The design and psychometric assessment of a TPB-based questionnaire suitable for use with primary school children

Despite the popularity of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) a lack of research assessing the efficacy of the model in understanding the health behaviour of children exists, with those studies that have been conducted reporting problems with questionnaire formulation and low to moderate internal consistencies for TPB constructs. The aim of this study was to develop and test a TPB-based measure suitable for use with primary school children aged 9 to 10 years. A mixed method sequential design was employed. In Stage 1, 7 semi-structured focus group discussions (N=56) were conducted to elicit the underlying beliefs specific to tooth brushing. Using content thematic analysis the beliefs were identified and a TPB measure was developed. A repeated measures design was employed in Stage 2 using test re-test reliability analysis in order to assess its psychometric properties. In all, 184 children completed the questionnaire. Test-retest reliabilities support the validity and reliability of the TPB measure for assessing the tooth brushing beliefs of children. Pearson’s product moment correlations were calculated for all of the TPB beliefs, achieving substantial to almost perfect agreement levels. Specifically, a significant relationship between all 10 of the direct and indirect TPB constructs at the 0.01 level was achieved. This paper will discuss the design and development of the measure so could serve as a guide to fellow researchers and health psychologists interested in using theoretical models to investigate the health and well-being of children.

Comparison of elicitation methods for moral and affective beliefs in the theory of planned behaviour

Although the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) has been applied successfully in the area of food choice, it has been criticized for its pure utilitarian approach to the factors determining behaviour. Despite the increase in predictive power of the model with added components such as affective attitude and moral and ethical concerns, in most studies the elicitation process still only addresses people's utilitarian beliefs about the behaviour with little attention paid to other aspects. This study compares the traditional method of elicitation of advantages and disadvantages with two other methods (word association and open-ended) in the elicitations of beliefs, attitudes and moral concerns in relation to the consumption of organic foods. Results show the traditional method to be best for eliciting cognitive beliefs, open-ended emotion task for eliciting emotional beliefs and open-ended beliefs task best for moral concerns. The advantages and disadvantages of each method are discussed.

Predicting intentions to purchase organic food: The role of affective and moral attitudes in the Theory of Planned Behaviour

This study examined the usefulness of integrating measures of affective and moral attitudes into the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB)-model in predicting purchase intentions or organic foods. Moral attitude was operationalised Lis positive self-rewarding feelings of doing the right thing. Questionnaire data were gathered in three countries: Italy (N = 202), Finland (N = 270) and UK (N = 200) in March 2004. Questions focussed on intentions to purchase organic apples and organic ready-to-cook pizza instead of their conventional alternatives. Data were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling by simultaneous multi-group analysis of the three Countries. Along with attitudes, moral attitude and subjective norms explained considerable shares of variances in intentions. The relative influences of these variables varied between the Countries, such that in the UK and Italy moral attitude rather than subjective norms had stronger explanatory power. In Finland it was other way around. Inclusion of moral attitude improved the model fit and predictive ability of the model, although only marginally in Finland. Thus the results partially Support the usefulness of incorporating moral measures as well as affective items for attitude into the framework of TPB. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An investigation into the factors influencing tooth brushing behaviour amongst school children living in Northern Ireland: An application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour.

Background: Northern Ireland has the worst oral health in the UK and its children have among the highest levels of tooth decay in Europe (DHSSPS, 2007).
Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the factors influencing tooth brushing behaviour among Year 6 primary schoolchildren using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB).
Method: Seven semi-structured focus groups involving 56 children were conducted during which children were asked questions about the factors that influence whether or not they brush their teeth. Thematic analysis was used with the purpose of eliciting the belief-based measures for all the TPB constructs.
Results: The findings suggest that children are knowledgeable about their teeth and are aware of the importance of maintaining good oral health; although a number of barriers to consistent tooth brushing exist.
Discussion: The findings will be used to inform stage 2 of the research project; questionnaire development to identify the factors influencing young people’s motivations to improve their tooth brushing behaviour and to assess their relative importance.

The role of low coverage sodium surface species on electrochemical promotion in a Pt/YSZ system

The effect of sodium-modification on the catalyst and electrocatalytic properties of a platinum catalyst supported on a YSZ solid electrolyte was studied. Increasing the sodium coverage on the catalyst surface appears to block some of the three-phase boundary (tpb) sites and reduces the rate of the charge transfer reaction. The promotion of the platinum surface reaction (ethylene oxidation) seems to a first approximation to be a function of the rate of oxygen supply or removal to or from the surface irrespective of whether this is contaminated by sodium or not (samples with sodium contamination require a higher overpotential to achieve the same current density as a clean sample because of poisoning in the tpb). At high negative polarisations (oxygen removed from the surface) the sodium contaminated samples show a significant increase in rate, possibly due to the decomposition of e.g. sodium hydroxides and carbonates. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.

Intentions Toward Physical Activity and Resting Behavior in Pregnant Women: Using the Theory of Planned Behavior Framework in a Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND: Pregnant women are recommended to 1) perform daily moderate-intensity physical activity and 2) limit the amount of sedentary time. Many women do not meet these recommendations. Reduced physical activity and increased sedentary behavior may result from women actively intending to rest during pregnancy. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) has been used to assess attitudes (e.g., positive/negative beliefs), subjective norms (e.g., perception of others' views), perceived behavioral control (PBC) (e.g., self-efficacy), and intention toward exercising while pregnant but has not been applied to aspects pertaining to resting during pregnancy.

METHODS: Pregnant women (n = 345) completed a cross-sectional questionnaire that included two TPB Questionnaires where the target behaviors were 1) being physically active and 2) resting. Bootstrapped paired t tests, ANOVA, and linear hierarchal regression analyses were performed to identify predictors of intentions and whether intentions toward the two behaviors varied at different stages of pregnancy.

RESULTS: As women progressed in their pregnancy, their attitude, PBC, and intention toward being physically active all significantly declined. A positive attitude, subjective norms, and intention toward resting all significantly increased with the advancing trimester. Self-reported health conditions predicted lower intention for physical activity but not for resting.

DISCUSSION: The significantly inverse relationship between physical activity and resting across time suggests that women feel they should focus on one behavior at the expense of the other. Finding that women generally do not perceive these behaviors as mutually compatible has implications in strategizing as to how to encourage women to be active during pregnancy.