Emergency contraception is a safe and effective form of contraception that is 75%-89% effective in preventing pregnancies within 120 hours of unprotected intercourse. Emergency contraception is a type of hormonal contraception, containing high doses of estrogen and progestin (ethinyl estradiol plus levonorgestrel) or progestin only (levonorgestrel). Wider access to emergency contraception has the potential to decrease the number of unintended pregnancies and abortions in the U.S. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has previously denied any over-the-counter (OTC) access to emergency contraception and only recently approved it for OTC status for women 18 years old and over; therefore, pharmacists continue to play a critical role in providing access to emergency contraception. For example, pharmacists can answer women's questions, dispel misconceptions, advise medical colleagues, and provide important information about the medication to clients. Although emergency contraception is a safe and effective medication, many pharmacists and pharmacies throughout the U.S. have either refused to fill prescriptions of emergency contraception or have refused to carry and stock emergency contraception. Pharmacists' perceptions and practice affect whether women have access to this form of contraception and whether pharmacies carry this medication. In addition, pharmacists' behavior, professional conduct, and ethical practice and training have major implications for public health and access to care for women, children, and families. This study has two purposes: First, because the attitudes and dispensing practices among pharmacists may be related to their understanding of the medication, a review of pharmacy school curricula in the U.S. was conducted, and involved (a) an assessment of course content related to emergency contraception and (b) an analysis of how this content is perceived by pharmacy students. The second purpose of the study is to assess emergency contraception knowledge, attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and dispensing practices of pharmacists and to determine if pharmacists' emergency contraception knowledge, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control are predictive of their dispensing practices. To reach these ends, a mixed-methods study design was employed using mixed methods data analysis techniques including coding methods, univariate, bivariate, and logistic regression.

The current study aims to increase understanding of influences on and consequences of self-regulation in adolescence. Previous work has shown that higher levels of self-regulation are associated with greater social competence and lower levels problem behaviors. Past studies have posited that parenting and interparental conflict are linked to self-regulation and adjustment in childhood and adolescence. However, the mechanism underlying the potential effects of specific parental behaviors and interparental conflict on self-regulation and their unique effects on adjustment have been largely unexamined. It was hypothesized that parental psychological and behavioral control and interparental conflict would be indirectly associated with adolescent outcomes via self-regulation abilities. Besides, differential impacts of parental controlling behaviors on self-regulation were also explored. The study involved a sample of 300 students in the 6th and 7th grades and their mothers. Students completed self-report questionnaires on parental control behaviors, self-regulation abilities, and academic self-concept. Furthermore, mothers completed questionnaires including parental control, interparental conflict, self-regulation abilities of adolescents, and adolescent adjustment (i.e., hyperactivation/inattention, emotional, and prosocial behaviors). The mediational hypothesis was largely supported. Results suggested that perceived parental psychological control and interparental conflict predicted low levels of self-regulation and in turn, this predicted adolescent adjustment. Parental behavioral control predicted self-regulation abilities in adolescent-reported model only. As predicted, different parental psychological control dimensions had divergent impact on adolescent outcomes. Specifically, love withdrawal/irrespective parenting was associated with the highest adolescent adjustment. Results also showed that the interplay between paternal guilt induction/erratic emotional behaviors and monitoring was significant in predicting prosocial behaviors and perseverance of adolescents. Similarly, the significant interaction between maternal love withdrawal/irrespective and knowledge suggested that high maternal withdrawal combined with high parental knowledge may result in hyperactivation/inattention problems among early adolescents. Finally, two U-shaped curvilinear relationships were found between psychological control and adjustment variables. Accordingly, the relationship between paternal guilt induction/erratic emotional behaviors and low perseverance/monitoring / and maternal love withdrawal/irrespective and Turkish academic self-concept had curvilinear relationship. Theoretical, methodological, cultural, and practical implications of the findings were discussed considering previous literature.

This study examined the interplay between parenting behaviors and self-regulatory focus in a sample of 320 university freshmen. Considering the theoretical assumptions and cultural differences, it is expected that specific parenting behaviors predict prevention and/or promotion self-regulatory focus. Especially, the dimensions of parental psychological control were expected to predict prevention focus. Participants completed multiple measures of parenting behaviors and self-regulatory focus. Self-regulatory focus was measured using both direct and indirect measures (i.e., value domains) considering the theoretical formulations underlying the indirect measures. The measures of specific parenting behaviors included parental support, behavioral control, psychological control, and overprotection. Results suggested that psychological control mainly predicts prevention focus. Whereas parental blaming and love withdrawal predicted prevention focus, guilt induction predicted promotion focus under certain conditions. Besides, parental overprotection was related with higher levels of both promotion and prevention self-regulatory focuses. As expected, parental behavioral control was associated with lower levels of prevention focus and parental support was associated with higher levels of promotion focus. Examination of the relationships between both types of self-regulatory focuses and the subscales of indirect measure comprised of value domains yielded results contradictory to the original formulations. For instance, contrary to the theoretical expectations, value domain of security was strongly associated with promotion focus rather than prevention focus, signifying a potential cultural difference. Finally, results have suggested that direct and indirect measures of self-regulatory focuses do not consistently overlap and they may measure different constructs. Results were discussed on the basis of the previous work in this area and further exploration was suggested to clarify the link between direct and indirect measures of self-regulatory focus and their links to parenting behaviors.

abstract: Los Angeles, California and Phoenix, Arizona are two naturally water-scarce regions that rely on imported water to meet their local water needs. Both areas have been experiencing an ongoing drought that has negatively affected their local water supply. Populations in both cities continue to grow, increasing overall demand for water as the supply decreases. Water conservation is important for the sustainability of each town. However, the methods utilized to conserve residential water in the two areas differ drastically; Los Angeles has implemented involuntary water rationing and Phoenix has not. The widespread effectiveness of involuntary restrictions makes them a popular management scheme. Despite their immediate effectiveness, little is known about how involuntary restrictions affect attitudinal precursors towards the behavior in question and thus, whether or not the restrictions are potentially helpful or harmful to lasting behavior change. This study adapted the Theory of Planned Behavior to survey 361 homeowners in Los Angeles and Phoenix to examine how involuntary water restrictions shape attitudinal precursors to outdoor water conservation. This study found that when involuntary water restrictions are present, residents feel less in control of their outdoor water use. However, in the presence of involuntary water restrictions, stronger social norms and stronger support for policy prescriptions over outdoor water use were found. The favorable societal support towards water conservation, conceptualized as social norms and policy attitudes, in the presence of involuntary water restrictions is potentially promising for lasting behavior change. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Sustainability 2016

Vårdrelaterade infektioner är ett globalt problem och god handhygien är det främsta verktyget i kampen mot vårdrelaterade infektioner. Följsamhet till handhygien är globalt sett låg. Sjuksköterskans händer är den främsta källan för att sprida smitta därför är sjuksköterskans beteende vad gäller handhygien viktig. Sjuksköterskans avsikt att utföra handhygien kan förklaras av den inre dimensionen som enligt Theory of planned behaviour är attityder, subjektiva normer och upplevd beteendekontroll. Syfte: Litteraturöversiktens syfte var att beskriva vilka attityder, subjektiva normer och upplevda beteendekontroller som påverkar sjuksköterskans följsamhet av riktlinjer för handhygien. Metod: Denna studie har genomförts som en litteraturöversikt och baserades på fjorton artiklar av kvantitativ- och kvalitativ metod som har sökts ur databaserna PubMed, CINAHL och Web of Science. Resultat: Studiens resultat visade att det utifrån perspektivet av Theory of planned behaviour finns attityder, subjektiva normer och upplevda beteendekontroller som påverkar sjuksköterskans följsamhet till riktlinjer för handhygien. Sjuksköterskan upplevde att personligt skydd var en framträdande attityd som motiverade till handhygien. Under subjektiv norm så framträdde patienten, kollegor och förebilder som motiverande faktorer till att utföra handhygien och att känslan av att det är enkelt att utföra handhygien var den mest framträdande faktorn under upplevd beteendekontroll. Sammanfattning: Följsamhet till riktlinjer för handhygien är låg trots nationella insatser och kampanjer för att öka följsamheten. Resultatet visade att sjuksköterskans följsamhet till riktlinjer för handhygien främst påverkades av personligt skydd, patienten, kollegor, förebilder och känslan av att det är enkelt att utföra handhygien. Litteraturöversiktens resultat kan användas för att öka kunskapen om området och utveckla nya strategier för att öka sjuksköterskans följsamhet till riktlinjer för handhygien. / Background: Healthcare-associated infections are a global problem and good handhygiene is the main tool in the fight against healthcare- associated infections. Adherence to hand hygiene is globally low. The nurse’s hands are the main source of spreading infection, and because of that the nurse’s behavior towards hand hygiene is important. The nurse’s intention to perform hand hygiene can be explained by the internal dimension, who are, according to the Theory of planned behaviour, attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control. Aim: The aim of this literature review was to describe the attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural controls that affect nurses’ adherence to guidelines for hand hygiene. Method: This study was conducted as a literature review and based on fourteen articles of quantitative and qualitative method from the databases PubMed, CINAHL and Web of Science. Results: The results of the literature review demonstrate that, from the perspective of the Theory of planned behaviour, there were attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural controls that affected nurses’ adherence to guidelines for hand hygiene. Nurses felt that personal protection was an important attitude that motivated to hand hygiene. In subjective norm the patient, colleagues and role models emerged as motivating factors to perform hand hygiene and the feeling that it is easy to perform hand hygiene was the most prominent factor under perceived behavioural control. Summary: Adherence to guidelines for hand hygiene is low in spite of national efforts and campaigns to increase adherence. The results showed that nurses’ adherence to guidelines for hand hygiene was mainly influenced by personal protection, the patient, peers, role models and the feeling that it is easy to perform hand hygiene. The results of this literature review can be used to increase the knowledge in this area and develop new strategies to increase nurses’ adherence to guidelines for hand hygiene.

Background: A significant increase in the global food demand is expected to occur in the near future. Since the currently implied food system will not be able to meet this demand without impacting the environment negatively, it is crucial to consider alternative ways of producing food. Entomophagy thereby presents an approach that could be deployed to meet the future demand in an environmental and sustainable way. However, whereas multiple studies investigate consumers’ acceptance of insect-based products, little is known about their purchase intentions. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the underlying factors affecting Swedish university-attending Generation Y consumers’ purchase intentions towards insect-based products. In order to fulfill the purpose of this study, two research questions have been developed. Thereby, the Theory of Planned Behavior was chosen as a theoretical framework. Method: The research philosophy of this study adopted elements of both constructionism and interpretivism. Further, this study applied an abductive approach and a qualitative research design with an exploratory purpose. A total of three focus groups were conducted in order to explore purchase intentions towards insect-based products. In addition, a taste test was incorporated in each focus group to explore the participants’ reactions when given the opportunity to try an insect-based product. To adequately reach the selected target population, a combination of a self-selection sampling technique and a convenience sampling technique was employed. Lastly, a content analysis following a directed approach was applied in order to properly analyze the collected data. Conclusion: The empirical findings of this study suggest that eleven factors are contributing to the target populations’ purchase intentions towards insect-based products. Thereby, ten of these factors are connected to the components of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control of the theoretical framework whereas the remaining factor was not categorized within these components. Regarding the conducted taste test, it was found that the large majority of the participants were willing to try. Further, the taste test showed that all participants followed their initial intentions.

Purpose: This research aims to test the identified factors that influence the online purchase intentions of millennial (Gen Y) and Gen Z Africans who reside in Sweden and to find out whether there are differences in the online purchase intention between the two generational cohorts. Research design: In order to fulfil the purpose of this study, an online questionnaire was distributed to Gen Y and Gen Z Africans living in Sweden. A total of 203 valid responses were collected through the convenience sampling and snowball sampling method. With the valid responses, the multiple linear regression and analysis of variance were conducted. Findings: The study has found enough evidence to prove that attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and green concern all have an influence on the online purchase intention of Gen Y and Gen Z Africans living in Sweden. However, the perceived risks is the only factor that does not have an influence on the online purchase intention of Gen Y and Gen Z Africans living in Sweden. Also, the study proves that there are no statistically significant differences in the attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, green concern and perceived risks of the two generations in question.

This research study aims to explore consumer ́s perception of bio-based plastic and to gain a comprehensive understanding of the various aspects including knowledge, expectations, perceived behavioral control and subjective norms that influence these perceptions. With increasing environmental concerns related to conventional plastics, there is a growing interest in sustainable alternatives. However, there is limited knowledge regarding consumer perceptions, specifically regarding bio-based plastics. Through semi-structured interviews, this study investigates the overall consumer perception of bio-based plastics compared to conventional plastics while also examining the influence of knowledge, expectations, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control on consumer perceptions. By incorporating these aspects, the study addresses a research gap and contributes to the understanding of consumer behavior towards bio-based plastics. The findings highlight the significance of knowledge, social influences, price perception, and product quality in shaping consumer perceptions. Policymakers, marketers, and industries seeking to promote the adoption of bio-based plastics as an alternative to conventional plastics can benefit from the research outcomes.

Companies are increasingly integrating artificial intelligence into their daily operation alongside as it seems, the development of artificial intelligence. The usage of artificial intelligence in marketing communication is allowing companies to streamline their operation and utilize objective data, but to evaluate these potentials they need information regarding consumer's attitude is towards their usage of AI. The purpose of this study is to uncover how consumer acceptance towards AI-generated marketing communication affects their purchasing intention. The theory of planned behavior is used alongside purchase intention and acceptance of AI to lay the foundation for our hypotheses. To gather primary data, a quantitative research approach in the form of an online survey was utilized. The survey’s content was designed using AI to gauge customer purchase intention. The survey was distributed using social media channels such as Instagram and Facebook, with the sample population being selected using non-statistical sampling methods. Answers from a total of 42 participants were collected, 30 deemed appropriate to analyze using SPSS. Our findings show that consumers' acceptance of AI does not significantly impact their purchase intention. This observation contradicts previous research within the field, indicating the importance of further research relating to the subject.

Although consumers’ need for a healthy and sustainable lifestyle drives natural cosmetics consumption, various claims of natural cosmetics make consumers confused and distrustful. This study aimed to explore factors that affect consumers' purchasing behavior of natural cosmetics under the theoretical framework of planned behavior (TPB). The study adopted the qualitative method of purposive sampling. Semi-structured interview technique and thematic analysis were used to collect and analyze data from 21 consumers of natural or traditional cosmetics living in Uppsala. The results showed: consumers had uncertain attitudes towards buying natural cosmetics, which had no obvious impact on the purchasing behavior; the perceived social pressures from family, relatives, groups, etc. had a clear positive impact on the purchasing behavior; online purchasing, recommendation from others, and sustainable lifestyle facilitated the purchasing behavior; high price, inconvenient purchasing location, lack of knowledge, non-harmonized certifications, etc. led to the inconsistency between consumers' purchasing intention and actual purchasing behavior. Product knowledge was explored as an important resource that consumers need. The above findings can be used to improve marketing strategies like harmonized certifications. This study also paves the way for future quantitative verification of these factors.