Investigating mothers' decisions about their child's sun-protective behaviour using the Theory of Planned Behaviour

This study tested the utility of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to predict mothers’ decisions to ensure their child engages in sun-protective behaviours. Mothers (N = 162) of children aged four or five years completed standard TPB items (attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, intention) and additional variables of role construction, mothers’ own sun safe behaviour, planning and past behaviour. One week later, participants (N = 116) reported their behaviour. Results found support for the TPB constructs, role construction, past behaviour and the mediating role of planning. These findings can inform strategies to prevent skin cancer.

Towards an integration of the theory of planned behaviour and cognitive behavioural strategies : an example from a school-based injury prevention programme

Adolescent risk-taking behavior has potentially serious injury consequences and school-based behavior change programs provide potential for reducing such harm. A well-designed program is likely to be theory-based and ecologically valid however it is rare that the operationalisation process of theories is described. The aim of this paper is to outline how the Theory of Planned Behavior and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy informed intervention design in a school setting. Teacher interviews provided insights into strategies that might be implemented within the curriculum and provided detail used to operationalise theory constructs. Benefits and challenges in applying both theories are described with examples from an injury prevention program, Skills for Preventing Injury in Youth.

Intellectual property and development : theory and practice

Since the 1960s, many developing countries have introduced IP laws to help them in their social and economic development. Introducing these laws was considered as a civilised act and a precondition of developing countries‘ progress from being =under-developed‘ to becoming =developed‘. In 2004, Brazil and Argentina presented a comprehensive proposal on behalf of developing countries to establish the Development Agenda in the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). They put forward a view that IP laws in their current form are not helping those countries in their development, as is constantly being suggested by developed countries, and that there is a need to rethink the international IP system and the work of WIPO. The research undertaken examines the correlation between IP and social and economic development. It investigates how IP systems in developing countries could work to advance their development, especially in the context of the internet. The research considers the theory and practice of IP and development, and proposes a new IP framework which developing countries could employ to further their social and economic development.

Analyses of systems theory for construction accident prevention with specific reference to OSHA accident reports

To enhance workplace safety in the construction industry it is important to understand interrelationships among safety risk factors associated with construction accidents. This study incorporates the systems theory into Heinrich’s domino theory to explore the interrelationships of risks and break the chain of accident causation. Through both empirical and statistical analyses of 9,358 accidents which occurred in the U.S. construction industry between 2002 and 2011, the study investigates relationships between accidents and injury elements (e.g., injury type, part of body, injury severity) and the nature of construction injuries by accident type. The study then discusses relationships between accidents and risks, including worker behavior, injury source, and environmental condition, and identifies key risk factors and risk combinations causing accidents. The research outcomes will assist safety managers to prioritize risks according to the likelihood of accident occurrence and injury characteristics, and pay more attention to balancing significant risk relationships to prevent accidents and achieve safer working environments.

Using neo-Piagetian theory, formative in-Class tests and think alouds to better understand student thinking : a preliminary report on computer programming

It is acknowledged around the world that many university students struggle with learning to program (McCracken et al., 2001; McGettrick et al., 2005). In this paper, we describe how we have developed a research programme to systematically study and incrementally improve our teaching. We have adopted a research programme with three elements: (1) a theory that provides an organising framework for defining the type of phenomena and data of interest, (2) data on how the class as a whole performs on formative assessment tasks that are framed from within the organising framework, and (3) data from one-on-one think aloud sessions, to establish why students struggle with some of those in-class formative assessment tasks. We teach introductory computer programming, but this three-element structure of our research is applicable to many areas of engineering education research.

Positive experiences for participants in suicide bereavement groups : a grounded theory model of elements that contribute to the process of adjusting to the loss

Grounded Theory was used to examine the experiences of 13 participants who had attended psycho-educational support groups for those bereaved by suicide. Results demonstrated core and central categories which fit well with group therapeutic factors developed by Yalom (1995) and emphasised the importance of universality, imparting information and instilling hope, catharsis and self-disclosure, and broader meaning making processes surrounding acceptance or adjustment. Participants were commonly engaged in a lengthy process of oscillating between loss oriented and restoration focused reappraisals. The functional experience of the group comprised feeling normal within the group, providing a sense of permission to feel and to express emotions and thoughts and to bestow meaning. Structural variables of information and guidance and different perspectives on the suicide and bereavement were gained from other participants, the facilitators, group content and process. Personal changes, including in relationships and in their sense of self, assisted participants to develop an altered and more positive personal narrative.

An extended theory of planned behavior intervention for older adults With Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease

A randomized controlled trial evaluated the effectiveness of a 4-wk extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) intervention to promote regular physical activity and healthy eating among older adults diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease (N = 183). Participants completed TPB measures of attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and intention, as well as planning and behavior, at preintervention and 1 wk and 6 wk postintervention for each behavior. No significant time-by-condition effects emerged for healthy eating. For physical activity, significant time-by-condition effects were found for behavior, intention, planning, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norm. In particular, compared with control participants, the intervention group showed short-term improvements in physical activity and planning, with further analyses indicating that the effect of the intervention on behavior was mediated by planning. The results indicate that TPB-based interventions including planning strategies may encourage physical activity among older people with diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Toward a theory of the architectural subject

The extraordinary event, for Deleuze, is the object becoming subject – not in the manner of an abstract formulation, such as the substitution of one ideational representation for another but, rather, in the introduction of a vast, new, impersonal plane of subjectivity, populated by object processes and physical phenomena that in Deleuze’s discovery will be shown to constitute their own subjectivities. Deleuze’s polemic of subjectivity (the refusal of the Cartesian subject and the transcendental ego of Husserl) – long attempted by other thinkers – is unique precisely because it heralds the dawning of a new species of objecthood that will qualify as its own peculiar subjectivity. A survey of Deleuze’s early work on subjectivity, Empirisme et subjectivité (Deleuze 1953), Le Bergsonisme (Deleuze 1968), and Logique du sens (Deleuze 1969), brings the architectural reader into a peculiar confrontation with what Deleuze calls the ‘new transcendental field’, the field of subjectproducing effects, which for the philosopher takes the place of both the classical and modern subject. Deleuze’s theory of consciousness and perception is premised on the critique of Husserlian phenomenology; and ipso facto his question is an architectural problematic, even if the name ‘architecture’ is not invoked...

Smarten up! applying market design theory to greyfields housing supply : a background paper

This paper examines whether recent innovation in market design can address persistent problems of housing choice and affordability in the inner and middle suburbs of Australian cities. Australia's ageing middle suburbs are the result of a low density and highly car-dependent garden city greenfield approach to planning that failed to consider possible future resource or environmental constraints on urban development (Newton et al., 2011). Described as 'greyfield' sites in contrast to greenfield (signalling the change from rural to urban land use) and 'brownfield' (being the transformation of former industrial use to mixed use, including housing), intensification of development in such areas is expected to deliver positive social, economic and environmental outcomes (Trubka et al., 2008; Gurran et al., 2006; Newton et al., 2011; Goodman et al., 2010). Yet despite broad policy consensus progress remains elusive (Major Cities Unit, 2010). In this paper we argue that the application of market design theory, specifically through the internet-based coordination of market information, offers a new policy approach and practical measures to address these problems.

Applying market design theory to 'greyfields' housing supply

This paper examines whether innovation in market design can address persistent problems of housing choice and affordability in the ageing inner and middle suburbs of Australian cities. Despite policy consensus that urban intensification of these low density, ‘greyfield’ areas should be able to deliver positive social, economic and environmental outcomes, existing models of development have not increased housing stock or delivered adequate gains in sustainability, affordability or diversity of dwellings in greyfield localities. We argue that application of smart market and matching market principles to the supply of multi-unit housing can unlock land, reduce development costs and improve design.

The impact of anxiety on processing efficiency : implications for the attentional control theory

The Attentional Control Theory (ACT) proposes that high-anxious individuals maintain performance effectiveness (accuracy) at the expense of processing efficiency (response time), in particular, the two central executive functions of inhibition and shifting. In contrast, research has generally failed to consider the third executive function which relates to the function of updating. In the current study, seventy-five participants completed the Parametric Go/No-Go and n-back tasks, as well as the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory in order to explore the effects of anxiety on attention. Results indicated that anxiety lead to decay in processing efficiency, but not in performance effectiveness, across all three Central Executive functions (inhibition, set-shifting and updating). Interestingly, participants with high levels of trait anxiety also exhibited impaired performance effectiveness on the n-back task designed to measure the updating function. Findings are discussed in relation to developing a new model of ACT that also includes the role of preattentive processes and dual-task coordination when exploring the effects of anxiety on task performance.

Greener workplace: An examination of Green HR initiatives adoption through the theory of planned behaviour lens

The goal of this article is to propose the model of green human resource initiatives adoption. Based on innovation management and psychology literatures, attitude, pressure and controllability are key drivers for organizational change. Data were collected from 210 organizations in Australia. Results indicated that attitude, pressure and controllability significantly influenced the firms’ adoption of green HR initiatives. Attitude and resource availability especially had greater impacts than pressure. Limitation, implications and future researches are also outlined.

Critical theory and literacy

This handbook chapter explores the relationship between critical theory and seminal studies of literacy which investigate inequities in education. It identifies new research questions to explore the connections between literacy and power, but go beyond promises of emancipation.

Are academics messy? Testing the broken windows theory with a field experiment in the work environment

We test the broken windows theory using a field experiment in a shared area of an academic workplace(the department common room). More specifically, we explore academics’ and postgraduate students’ behavior under an order condition (a clean environment) and a disorder condition (a messy environment). We find strong evidence that signs of disorderly behavior trigger littering: In 59% of the cases, subjects litter in the disorder treatment as compared to 18% in the order condition. These results remain robust in a multivariate analysis even when controlling for a large set of factors not directly examined by previous studies. Overall, when academic staff and postgraduate students observe that others have violated the social norm of keeping the common room clean, all else being equal, the probability of littering increases by around 40%.

Queer theory, media studies and editorial processes in queer student media

Australian queer (GLBTIQ) university student activist media is an important site of self-representation. Community media is a significant site for the development of queer identity, community and a key part of queer politics. This paper reviews my research into queer student media, which is grounded in a queer theoretical perspective. Rob Cover argues that queer theoretical approaches that study media products fail to consider the material contexts that contribute to their construction. I use an ethnographic approach to examine how editors construct queer identity and community in queer student media. My research contributes to queer media scholarship by addressing the gap that Cover identifies, and to the rich scholarship on negotiations of queer community.