The purpose of this research is to empirically investigate consumers' health care decision choices in a dynamic market setting. The unprecedented demands on the U.S. health care system coupled with the mounting controversies surrounding health care reform suggest that consumers' health care decisions warrant empirical research attention. Toward this end, this dissertation empirically explored (1) the characteristics of consumers who possess a willingness to use non-conventional treatments over conventional treatments, (2) the characteristics of consumers who elect self-medication in lieu of health care practitioner-directed medication, and (3) the salient dimensions of consumers' channel choice for the procurement of health care products. Each of these decision choice factors were tested across two U.S. generational segments to assess whether differences existed across Baby Boomers' and Gen Yers' health care decision choices. The conceptual framework for empirical assessment is Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory. From Bandura's social cognitive theory, a general model of healthcare decision choice is proposed to assess consumers' states of mind, states of being and states of action (decision choice). Results indicate that social cognitive factors (e.g., self-efficacy, objectivism) play an important role in each of the decision domains explored in this dissertation. Moreover, health value was found to be an important moderator between the social cognitive factors and health care decision choices. The predictors of the health care decision choices were found to vary across the Baby Boomers and Generation Yers on several dimensions, confirming the notion that generational differences may be a salient dimension of consumers' health care decision choice. The research offers several implications for practitioners, academicians and policy makers. Both descriptive and normative implications are gleaned from the research findings. Most notably, the results indicate that consumers' social cognitive factors and health value may be mechanisms for managing health care decisions.

Orientador: Nelson Antonio Pirola / Resumo: A transição do 5º para o 6º ano é marcada por mudanças na vida escolar dos alunos que envolvem tanto os aspectos cognitivos, como os afetivos e atitudinais. Pesquisas desenvolvidas na área da Psicologia da Educação Matemática têm mostrado que tais aspectos articulam-se no processo de ensino e aprendizagem da Matemática, afetando significativamente o desempenho. A presente pesquisa teve como objetivo investigar as relações entre algumas variáveis consideradas importantes para o desenvolvimento do aluno, a saber: as crenças de autoeficácia, as atitudes e a atribuição de causalidade de alunos no período de transição do 5º para o 6º ano. A abordagem metodológica adotada na investigação foi a mista, ou seja, combinou o método quantitativo e o método qualitativo. A proposta consistiu na realização de duas coletas de dados: o primeiro momento, com os alunos cursando o 5º ano do Ensino Fundamental, e o segundo momento, com o mesmo grupo de alunos cursando o 6º ano do Ensino Fundamental. Os participantes foram 95 alunos do 5º ano e 78 alunos do 6º ano, oriundos de quatro escolas públicas estaduais do município de Bauru, SP, que ofereciam os anos iniciais e os anos finais do Ensino Fundamental, concomitantemente. Os instrumentos utilizados foram: um questionário de caracterização, uma escala de crenças de autoeficácia e uma escala de atitudes em relação à Matemática, aplicados na primeira etapa da coleta de dados, um questionário de atribuições causais e uma prova de Matemática, aplica... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The transition from year 5 to year 6 is marked by changes in students' school life that involve cognitive, affective and attitudinal aspects. Research developed in the area of Psychology of Mathematics Education has shown that these aspects are articulated in the teaching and learning process of Mathematics, significantly affecting performance. This research aimed to investigate the relationships between some variables considered important for student development such as self-efficacy beliefs, attitudes towards mathematics and causal attribution by students in the transition period from year 5 to year 6. The methodological approach adopted in the investigation was the mixed one, that is, it combined the quantitative and the qualitative methods. The proposal consisted of two data collections: the first moment, with students attending year 5 of elementary school, and the second, with the same group of students, then attending year 6. The participants were 95 year-5 students, and 78 year-6 students from 4 public state schools in Bauru, SP, which offered the initial and final grades of elementary school, at the same time. The instruments used were: a characterization questionnaire, a self-efficacy belief scale, and an attitude scale towards mathematics, which were applied in the first stage of data collection, a causal attributions questionnaire and a math exam, applied in the second stage of the data collection, and a semi-structured interview, used in the third and last stage. ... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

I denna studie undersöktes hur sångpedagoger ser på prestationsångest och mentala blockeringar hos sina elever. Prestationsångest hos sångare är ett relativt outforskat område, men det är en känsla som drabbar de flesta som utövar musik. Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur sångpedagoger både resonerar kring och hur de hanterar sina elevers prestationsångest och andra mentala blockeringar. Arbetet genomfördes i första hand genom en enkät som sedan låg till grund för intervjuer med åtta verksamma sångpedagoger. Studien vilar på en sociokognitiv teori. Resultatet visar att alla sångpedagoger frekvent möter elever med prestationsångest och att de alla har liknande verktyg för att hantera det. En upptäckt som gjordes var att det sällan talas om prestationsångest i musikundervisning, där många paralleller gjordes till idrottspsykologi som är ett mer utforskat ämne. Sångpedagogerna använde många verktyg som tangerade mental träning men ingen av dem ansåg sig använda någon särskild metod. Det är i nuläget ovanligt att lyfta mental träning i musikundervisning men ett konstaterande som görs är att sångpedagogen måste lära sig att hantera elevers prestationsångest för att kunna hjälpa dem vidare i utvecklingen. Resultatet visar att ett gemensamt ordförråd och gemensamma verktyg att ta till vore gynnsamt. / This study examined vocal coaches’ view on performance anxiety and mental blockages in their students. Performance anxiety is a relatively unexplored area, but it’s a feeling that affects most people who practice music. The purpose of the study was to investigate how vocal coaches both reason about and how they handle their students’ performance anxiety and other mental blockages. The work was carried out through a pilot study that formed the basis for interviews with eight practicing vocal coaches. The study is based on a social cognitive theory. Results show that all vocal coaches meet students with performance anxiety on a daily basis and that they all have similar tools to work with it. A discovery that was made was that the subject of performance anxiety was rarely talked about in music education and many parallels were made to sports psychology, which is a more explored area. The vocal coaches used many tools that are used in mental training, but they all made it clear that they did not use any particular method. It is currently unusual to highlight mental training in music education, but it’s clear that the vocal coach must learn to handle the students’ performance anxiety in order to help them further in development. The result show that a common vocabulary and common tools to use would be beneficial.

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Det finns flera kopplingar mellan försämrad hälsa och missbruk åt båda hållen. Personer med missbruksproblematik är en särskilt utsatt grupp på flera sätt för Covid-19. Hur pandemin påverkat dessa människor i Sverige är en lucka som behöver fyllas. Syftet med denna studie är att beskriva hur missbruksbehandlare uppfattar att samhällsläget under Covid-19 pandemin påverkat behandling och förekomst av missbruk. Studien behandlar substansmissbruk gällande alkohol- och/eller narkotika. Denna studie bygger på tematisk analys utifrån fem enskilda kvalitativa intervjuer med arbetsverksamma behandlare inom öppenvårds- och slutenvårdsbehandling för missbruksproblem. Intervjuerna var semistrukturerade och studiens resultat analyserades tematiskt med hjälp av sociokognitiv teori. Studiens resultat talar för att det skett förändringar i relationer, psykisk hälsa, arbetsmiljö och förekomst av missbruk. Den ökande psykiska ohälsan kopplad till restriktioner för att minska smittspridningen av Covid- 19 med minskade sociala kontakter och ändrade vanor som följd ökar risken för att hamna i eller för att återfalla i missbruk. Restriktioner och ändrade arbetsformer har påverkat missbruksbehandlingen negativt. / There are multiple correlations between reduction in health and substance use disorder in both directions. People suffering from substance use disorder are an especially vulnerable group in many regards to Covid-19. How the pandemic has affected these persons in Sweden is a gap that needs to be filled. The purpose of this study is to describe how addiction counsellors perceive that the state of society during the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the therapy and prevalence of substance abuse. This study deals with substance abuse of alcohol and/or drugs. This study is founded on a thematic analysis from five individual qualitative interviews with addiction counsellors, working in either in- or outpatient care mental and behavioural disorders due to psychoactive substance use. The interviews were semi-structured, and the results were scrutinized through thematic analysis with a social cognitive theory lens. The results point towards changes in both private and professional relations, mental health, the work environment, and an increased prevalence of substance abuse. Decreased mental health related to restrictions to decrease the spread of Covid-19 with changes in habits and less social contacts increases the risk of starting or relapsing a substance abuse. Restrictions and change in work conditions has had a negative impact on substance abuse treatment.

The purpose of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of whether or not, and how teachers in a resource-constrained rural school sustain their motivation in and commitment to teaching over a life-span. The Social Cognitive Career Theory was chosen as theoretical framework because it recognises the importance that factors in the environment play when the career paths of individuals unfold. A conceptual framework for ‘teacher career resilience’ was developed by merging current thinking on resilience, teacher resilience and career resilience. The life-history design was framed methodologically as biographical research with participatory principles. Teacher participants (n=5, 3=female and 2=male) were selected according to purposive sampling. Data were generated through participatory interview-conversations, which were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim, as well as memory books, joint photograph-taking and field notes in a researcher diary. Five themes emerged from the guided phenomenological analysis process (Hycner, 1985) and narrative comparison. First, this study exposes illiteracy of learners’ parents, demotivated learners, and a negative national teacher fraternity as sources of adversity not previously noted as significant for teachers in rural settings. Second, rural teachers in this study drew strength from their own life experiences of adversity (being from rural areas themselves); and they relied on their own agency in problem solving. Third, in addition participating rural teachers make use of encouraging memories of their own teachers from childhood and partake in informal professional development activities such as collaborative peer discussions rather than mentoring to grow professionally. Fourth, participating teachers in rural resource-constrained South Africa thus use similar internal protective resources (problem solving, strategizing, cognitive restructuring and emotional regulation) in their adaptive coping repertoire to those of other teachers globally. Fifth, teachers did not enter the teaching profession in the same way as has been documented elsewhere; but entered the teaching profession as a result of socio-political and financial influences, chance happenings and the influence of significant teachers in their past. Teachers seem to balance their use of protective resources between internal and external resources in their current practice. Over time, however they draw more on internal protective resources. Teachers conceptualised their teacher career resilience on a continuum: persevering through adversity, both as young children, and as growing professionals. They use their self-efficacy beliefs, embedded in an adversity drenched past, to manage, overcome and cope despite current chronic adversity. Teachers’ overt behavior in adaptive coping processes was dependent on the interrelatedness between their attributes (especially internal protective resources), the environment (chronic adversity) and the continuous loop of influence (appraisal) between these three factors. Teachers became skilled in resilience processes because of the chronic adversity they face. Teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs about their adaptive coping extended beyond what they themselves can achieve to what their efforts in teaching may mean to model hope to learners, as their teachers modelled to them, fostering a certain altruistic career anchor. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

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Introduction: Health behaviour is detrimental to the pathways to adulthood. Internet becomes an important way for parents to get support and to exchange information. Therefore, a scoping review and interviews with mothers had been conducted to map knowledge to investigate the extent to which the internet is being used by parents to access information relative to their adolescent’s health behaviours. Method: Scoping review was used to identify articles related to the topic. The literature search was conducted on two databases, PubMed, and PMC. In addition, semi-structured interviews conducted by telephone with mothers based in Sweden. Content analyses were used to describe common themes. Result: The searches on the PubMed and PMC electronic databases detected 274 items. Only 9 articles were relevant and matched the criteria that were relevant to the topic. Most of the studies have been conducted in developed countries such as the United States and Australia from 2004 to 2020. During semi-structured interviews, using the internet was described as a supportive tool for mothers. Conclusion: The gap was clear due to the low number of the identified articles. New studies should be conducted in developing countries. Demographic influences should be considered regarding participants recruitment for interviews.

Influenza is a preventable infectious disease, against which vaccination is the primary means of protection. Health care workers (HCW) are among the most vulnerable to the illness and are likely to be sources of infection transmission while caring for patients. Circumstantial evidence suggests higher rates of vaccination coverage by HCW will coincide with a lower incidence of influenza transmission, yet a gap remains in the literature regarding governing health agencies' (i.e., licensing boards, medical and nursing associations) influence on the influenza vaccination practices of their constituents. Moreover, discrepancies exist between governing health agencies' and the National Vaccine Advisory Committee's recommendations on mandatory influenza vaccination for HCW. The main purpose of this quantitative cross-sectional study was to explore the relationship between influenza vaccination uptake by HCW and guidance from governing health agencies to vaccinate. The health belief model and social cognitive theory were used to identify the most influential determinant for HCW to vaccinate against influenza. The sample consisted of 388 HCW who provided direct patient care at the same hospital. Data were analyzed using Fisher's exact test. Study findings suggest that a workplace mandate for influenza vaccination has an influence on HCW uptake of the vaccine and that governing agencies' lack of uniformity on the matter has minimal impact on their constituents' beliefs and behavior. It is recommended that a universal policy be adopted for health agencies' implementation of an influenza vaccine mandate, which could lead to positive social change by supporting preventive self-care practices, minimizing spread of the disease to workers and patients, and maintaining workplace productivity.

Nutritional food label understanding (NFLU) in African American Women (AAW) is a philosophy that addresses obesity. Public health efforts have implemented nutritional and caloric information to packaged and restaurant foods to improve nutrient and calorie literacy. Research suggest NFLU might have a minimal effect on reducing obesity. However, it is not known how obese AAW born during the baby-boom era (51 to 64 years of age) perceive NFLU in relation to their dietary behaviors. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the lived experience of obese AAW regarding NFLU from a cognitive and behavioral perspective. Twelve, AAW answered 21-semi-structured questions that were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Findings of the study revealed the limited appreciation of NFLU in relation to healthy nutrition behaviors. Reasons for not applying nutritional food label (NFL) information centered on self-help perception, the time to read and understand the content on the NFL, skills required for effective NFL usage (math, organization of content), barriers to overcome while grocery shopping and motivational interest to change their behavior. In addition, the interviews of obese AAW revealed a lack of interest in NFL information while dining out despite understanding the perceived health benefits of knowing such information. Positive social change implications for obese AAW include improved nutrition literacy and nutritional behavior using NFLU as the guide to healthier dietary choice. From an individual, community, societal and nation level, reversing the trajectory of obesity through nutritional health literacy needs further improvement and individual adoption to possibly assist with obesity self-management.