of using CAM, the most common reasons using CAM and which types of CAM are the most spread among asked patients. Methods: Questionnaires were distributed in pharmacies in the Czech Republic among patients 18 years old and older who were chronically treated for at least 3 months. Selected patients were asked to complete a questionnaire containing questions about CAM, Czech version of Medication Adherence...

Master of Public Health - MPH / The burden of malnutrition continues to persist and is the major cause of morbidity and mortality in children. According to the results of the Zimbabwe Multiple indicator cluster survey in 2019, stunting remains high at (26.8%) and the leading form of malnutrition, affecting 1 in 3 children less than 5 years in Zimbabwe. Suboptimal feeding practices have been identified as one of the many causes of malnutrition. Various studies have shown that many risk factors of malnutrition can be addressed during the crucial first 1000 days of life. Cultural beliefs, values, and practices play a vital role in the pre and postnatal period. However, there is a knowledge gap in how culture influences the caregivers regarding feeding and dietary intake. Therefore, the study’s major aim was to explore the cultural beliefs and practices of caregivers of malnourished children between 6-24 months, regarding dietary intake and feeding practices in Gweru, Zimbabwe.

Poor scores on standardized tests on the part of African American students are a problem at an urban high school in the U.S. Midwest. A factor potentially contributing to this problem is that teachers' cultural beliefs may not be well matched to those of students. This gap is important because cultural beliefs have an influence on the academic achievement of students. The cultural mismatch may be reduced as teachers gain experience with students' cultures and diversity, but it is not known the extent to which experience is beneficial in the Midwest urban high school setting. The purpose of this quantitative cross-sectional survey study was to compare novice and veteran teachers' cultural beliefs using the Cultural Awareness Belief Inventory (CABI). Bennett's intercultural sensitivity developmental model was used as the framework to interpret findings. The overarching research question addressed the difference in cultural beliefs between novice and veteran teachers; there were 28 hypotheses referencing each item on the CABI survey. The sample drawn from a pool of volunteer teachers included 138 novice teachers with less than 5 years of experience and 261 veteran teachers with 5 or more years of experience. Mann Whitney U tests were employed as the inferential statistical test to compare differences between the two groups among 28 dependent variables. There was a significant difference in beliefs of novice and veteran teachers relating to classroom management but not in other areas. This study may promote social change by providing school leaders with the understanding that classroom management is associated with different cultural beliefs among novice and veteran teachers. Leaders can use study findings to develop a training program on cultural aspects of classroom management for novice teachers and in-service workshops to enhance cultural teaching practices for veteran teachers.

What, if any, kind of inferential reasoning can be a legitimate source of justified aesthetic belief? Looking at deductive and inductive reasoning respectively, this paper concludes that only the latter can be formulated so that there is reason to accept the premises as true and thus justify the conclusion. This follows from considerations about the type of generalisations that the arguments rely on. Universal generalisations, on which the type of deductive reasoning under consideration relies, are always victim to counterexamples. Also, they are incompatible with a reasonable conception of the relationship between an aesthetic property and its correlating set of non-aesthetic properties. The generalisations that inductive aesthetic reasoning relies on, however, evade the problems faced by deduction as well as are compatible and a natural complement to the common aesthetic practice of acquaintance having epistemic authority over reasoning. These considerations lead to the conclusion that inductive, while not deductive, aesthetic reasoning is a legitimate source for justified aesthetic belief.

Compared to non-immigrant families of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), immigrant families tend to experience more challenges securing an evaluation, obtaining a diagnosis, and accessing services for their child/children diagnosed with ASD. Several studies investigated the experiences of various groups of immigrant families. They found that the delays can be attributed to cultural differences in the way families interpret the meaning of ASD and their perceptions of the causes and treatment for ASD. Additionally, a lack of knowledge about ASD and fear of the stigma associated with ASD impacted immigrant parents' willingness to seek a diagnosis. However, few studies examined how Caribbean immigrants living in the United States experience a diagnosis of ASD for their child/children. This qualitative study explored Caribbean immigrant families' perceptions and experiences with ASD. A semi-structured, in-depth interview was used to collect data on families' experiences about symptoms, causes, and treatments of ASD, as well as their sources of support. The data were coded and analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA. Four themes were identified and discussed: A new world, emotional and physical burden caring for a child with ASD, attitudes about ASD in native cultures, and adapting to the new situation.

Reputation is an important customer choice criterion in banking, a sector characterised by intangible services and limited opportunity for pre-purchase evaluation. It has been shown that while companies may communicate their reputation in a particular way, responses to reputation stimuli are not homogeneous, resulting in calls in the literature to understand sources of variation in customer responses. This study investigated whether an individual’s social axioms, that is, an individual’s general beliefs about the world were such a source of individual difference and influenced corporate reputation and behavioural intention among middle-high income South African banking customers. Conceptualising corporate reputation as customer perceptions (beliefs and attitude) led to adoption of the reasoned action approach as the study’s theoretical basis. Each of the social axioms dimensions, namely, fate control, religiosity, reward for application, social complexity and social cynicism, was hypothesised to influence customers’ beliefs about their bank and behavioural intention. Following a deductive approach and adopting a positivistic paradigm, quantitative data was collected from 636 middle-high income customers of the top five South African retail banks using an online questionnaire. The conceptual model was tested using partial least squares structural equation modelling. The study’s results confirmed that social axioms are a source of individual difference, can explain variances in customers’ beliefs, and are therefore antecedents of corporate reputation. Reward for application has the strongest relationship with customers’ beliefs while the relationship between social cynicism and beliefs was statistically insignificant. Effects of all social axioms dimensions apart from social cynicism were completely mediated in series by beliefs and attitude. Contributions to corporate reputation scholarship include definition of the construct as a collective of beliefs and attitude and expansion of the set of antecedents to beliefs within the reasoned action framework beyond the traditional personality and demographic factors. In practice the findings endorse the view that corporate reputation is to an extent beyond a company’s control and is in part controlled by stakeholders. As a result, it is suggested that bank marketing executives and reputation practitioners consider including social axioms in customer segmentation models to ensure that their offerings resonate with customers’ general beliefs about the world. / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / DPhil / Unrestricted