Customer compliance has become a pivotal consideration in the marketing strategies of lifestyle management programmes. Previous research has shown that the better customers comply with the directives of service providers, the higher their levels of customer satisfaction (Dellande, 1999). There are numerous lifestyle management programmes available on the market today. Many of these programmes have been linked to the usage of a nutritional product range as a pre-requisite for entering the programme. The investigation of customer compliance in lifestyle management programmes is very important because many of the major societal problems of today, such as high-fat diets, poor physical fitness, substance abuse and smoking, exist because people make poor health choices. Most of the leading causes of death could be reduced substantially if people at risk change five behaviours, namely non-compliance with beneficial health behaviours, poor diet, lack of exercise, smoking and alcohol and drug abuse. The many societal ills related to non-compliance with the aforementioned five behaviours and the dearth of knowledge about the determinants of customer compliance were the main motivations for this study. Another important goal, underlying the motivation for this study, was to understand the relationship between role clarity, role ability, motivation, customer satisfaction and goal attainment. Motivation, which for the purpose of this study has been divided into intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, proved to be the strongest predictor of customer compliance. An online self-administered questionnaire was used to gather quantitative data from 155 respondents who have successfully completed a lifestyle management programme. The results of the first regression model indicated that two of the four independent variables, namely “customers’ role ability” and “intrinsic motivation”, are statistically significant, positive predictors of the dependent variable “customer compliance”. The other two independent variables, “customer role clarity” and “extrinsic motivation”, are not statistically significant predictors of “customer compliance”. The results of the second regression model indicated that “customer compliance” and “customer goal attainment” are statistically significant positive predictors of the dependent variable “customer satisfaction” The most important construct of the study, highlighted in Chapter 6 as well as in the study by Dellande (1999), is customer motivation. If a customer is not motivated, compliance levels will not be sufficient to generate high levels of customer satisfaction. Customer motivation was divided into extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation with intrinsic motivation proving to have a stronger correlation with customer compliance than extrinsic motivation. The study was conducted across three different organisations. Research has also suggested that more than half of the customers who commence with a lifestyle management programme never complete the programme or revert to the original lifestyle they followed prior to commencement of the programme. This could have a negative effect on their satisfaction levels. It is, therefore, imperative to ensure that all customers who join a lifestyle management programme are motivated and are able to comply with the directives of the programme to ensure the successful completion thereof. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Marketing Management / MCom / Unrestricted

BAKGRUND: Det kan vara överväldigande att bli diagnostiserad med och leva med en kronisk sjukdom. För många ungdomar påverkas vardagen mycket och innebär även familjen påverkas. Diabetes typ 1 är en allvarlig sjukdom som kräver regelbundna blodsocker-kontroller, insulinadministrering flera gånger dagligen och särskild kost och regelbunden motion. Compliance är en term som används för att beskriva hur väl en patient följer behandlingsrekommendation samt råd vilket är särskilt utmanande för ungdomar. SYFTE: Syftet med studien var att beskriva vilka aspekter som påverkar compliance hos ungdomar med diabetes typ 1. METOD: En litteraturöversikt genomfördes baserad på 12 vetenskapliga artiklar med både kvantitativ och kvalitativ ansats. RESULTAT: Efter granskning och analys av de valda artiklarna presenterades två huvudkategorier: Aspekter som minskar compliance och Aspekter som ökar compliance. Huvudkategorierna har tre underkategorier var. SLUTSATS: Som ungdom, med diagnosen diabetes typ 1, finns det flera aspekter som påverkar compliance. Behandlingen är komplex samt består av flera delar vilket är särskilt utmanande för ungdomar som genomgår en utvecklingsfas. Denna allmänna litteraturstudie visar på att familjen har störst påverkan på ungdomars compliance samt utgör en central och viktig roll i sina barns liv.

This thesis provides a brief intro to the peg-and-hole problem and goes through two active and passive compliance strategies as well as the cases that the compliance center position is not ideal. A specific scenario of peg being gripped at an error angle due to large vision uncertainties is raised and studied. Such setup can lead to an off compliance center position relative to the peg and can happen in real life but has not been solved by previous approaches. A potential solution to it by combining active control and passive compliance is provided and analyzed. By using the force and torque feedback and the robot joint angle information, the compliance center for the above scenario could be estimated without vision feedback to by-pass the potential accuracy limitation of vision sensors. And a position control with reference determined in real-time by these sensors would be able to cancel out the majority of the effect caused by an off compliance center. Additional recommendations to future work on integration of active and passive compliance strategies and utilization of arbitrary compliance center positions are provided as well.

In this project I investigate the factors shaping compliance with international human rights agreements and I provide a definition of compliance, which goes beyond “ratification.” I argue that compliance is a multistage process, built upon three different steps: ratification/accession, implementation, and what I call “compliant behavior.” As an alternative to the dominant structural and normative explanation of compliance, I suggest that the factors affecting compliance are not only endogenous to state characteristics, such as the democratic/non-democratic nature of governments, but also exogenous, such as the perceived level of threat to national security. I offer a twofold theory that looks at leaders’ behavior under conditions of stability and instability and I suggest that under certain circumstances that threaten and pressure government leaders, state compliance with international human rights law becomes more costly. I suggest that regardless of regime type, threats shape leaders’ behavior toward international law; states are faced with the choice to abide by international obligations, protecting specific human rights, and the choice to protect their national interests. I argue that when the costs associated with compliance increase, because leaders face threats to their power and government stability, threats become the predictor of non-compliant behavior regardless of the democratic or non-democratic nature of the regime.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), patients and providers do not understand the Health Information Privacy and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Non-compliance with HIPAA is primarily due to confusion, along with insufficient understanding. HSS has taken measures to simplify the language they use to communicate HIPAA, however, they have not taken steps that consider if one's culture, religious and social perspectives, institutional training, credentials, and comprehension of legal terminology affects medical providers and non-clinical administrative personnel's abilities to understand HIPAA. This research uses bibliometrics to examine the literature from January 2010 – September 2020 that addresses HIPAA's use of legal terminology, literacy level, and institutional training, along with religious and social perspectives, and credentials of medical providers and non-clinical administrative personnel. A total of 107 articles were examined, 42 were assigned article influence scores with values that were less than 1.00, which is a below-average influence score for the article. There were 29 articles with values equal to or above 1.00, which translates to an equal or above-average influence score. The remaining 36 articles did not have article influence scores and were assigned values as not available. Results of the review of the literature indicate that legal terminology, literacy level, training, credentialing and religious and social perspective had no or little effect in understanding HIPAA.

Improper grants payments stemming from weaknesses in business processes have been a focus of the U.S. president, Congress, and federal and state governments since 2009. Researchers have demonstrated that the internal control weakness at the federal, state, and local government level has contributed to the problem of compliance. The Office of Management and Budget issued federal rules effective in December 2014 to address the problem of federal award compliance. Despite these measures, there is a gap in the literature on strategies for recipients of federal grants to meet compliance requirements. The purpose of the qualitative descriptive study was to explore how recipients can satisfy compliance requirements across the full life cycle of their grants. Systems thinking and compliance theories were selected to analyze data. Participants were 20 certified grants management specialists. The research questions included inquiry on the strategies for federal award compliance. Described were participants' strategies to improve business processes for grant compliance. Emergent thematic findings included staff and leadership training- as participants' main strategy for complying with uniform requirements, while written policies and procedures and use of grant management software- emerged as secondary strategies. Grant managers may benefit from learning about the strategies described in this study by implementing business process improvements in their organizations. Compliant recipients of grants may have a positive effect on social change with more grant funds becoming available to states, local governments, higher education, and nonprofit organizations for the public good.

Thesis (M.Sc. in Epidemiology)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Health Sciences, 2014. / Introduction: The prevalence of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in South Africa was 17.8% among 15 to 49 year olds in 2010. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has thus played a crucial role in mitigating the impact of the HIV epidemic. Themba Lethu Clinic is one of the largest single clinics providing ART in South Africa. One of the challenges of ART provision is ensuring adherence to taking the medication. To date there has been no clear consensus on the ideal way to measure adherence in resource limited settings (RLS). Viral load is perhaps the best and most reliable indicator of poor adherence but is expensive and not easily accessible or available in many RLS. Surrogate markers such as mean cell volume (MCV), CD4 cell count, self-reported adherence and missed visits have been shown to be useful to measure adherence but their reliability remains unclear. The aim of the study was to identify other markers that can be used to measure adherence using viral load as the gold standard. Materials and methods: The study was a retrospective analysis of HIV-positive ART-naïve adults (≥ 18 years) initiating standard first-line ART at the Themba Lethu Clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa between April 2004 and January 2012. The association between the last self-reported adherence, change in MCV calculated from baseline to 6 months, change in CD4 count calculated from baseline to 6 months (≥ or < the expected increase of 50 cells/mm3 at 6 months) and missed visits (defined as a scheduled appointment that had been missed by ≥ 7 days but not by more than 3 months) and poor adherence (defined as a viral load ≥ 400copies/ml after 6 months on ART) was tested using Poisson regression models with robust error variance to estimate incidence rate ratio (IRR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). The IRR was used to approximate the relative risk (RR) of poor adherence. Interacting variables were stratified by each other, to create a new variable. The diagnostic accuracy of each identified marker of adherence was also tested using sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive values and negative predictive values. Results: 7160 patients were eligible for the study and of these 63.2% were female. The median age was 36.7 years. The median CD4 count was 101 cells/mm3 at baseline and 18.9% of the patients had poor adherence at 6 months. Variables associated with poor adherence at 6 months were change in CD4 count stratified by change in MCV at 6 months (change in CD4 count ≥ expected and change in MCV ≥ 14.5fL; adjusted relative risk (aRR) 1, change in CD4 count ≥ expected and change in MCV < 14.5fL; aRR 3.11 95% CI 2.41 – 4.02, change in CD4 < expected and change in MCV ≥ 14.5fL; aRR 1.23 95% CI 0.76 – 2.00 and change in CD4 count < expected and change in MCV < 14.5fL; aRR 6.98 95% CI 5.35 – 9.09), CD4 count at baseline (> 200 cells/mm3; aRR 1, 101 – 200 cells/mm3; aRR 1.05 95% CI 0.80 – 1.38, 51 – 100 cells/mm3; aRR 1.08 95% CI 0.80 – 1.47 and ≤ 50cells/mm3; aRR 1.34 95% CI 1.02 – 1.76) , WHO stage at baseline (stage I; aRR 1, stage II; aRR 1.16 95% CI 0.90 – 1.48, stage III; aRR 1.27 95% CI 1.04 – 1.55 and stage IV; aRR 1.44 95% CI 1.12 – 1.84) and MCV at baseline (< 80fL; aRR 1, 80 – 100fL; aRR 1.33 95% CI 1.01 – 1.75 and > 100fL aRR 0.98 95% CI 0.62 – 1.55). Sensitivity and specificity of the change in CD4 stratified by change in MCV at 6 months to predict poor adherence were 86.5% and 37.3% respectively for all eligible patients. For patients on AZT-based regimens the variables associated with poor adherence at 6 months were change in CD4 count at 6 months (≥ expected; aRR 1 and < expected; aRR 7.66 95% CI 0.98 – 59.91) and pregnancy during the first 6 months on ART (Never pregnant; aRR 1 and pregnant during follow up; aRR 9.11 95% CI 2.17 – 38.25). Sensitivity and specificity of the change in CD4 count at 6 months to predict poor adherence were 64.7% and 75.2% respectively for all eligible patients on AZT-based regimens. Sensitivity and specificity of pregnancy during the first 6 months on ART to predict poor adherence were 20% and 97.6% respectively for all eligible patients on AZT-based regimens. Discussion: Change in CD4 count stratified by change in MCV at 6 months was an expected marker of adherence as CD4 count is expected to rise in adherent patients on ART and since most patients (62.9%) were on d4T or AZT-based regimens. Pregnancy during the first 6 months on ART appeared as a marker of adherence for patients on AZT-based regimens before multiple imputation possibly due to missing data hence results for this variable should be interpreted with caution. Contrary to previous studies, self-reported adherence was not associated with poor adherence at 6 months before multiple imputation. This could have been due to the fact that that > 50% of patients had missing data for this variable. The variable is also vulnerable to recall and reporting bias so even after multiple imputation, the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve remained < 0.55. The number of missed medical visits and regimen change were also markers of adherence in a few of the models after multiple imputation and require further investigation. In conclusion, the markers of adherence to ART are change in CD4 count stratified by change in MCV at 6 months and pregnancy during the first 6 months on ART for patients on AZT-based regimens. These could help health workers identify poor adherence in the absence of viral load testing and target patients for adherence interventions to prevent virological failure.

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Yes / The increase in cybersecurity threats and the challenges for organisations to protect their information technology assets has made adherence to organisational security control processes and procedures a critical issue that needs to be adequately addressed. Drawing insight from organisational theory literature, we develop a multi-theory model, combining the elements of the theory of planned behaviour, competing value framework, and technology—organisational and environmental theory to examine how the organisational mechanisms interact with espoused cultural values and employee cognitive belief to influence cybersecurity control procedures. Using a structured questionnaire, we deployed structural equation modelling (SEM) to analyse the survey data obtained from public sector information technology organisations in Nigeria to test the hypothesis on the relationship of socio-organisational mechanisms and techno-cultural factors with other key determinants of employee security behaviour. The results showed that knowledge of cybersecurity and employee cognitive belief significantly influence the employees’ intentions to comply with organisational cybersecurity control mechanisms. The research further noted that the influence of organisational elements such as leadership on employee security behaviour is mediated by espoused cultural values while the impact of employee cognitive belief is moderated by security technologies. For effective cybersecurity compliance, leaders and policymakers are therefore to promote organisational security initiatives that ensure incorporation of cybersecurity principles and practices into job descriptions, routines, and processes. This study contributes to behavioural security research by highlighting the critical role of leadership and cultural values in fostering organisational adherence to prescribed security control mechanisms. / National Information Technology Development Agency, Nigeria

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