Eco•In•D, the Ecological Innovation Demonstration, is the title of the Indianapolis Urban Ecovillage designed in this project. There is a growing need to reevaluate how humans live on this planet and determine an alternative, wherein consumption does not exceed available resources and detrimental impact on the environment is minimized or negated. The project considers the intentional community model as well as the concepts of urban sustainability and permaculture to drive the development of the built environment, enabling the planet's ability to absorb the impact of the escalating human population.The site, situated on a boundary between residential and industrial uses in the United Northwest Area neighborhood of Indianapolis, offers many challenges and opportunities that influence the development of the ecovillage. Information gathering, analysis, and interviews inform the design. The final design represents a model of sustainability, intended to educate and engage the greater community. / Department of Landscape Architecture

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Insufficient physical activity and a sedentary lifestyle are major contributors to health risks for Canadian youth. Adolescents, particularly girls, tend to experience major drop-offs in physical activity levels during high school. However, there is minimal research examining the extent to which Physical and Health Education (PHE) courses promote physical activity and mitigate against this decline. Grounded in the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), the purpose of this quantitative short-term longitudinal study is two-pronged: (a) examine the effectiveness of Grade 9 PHE for 197 students’ reports of TPB constructs, physical activity intentions, and physical activity behaviour; and (b) explore the utility of TPB in predicting physical activity intentions and behaviour. For the first set of research questions, results were analyzed using 2 (time: Time Point 1 [T1], Time Point 2 [T2]) x 2 (condition: in PHE/not in PHE) x 2 (TPB status: higher or lower than the mean) MANCOVAs with boys and girls examined separately. There was no effect of PHE over time. There was no interaction among time, condition, and TPB status. There was a significant effect of condition for girls in PHE, with Attitude and Physical Activity Behaviour higher at both time points. For the second set of research questions, results were analyzed using multiple linear regressions to examine TPB in a Grade 9 setting. Findings provided support for the theoretical structure of the TPB in a Grade 9 context, with the three TPB constructs accounting for a minimum of 59% of Intentions, and a minimum of 25% of Behaviour for boys and girls. Attitude was the strongest independent predictor of Intentions with Intentions and Attitude the strongest predictors of Behaviour. PHE teachers should potentially focus attention on changing attitudes for this age group, given the importance of this construct. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2014-06-26 15:29:51.422

The Canadian C-Spine (CS) and CT-Head (CT) Rules are tools aimed at improving the accuracy and efficiency of radiography use in emergency departments. This study evaluated whether the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) could explain the inconsistent results from implementation studies of these two rules at 12 Canadian hospitals, where the same intervention resulted in a significant reduction in CS radiography but not CT radiography. It was demonstrated that the TPB model’s proposed relationships between constructs and behaviour could explain the ordering of CS but not CT radiography. However, after examining longitudinal changes of the TPB constructs, it was clear that these changes could not explain the changes in CS radiography ordering. Overall, TPB is unlikely to suggest important ways by which to improve radiography use, for CT because its constructs are not related to radiography ordering, and for CS because of high baseline levels of intention to clinically clear.

The present study employed Ajzen’s theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to understand the motivational factors associated with peoples’ intention to: (a) increase their physical activity levels in response to Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games; (b) watch the event on television; and (c) purchase products or services from companies because they were sponsors of the event. According to the theory, behavioural intentions are determined by individuals’ attitude toward performing the behaviour (i.e., their overall evaluation of the behaviour); the subjective norms they associate with the behaviour (i.e., their beliefs about whether most people approve or disapprove of the behaviour); and perceived behavioural control (i.e., the perceived ease or difficulty of performing the behavior). As well, this investigation hypothesized that additional variables could predict intention. In particular, past behaviour and descriptive norms (i.e., people’s perceptions about the degree to which other people would perform the behavior) were examined in terms of their ability to explain significant proportions of variance in respondents’ intentions above and beyond TPB variables. Participants were enrolled in first and second year undergraduate classes at the University of Waterloo and the University of Victoria during the Fall 2009 and Winter 2010 term (n = 405). The questionnaire assessed each TPB construct (excluding actual behaviour) using standardized Likert-type scaling procedures suggested by Ajzen (2006). Additionally, the questionnaire assessed gender, geographic proximity to the event (i.e., whether students were enrolled at the University of Waterloo or the University of Victoria), past behaviour, and descriptive norms. Results from the regression analyses revealed that the TPB-based models accounted for 50.7%, 61.5% and 66.6% of the variance in respondents’ intentions to become more active in response to the event, watch the event on television, and purchase products or services from event sponsors respectively. Attitude toward the behaviour was the only TPB construct to play a prominent role in the prediction of all three responses of interest in the present investigation. The importance of the attitude construct in predicting such a diverse set of intentions suggests that sport consumer behaviour might be best understood in terms of expectancy-value cognitive theories such as the TPB. These theories suggest that people will be motivated to perform a particular behaviour (e.g., watching a sport event on television) when they expect to attain a valued outcome as a result of performing the behaviour (e.g., feelings of national pride). Descriptive norms and past behaviour explained an additional 29%, 9.3%, and 21% of the variance in respondents’ intention to become more active in response to the event, watch the event on television, and patronize event sponsors respectively. Among this sample of undergraduate students, responses to the event appeared to be strongly associated with beliefs about whether or not referent others would perform each behaviour. Additionally, much of what motivates sport consumer behaviour within this segment of the population may be related to notions of tradition and nostalgia. Implications for future research and the design of behaviour change interventions are discussed.

Three studies were conducted to examine the role of psychosocial factors in the prediction of health innovation uptake. A health innovation is a device, treatment or altered food product intended to improve the health of an individual or group and considered new by the population of interest. Health innovations may be used to address current health problems in individuals but also play a key role in preventative health efforts. Encouraging individuals to adopt appropriate health innovations is often an important strategy in improving the general health and minimising the social cost of illness of a population. The current program of research examined the influence of predictors from the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB; Ajzen, 1991), the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM; Davis, 1989; Davis, Bagozzi, & Warshaw, 1989), and risk technology literature (Fischhoff, Slovic, Lichtenstein, Read, & Combs, 1978; Slovic, 1987; Slovic, Fischhoff, & Lichtenstein, 1980) on health innovation decision-making. Additionally, the study examined the background factors of previous experience with the innovation, age, and gender. Guided by the overall conceptualisations of change presented in the Stages of Change Model (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1984; Prochaska & Velicer, 1997) and the Innovation Decision Model (Rogers, 1958, 2003), the three studies aimed to examine the role of the proposed predictors for a number of different innovations at various stages of diffusion. Study 1 (N = 358) employed a correlational design to predict people's intentions and willingness to use the four health innovations of functional foods, vitamin supplements, alternative therapies and pedometers. Participants completed questionnaires based on the TPB examining attitude (favourability towards the innovation), subjective norms (pressure from others for innovation uptake) and perceived behavioural control (PBC; sense of control over adopting the innovation). In addition, participants completed items assessing the constructs of usefulness of the innovation and ease of use of the innovation from the TAM and familiarity of risks and dread of risks associated with the innovation, adapted from the risk literature. Background factors, such as previous innovation use and age and gender of the participants, were also examined. The underlying behavioural, normative, and control belief constructs of the TPB were examined to differentiate between those participants who reported that they were intending to or willing to adopt the health innovation and those who were not intending to or willing to adopt the health innovation. Overall, the results of Study 1 supported the TPB constructs, perceived usefulness from the TAM, and risk familiarity. Study 2 (N = 102) utilized an experimental design where usefulness of the four innovations examined in Study 1 and the familiarity of risks associated with them were manipulated in a 2 x 2 scenario based study. As in Study 1, participants completed measures of the TPB factors, an assessment of the dread of risk and reported background factors such as previous innovation use, and their age and gender. Participants read reports of 'recent research' that contained information about the innovations' usefulness in relation to health benefit and familiarity of risk in comparison to traditional health products. As in Study 1, people's intentions and willingness to use the health innovations were examined, as was a third outcome measure; participant predicted future use of each innovation. The results of Study 2 provided support for the TPB constructs of attitude and subjective norms. The study also provided limited support for the TAM factor of usefulness, as well as for the risk dimensions of familiarity of risks and dread of risks. The TPB construct of PBC and the background factors of age and gender were not supported. Study 3 (N = 116) employed a 2 x 2 between-subjects design where usefulness and dread of risks were manipulated for a previously unavailable health innovation, calcium enriched mints. Study 3 also involved a within-subjects measurement of two behaviour measures (estimated consumption, and a diary recorded measure of consumption) over three time periods. Intention was retained as a third uptake measure of innovation uptake. Participants were presented with manipulated information about the usefulness and dread of risks associated with calcium enriched mints. Study 3 examined the role of the manipulated constructs, the TPB factors, familiarity of risk, and demographics in the prediction of the enriched mints uptake. The design of this study addressed limitations identified in the literature and mirrored a number of authentic health innovation uptake situations. The results of Study 3 strongly supported the role of attitude and subjective norms as influential predictors of intention to consume the calcium enriched mints, and intention as a predictor of estimated and diary recorded measures of consumption. The study offered limited support for the risk factors of familiarity of risks and dread of risks and did not support the TAM construct of usefulness as a predictor of calcium enriched mint uptake. Taken together, the results of this research provided strong support for the role of the TPB factors of attitude and subjective norms, but not PBC, as predictors of health innovation intentions and willingness. The results also supported the role of intention as a predictor of health innovation adoption behaviour. Limited support was found for the risk dimensions of familiarity of risks and dread of risks, suggesting that another conceptualisation of risk may be more appropriate for health innovation decision-making. The results found little support for the TAM variables of usefulness and ease of use, or the influence of demographic characteristics of age and gender. These findings indicate that the general decision-making model of the TPB, with the exception of the role of PBC, provides a useful framework to understand people's health innovation decision-making. Given the limited support for PBC in the prediction of intentions and behaviour in this context, the Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975), with some consideration of risk factors, may be an appropriate approach to adopt to facilitate an understanding the factors underlying people's decision to use innovations designed to improve their health.

Adult students (n = 211) from a Private Training Establishment located in a low socio-economic area of Counties Manukau, New Zealand, were assessed for intent to achieve and actual outcome. Each year in New Zealand approximately 25% of students leaving school do so with no qualifications. It is estimated that in the Counties Manukau Region there are 77,000 adults with no educational qualifications, impacting on earning ability and on self-esteem. Failure rate at tertiary education is high, with 38% of under 18 year olds not achieving, and this figure worsens with age. The cost to New Zealand of having people not in employment, not in education and not in training is estimated to be close to $1.0 billion per year and in Counties Manukau the cost of youth unemployment is between $55 and $73 million per annum. This study applied The Theory of Planned Behaviour to assess intent to achieve, and was expanded to include a self-esteem component (Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale, 1965). The Theory of Planned Behaviour sufficiently predicted intent, and was significantly improved with the self-esteem component. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale successfully predicted outcome, however findings need to be interpreted with caution. The initial self-esteem levels (M=20.59), whilst just above the accepted criteria (M=20.00) validate other studies indicating that New Zealand has an over-all low level of self-esteem compared with other similar countries. These findings indicate opportunity for future research into the prediction of outcome and ability of learning establishments to mitigate risk of non-achievement for the adult learner. They also support the further investigation of the low level of self-esteem as evidenced in this study.

Adult students (n = 211) from a Private Training Establishment located in a low socio-economic area of Counties Manukau, New Zealand, were assessed for intent to achieve and actual outcome. Each year in New Zealand approximately 25% of students leaving school do so with no qualifications. It is estimated that in the Counties Manukau Region there are 77,000 adults with no educational qualifications, impacting on earning ability and on self-esteem. Failure rate at tertiary education is high, with 38% of under 18 year olds not achieving, and this figure worsens with age. The cost to New Zealand of having people not in employment, not in education and not in training is estimated to be close to $1.0 billion per year and in Counties Manukau the cost of youth unemployment is between $55 and $73 million per annum. This study applied The Theory of Planned Behaviour to assess intent to achieve, and was expanded to include a self-esteem component (Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale, 1965). The Theory of Planned Behaviour sufficiently predicted intent, and was significantly improved with the self-esteem component. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale successfully predicted outcome, however findings need to be interpreted with caution. The initial self-esteem levels (M=20.59), whilst just above the accepted criteria (M=20.00) validate other studies indicating that New Zealand has an over-all low level of self-esteem compared with other similar countries. These findings indicate opportunity for future research into the prediction of outcome and ability of learning establishments to mitigate risk of non-achievement for the adult learner. They also support the further investigation of the low level of self-esteem as evidenced in this study.

Thesis (M.Arch.)--University of Detroit Mercy, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 13).

Thesis (Master of City Planning)--University of California, Berkeley. / Bibliography: p. 69-73.