O objetivo geral desta pesquisa foi conhecer a percepção de risco, relacionada à saúde bucal, de indivíduos cadastrados em um Núcleo de Saúde da Família (NSF), no município de Ribeirão Preto-SP, por meio da identificação das crenças, atitudes e conhecimentos desses indivíduos sobre os fatores de risco relacionados ao tema. Trata-se de uma pesquisa de campo, de caráter descritivo e exploratório, com variáveis quantitativas e qualitativas. A população do estudo foi constituída por 77 cuidadores de famílias cadastradas no NSF-1, da zona oeste do município. Os dados empíricos foram coletados por meio de entrevista semi-estruturada e levantamento documental. A análise e organização dos dados coletados foram divididas em duas etapas. Os dados quantitativos foram apresentados em 4 partes: caracterização socioeconômica e cultural dos sujeitos; conhecimentos relacionados à saúde bucal; crenças/valores relacionados à saúde bucal; e, comportamentos/atitudes relacionados à saúde bucal. Alguns dados qualitativos foram agrupados em categorias de respostas e outros foram analisados pela metodologia do Discurso do Sujeito Coletivo (DSC), sendo subdivididos em 4 unidades temáticas. A maioria dos entrevistados era do sexo feminino (80,5%), mães (68,8%), com predomínio das faixas etárias entre 51 a 60 anos (31,2%) e de mais de 60 anos (33,8%). Entre os cuidadores pesquisados 49,4% apresentavam o ensino fundamental incompleto e 40,3% apresentavam renda entre R$1500,00 e R$3000,00. Grande parte dos sujeitos (71,4%) afirmou que não exercia nenhum trabalho fora de casa. Muitos entrevistados (63,6%) afirmaram ter algum problema de saúde; foi referida por 89,6% dos sujeitos da pesquisa a existência de uma relação entre saúde bucal e saúde geral dos entrevistados; 58,4% afirmaram não apresentar nenhum problema na boca. Com relação à durabilidade dental, 53,2% dos sujeitos responderam que esta dependia de cuidado. O creme dental foi citado por 40,2% dos entrevistados, como produto que contém flúor. O auto-exame para detecção de câncer bucal, segundo os entrevistados, nunca havia sido realizado por 88,3% deles. Mais da metade dos sujeitos (53,2%) disse que nunca tinha recebido orientação para evitar problemas bucais. A saúde bucal foi considerada boa por 40,3% dos entrevistados; no entanto, 58,4% afirmaram que necessitavam de tratamento dentário. O uso de alguma medicação diariamente foi relatado por 70,1% dos indivíduos. Quanto aos hábitos de higiene oral, 98,7% dos entrevistados afirmaram que escovavam os dentes, 97,4% dos sujeitos afirmaram que possuíam escova dental própria e 57,1% das pessoas relataram fazer uso do fio dental. O uso de prótese foi referido por 72,7% dos entrevistados; todos os sujeitos referiram já ter visitado o dentista alguma vez na vida, sendo que 50,6% afirmaram que a última ida ao dentista tinha sido há menos de 1 ano e 51,9% disseram que essa visita tinha sido a um serviço privado liberal. Somente 24,7% dos sujeitos afirmaram comer alimentos doces pelo menos 1 vez por dia; a ingestão de refrigerantes de 2 a 3 vezes por semana foi relatada por 31,2% das pessoas. A ingestão de café, chá ou leite com açúcar uma vez por dia, foi referida por 48,1% dos sujeitos. Os resultados sugerem uma percepção de risco dos indivíduos sobre saúde bucal positiva, embora ainda devam ser trabalhados alguns conceitos e crenças sobre o tema com essa população. Os conceitos de saúde e doença para os sujeitos da pesquisa, apesar de apresentarem fortes expressões do biologicismo, revelam influências do teocentrismo, do higienismo e preventivismo, em direção a uma concepção ampliada de Saúde. / This study aimed to get to know the oral health risk perception of individuals registered at a Family Health Center (FHC) located in Ribeirão Preto-SP, through the identification of these persons? beliefs, attitudes and knowledge about risk factors related to the theme. We carried out a descriptive and exploratory field research, using quantitative and qualitative variables. The study population consisted of 77 family caregivers registered at the FHC-1, in the Western part of the city. Empirical data were collected through semistructured interviews and a documentary survey. Data analysis and organization were divided in two steps. Quantitative data were presented in four parts: characterization of subjects? socioeconomic and cultural knowledge; oral health knowledge; oral health beliefs/values; and oral health behaviors/attitudes. Some qualitative data were grouped in answer categories, and others were analyzed through the Collective Subject Discourse methodology (CSD), being subdivided in four thematic units: conceptions of the health-disease process - from theocentrism to the expanded health concept; is it everything, is it important, is it the main thing, is it fundamental? oral health means you can smile! and denture-from relief to suffering. Most interviewees were women (80.5%), mothers (68.8%), predominantly between 51 and 60 years old (31.2%) and over 60 (33.8%). Among the investigated caregivers, 49.4% had not finished basic education and, for 40.3% of subjects, income ranged between R$1500 and R$3000. A majority of subjects (71.4%) affirmed they did not go out to work. Many interviewees (63.6%) affirmed that they had a health problem; 89.6% of the research subjects affirmed oral health was related to health in general, and 58.4% affirmed they did not present any oral problem. As to dental durability, 53.2% answered that it depended on care. Toothpaste was mentioned by 40.2% as a fluoride-containing product. According to the interviewees, the oral cancer self-detection exam had never been realized by 88.3% of them. More than half of the subjects (53.2%) said they had never received advice to avoid oral problems. Oral health was considered good by 40.3% of the interviewees, although 58.4% affirmed they needed dental treatment. Daily medication use was mentioned by 70.1%. As to oral hygiene habits, 98.7% affirmed they brushed their teeth; 97.4% had their own toothbrush and 57.1% affirmed they used dental floss. Prosthesis use was referred by 72.7% of the interviewees; all subjects (100%) affirmed they had already been to the dentist at some time in their life, 50.6% of whom affirmed their last visit had occurred less than one year ago and 51.9% that they had used a private service. Only 24.7% of subjects affirmed they eat sweet food at least once per day, and 31.2% consumed soft drinks between two and three times per week. Coffee, tea or milk with sugar once per day was mentioned by 48.1%. The obtained results suggest that these persons have a positive risk perception about oral health, although some concepts and beliefs about the theme still have to be addressed in this population. Despite revealing strong expressions of biologism, the research subjects health and disease concepts reveal influences from theocentrism, hygienism and preventism, moving towards a broader conception of Health.

D.Litt. et Phil. (Sociology) / Inquiry that seeks to understand young people’s engagement in risk behaviours is numerous. Concern for and interest in young people has stimulated a wide range of debates about what makes young people do the things they do. Despite the plethora of research in this area there are still gaps in our knowledge, primarily because much of the research has sought to understand young people by looking at their decision making from the outside. This study departs from what has gone before by applying a youth development approach to understanding youth risk. In order to do so it sought to delve into the worlds and lives of a few young people living in an informal settlement in Gauteng, South Africa. The key question that the study poses pertains to how young people understand and negotiate risk as an aspect of their everyday identity-work. It is thus important to note that youth in this study is not understood simply as a particular age range or a phase that exists between childhood and adulthood. Rather it is understood as a life stage that carries with it particular experiences, needs and processes. In particular for the purposes of this study identity-work is understood to be an intensive process during the life stage of youth that involves drawing on culturally and socially available labels (McCall, 2003), definitions and markers of identity and testing them in their social networks in a process of reflexivity towards developing a self-identity (Giddens, 1991). In order to generate a deep understanding of the lives and worlds of young people, this study employed a critical ethnographic design, combining the usual methods of ethnography such as observation and interviews, with innovative methods that sought to challenge commonly held perceptions of research that young people might have had, and to encourage them to participate in the research. The study found that risk is understood in multiple ways. Young people understand and internalise the risk prevention messaging that is often targeted at them but they also have other perceptions of risk that ‘experts’ tend to overlook. Most important of these were their perceptions of risk that were influenced by their socio-economic surroundings – risks that were foremost in their lives because of their day-to-day struggles to manage them. The study also demonstrates the ways in which risk is negotiated as a feature of identity-work in three ways – in identity-work that has to do with masculinity and femininity, in identity-work pertaining to who one is within a family, and in identity work that involves their roles in the community. One of the main recommendations arising from this research is the need for integrated interventions that combine the prevention models that are currently employed, with locally specific interventions aimed at enhancing the protection and preparedness of young people in order to reduce their vulnerability. By conceptualising young people and the phase of ‘youth’ differently, and applying a youth development approach to understanding youth risk, it is hoped that an innovative way of considering how young people make decisions regarding risk has been opened for future consideration in research.

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (MSc(Consumer Science))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Consumer Science / unrestricted

This research takes a social constructivist approach to investigate the relationship between people’s perceptions of disaster risk and their responses in disaster-prone cities of the Global South. This is important because the effects of risk perceptions on the ways that people respond to disaster risk remains unclear and has been labelled ‘weak’ within the disaster studies literature. Furthermore, this lack of clarity has contributed to the marginalisation of people at risk from contributing to interventions that address disaster risk, which this research finds problematic. Therefore, a better understanding of how people perceive their risk and how this shapes their responses would help inform more effective and multi-scalar interventions to address disaster risk. The research takes place in three adjacent neighbourhoods of Cochabamba city, Bolivia. Within this ‘case site’, the house is used as a methodological tool to investigate how people’s risk perceptions shape their responses to disaster risk. In particular, the research explores how risk perceptions influence the way people design and construct self-build houses in order to reduce their risk of a disaster. The focus on housing construction represents a novel way of exploring the relationship between risk perceptions and disaster risk-reduction behaviour. The research takes place in the context of persistent, low-intensity natural hazards that are linked to disaster risk which incrementally increases over time. This marks a shift away from the many studies that investigate rapid-onset, extreme hazards that quickly overwhelm people’s capabilities and which are associated with crisis and urgency. Additionally, the research is concerned with small-scale disasters, which again marks a shift away from the disaster studies literature which principally focuses on large-scale disasters that result in many casualties, large economic loss and which affect a large geographical area. The research ultimately shows that whether a risk perception is high or low is not the most important factor; rather, it is an individual’s awareness and understanding of disaster risk that encourages long-term and anticipatory strategies that require significant investments in the house. Furthermore, the research argues that research which describes the relationship between risk perceptions and responses as ‘weak’ forecloses the nuances and complexity of human behaviour in disaster-prone contexts because it does not capture the subtle yet important ways that risk perceptions shape responses.

The main focus of this thesis was to gain a better understanding about the dynamics of risk perception and its influence on people’s evacuation behavior. Another major focus was to improve our knowledge regarding geo-spatial and temporal variations of risk perception and hurricane evacuation behavior. A longitudinal dataset of more than eight hundred households were collected following two major hurricane events, Ivan and Katrina. The longitudinal survey data was geocoded and a geo-spatial database was integrated to it. The geospatial database was composed of distance, elevation and hazard parameters with respect to the respondent’s household location. A set of Bivariate Probit (BP) model suggests that geospatial variables have had significant influences in explaining hurricane risk perception and evacuation behavior during both hurricanes. The findings also indicated that people made their evacuation decision in coherence with their risk perception. In addition, people updated their hurricane evacuation decision in a subsequent similar event.

Effective risk communication is essential in the field of health to ensure patients understand the information being presented to them by medical professionals and appreciate the level of risk involved in treatments. Cardiovascular disease, being the leading cause of death worldwide, is relevant to consider when examining risk communication in a health setting. Those afflicted with cardiovascular ailments are both high in number and exposed to information communicating risk. This research aims to identify presentation formats that are more effective communicating risk information to recovering cardiovascular patients at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. The formats’ effectiveness is measured by gauging the population’s understanding of the material and perception of the information as it relates to risk and motivation. The research draws on Max Weber’s concept of rationality and subsequent scholars who developed social judgment theory, the heuristic-systematic model, expected utility theory, protection motivation theory, and the extended parallel process model. Utilizing an experimental research design, risk information handouts and questionnaires are distributed to, and completed by, a stratified sample of cardiovascular disease patients. Effective presentation formats are examined, and the results identify comparatively effective presentation formats for minimizing and maximizing risk perception. The results also identify presentation formats’ impact on a patient’s level of motivation to avoid / indulge in behaviours that may maximize or minimize risk. The results, synthesized herein, suggest a model (communicative cardiovascular physician-patient model of message preparation-perception), which may contribute to the effectiveness of risk communication between physicians and cardiovascular disease patients.

The goal of this thesis was to reposition individual preparedness within a social environmental context. First, a theoretical model was developed to more accurately represent the social environmental considerations neglected in current preparedness research and policy. A series of three studies tested this model using a mixed-methods approach: First, subjective conceptualizations of preparedness were explored in a qualitative analysis (N = 12). Findings revealed that participants evaluated their readiness not in terms of prescribed activities, but perceptions about their current resourcefulness as well as past local hazards. Participants’ had positive social environments which also reinforced their perceived coping ability in future emergency events. Subsequent thesis studies investigated the role social environment further, using quantitative data. The second study explicitly tested whether perceptions of risk and coping could explain differences in preparedness based on demographic attributes linked to variations in social environment. Data from a survey examining Canadians perceptions regarding terrorism threats (N = 1503) revealed that greater anticipated response was significantly associated with increased age, as well as female gender, higher education levels, and higher income levels. Statistically significant differences in threat appraisals were also reported based on these demographic groupings. However, mediation analyses demonstrated that with the exception of gender, differences in anticipated response could not be explained via risk perceptions or perceived coping efficacy, suggesting that social environment’s role in preparedness is not related to the internal processes often targeted in current campaigns. The third study used a multilevel design to investigate the contextual role of neighbourhood social environment in anticipated emergency response. Results demonstrated that a more deprived social neighbourhood context was related to lowered anticipated emergency response. This relationship was maintained after controlling for significant individual-level factors such as previous experience and sociodemographics, highlighting the importance of neighbourhood social context in facilitating emergency preparedness. Taken together, these findings provide novel evidence that focusing preparedness strategies to primarily target internal processes is misguided, and that future research and policy must position preparedness efforts in the context of existing social environmental resources and barriers in order to build capacity for effective emergency response.

Food-borne illness is a significant burden both with regard to public health and financially. Efforts to reduce the level of food-borne illness continue to concentrate on the full food supply chain with particular regard given to Campylobacter, the most commonly reported zoonosis and the greatest burden to public health. The focus of this research is domestic food safety practises, where there is no regulation. Food safety is reliant on people’s knowledge or awareness, their ability to adopt safe food handling practises and for the correct behaviours to achieve this, to be routine. The elicitation of awareness and perceptions with regard to food safety are problematic due to the complexities of human nature, including the presence of several forms of bias, such as social desirability bias and optimistic bias. The research was designed in order to try to minimise such biases, whilst further understanding influences on food safety preparation behaviour. Food safety preparation behaviours and kitchen hygiene were investigated between people who had campylobacteriosis in comparison to people who had not had food poisoning. Whilst no difference was noted in the kitchen hygiene between the two groups, significant differences were noted in self-reported food preparation behaviours. Optimistic bias was exhibited by both groups but when tested again after six months had elapsed, the group who had not had food poisoning increased their optimism, introducing a significant difference in optimistic bias between the two groups. Awareness of a number of unsafe food behaviours was explored for individuals and groups of people using a method developed as part of the research. This method of hazard awareness uses video as a stimulus, creating an interactive survey, combined with attitudinal and demographic data. Changes were made to perceptions of knowledge and risk following the hazard perception challenge, with the number of hazards missed, influencing this movement in perception. The risk perception of unsafe food handling behaviours was examined using a novel technique Best-Worst Scaling, in order to identify relative risks. This technique, in conjunction with latent class modelling, demonstrated a difference in perceptions between food safety experts and members of the general public. However, these differences are nuanced and demonstrate that heterogeneity exists both within and across the groups. Taken together, these findings have extended the research on domestic food safety behaviour and risk perceptions. It has done so by developing and testing novel methods to elicit relative risk perceptions and hazard perception with regard to food safety behaviours. The results provide valuable evidence for stakeholders particularly with regard to the novel methods used in identifying the heterogeneity and influences of food safety behaviour between groups of people. It also provides important tools for stakeholders, risk managers and communicators to use in future research, communication and education.

The following thesis presents the results of a two year study that addressed lay perceptions of the risks to the water resources of the Lower Fraser Basin, British Columbia. Studies of this nature are important because by clarifying public perceptions, risk communication policies as well as land and water resource use plans that accommodate people's concerns can be developed appropriately. The study was based on a written survey that was administered to 183 lay subjects in four communities within the Lower Fraser Basin. Sixteen experts participated in a portion of the survey. Analysis involved the determination of how people perceive distinct human activities in terms of the risk each may pose to the health of aquatic ecosystems. Further analysis compared these perceptions to those of specialists in the aquatic sciences. The thesis is structured as a collection of three papers that examine different aspects of the study. The First paper provides a review of the overall data set, while the remaining two papers address related subsets of the data. One paper reviews perceptions of activities that cause eutrophication problems and the other reviews perceptions of forest industry activities. The results demonstrated that people tend to view risks to water environments in a multi-faceted fashion. Four factors were found to influence people's general perception of risk and the need for regulation of the activities that were perceived to pose the risk. These factors were termed Ecological Impact, Human Benefit, Controllability and Knowledge. Another significant result was the fact that there were often striking differences between the views of the lay sample and those of the expert sample. Some activities were perceived by the lay sample as posing substantial risk while the experts did not view this to be the case. Alternatively, for some activities, the reverse scenario occurred. Accordingly, there were differences in judgements between the two groups as to the degree of regulation that should be imposed on the respective activities. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Recreational noise exposure has tripled in the last three decades. A major source of this noise is amplified music. Exposure to amplified music can result in similar auditory damage to that caused by other loud noises. Damage to the inner ear leads to elevations of hearing thresholds, characteristically a loss in higher frequencies. An acquired hearing loss due to amplified music can be referred to as a recreational noise-induced hearing loss. Prevention of recreational hearing loss begins with improving awareness about the risk of amplified music. In order to assess the risk perceptions of young people attending music events, a descriptive design involving a quantitative risk-perception survey was conducted at five music events. Dosimetry measurements were performed in order to describe the sound pressure levels. This investigation provided information regarding the influence of demographics on the perception of risk. It was suggested that women, older age groups, and those from a higher socio-economic status (SES) are more likely to identify themselves as more susceptible to auditory-specific symptoms. The demographics of the population that showed greater propensity for risk was males, those aged 18 to 20 years, those in Matric, homemakers and individuals from a lower income group. These individuals may perceive themselves as invulnerable to negative consequences. Furthermore, majority of those who attend music events have never used earplugs; with only a third of them willing to make use of hearing protection if it were stipulated by law. Concern about one’s own hearing and awareness of other auditory symptoms could be associated with greater compliance to hearing protection. In order to promote healthy hearing behaviour among young people, it is crucial to account for differences in risk perceptions. The findings in this investigation are valuable in terms of the development of recreational hearing health risk preventative strategies. Keywords: noise-induced hearing loss, recreational, risk perceptions, gender, age, education, socio-economic status, hearing protection / Dissertation (MCommPath)--University of Pretoria, 2015. / Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology / Unrestricted