Religious ambivalence: suppression of pro-social attitudes toward asylum seekers by right-wing authoritarianism

A survey of 168 White Australian community members examined whether ambivalence toward certain social groups by some religious individuals constituted a suppression effect in which authoritarian motivated prejudice suppressed more pro-social attitudes toward asylum seekers. Using mediation analysis, it was found that Christian religious identity was not significantly associated with prejudice at a bivariate level. However, when Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) was taken into account, Christians (compared with non-Christians) were less likely to hold negative attitudes toward asylum seekers in Australia. Inclusion of acculturation ideologies (assimilation, multiculturalism, and color-blindness) in the models indicated that the suppression effect was specific to RWA rather than due to other intergroup attitudes. However, findings suggest that multiculturalism may be one proximal indicator of Christian pro-sociality.

Knowledge, attitudes, and self care practices associated with age related eye disease in Australia

AIM: To determine the level of correct knowledge about common eye disease and attitudes towards blindness prevention and treatment, and how these factors influence self care practices in a population based sample. METHODS: A cluster random sample of the Victorian population was interviewed. The study population comprised residents aged 40 years of age or older living in five randomly selected Melbourne metropolitan suburbs and four randomly selected rural areas of Victoria. Questions were asked to ascertain each person's knowledge of common age related eye disease--that is, cataract, age related macular degeneration (AMD), and glaucoma. A subsample of the population was also asked questions to determine their attitudes to blindness prevention and treatment. All respondents were asked the year of their last visit to an eye practitioner. RESULTS: A total of 3184 (89%) eligible residents were assessed. Sex (females), age (younger people), higher levels of education (secondary, trade, or tertiary education), recent visit to an eye practitioner (within the past 2 years) and English spoken at home appeared to be significant predictors of knowledge of common age related eye conditions. Younger people believed blindness prevention and blindness treatment were the highest priorities compared with other diseases; people who spoke English at home and people with knowledge of common age related eye disease also considered blindness treatment to be the highest priority compared with other diseases. People with a previous diagnosis of age related eye disease, older people, females, people with correct knowledge of common eye diseases, and those who spoke English at home were significantly more likely to be under eye care. No interaction was found between knowledge and positive attitudes to self care practices. CONCLUSION: These data show that there is a large gap in the public's knowledge and understanding of eye disease that will need to be understood for eye health promotion activities.

Green and not heard: the relationship between sustainably designed primary schools and children’s environmental attitudes and behaviours

 This study addressed the possibility that the physical learning spaces of sustainably designed schools can act as pedagogic tools that influence children’s environmental attitudes and behaviours. The results suggest that sustainable school design informs a meaningful understanding in children of the symbiotic relationship between the built environment and the wider ecological context.

Management of obesity: attitudes and practices of Australian dietitians

OBJECTIVE: To document attitudes and current practices of Australian dietitians in the management of overweight and obesity, and to examine their training needs.

DESIGN: Cross-sectional postal survey of a randomly selected sample of members of the Dietitians Association of Australia.

SUBJECTS: 400 dietitians (66% of those surveyed).

MEASURES: Questionnaire-based measures of dietitian's views of obesity, education and training in weight management, definitions and perceptions of success, professional preparedness, approaches to weight management, strategies recommended for weight management, and problems and frustrations experienced.

RESULTS: Dietitians viewed themselves as potential leaders in the field of weight management, and saw this area as an important part of their role. While they considered themselves to be the best-trained professionals in this area, many felt that their training was poor and many were pessimistic about intervention outcomes. Despite this, most dietitians held views that were current, and regularly employed many of the elements of known best practice in management. However, important areas of weakness included: providing opportunities for long-term follow-up; providing a range of management interventions; promoting self-monitoring of diet and exercise; and promoting opportunities for social support.

CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that training in and advocacy for the management and prevention of overweight and obesity are priority areas for dietitians, and that formal studies to evaluate dietitians' effectiveness in management should be undertaken.

Obesity management: Australian general practitioners' attitudes and practices

Objectives: To document general practitioners’ (GPs) attitudes and practices regarding the prevention and management of overweight and obesity.

Research Methods and Procedures: A cross-sectional survey of a randomly selected sample of 1500 Australian GPs was conducted, of which 752 questionnaires were returned. The measures included views on weight management, definitions of success, views regarding the usefulness of drugs, approaches to and strategies recommended for weight management, and problems and frustrations in managing overweight and obesity.

Results: GPs view weight management as important and feel they have an important role to play. Although they consider themselves to be well prepared to treat overweight patients, they believe that they have limited efficacy in weight management and find it professionally unrewarding. GPs view the assessment of a patient's dietary and physical activity habits and the provision of dietary and physical activity advice as very important. The approaches least likely to be considered important and/or least likely to be practiced were those that would support the patient in achieving and maintaining lifestyle change.

Discussion: There remains considerable opportunity to improve the practice of GPs in their management of overweight and obesity. Although education is fundamental, it is important to acknowledge the constraints of the GPs’ existing working environment.

Should I and Can I?: a mixed methods study of clinician beliefs and attitudes in the management of lifestyle risk factors in primary health care

Background
Primary health care (PHC) clinicians have an important role to play in addressing lifestyle risk factors for chronic diseases. However they intervene only rarely, despite the opportunities that arise within their routine clinical practice. Beliefs and attitudes have been shown to be associated with risk factor management practices, but little is known about this for PHC clinicians working outside general practice. The aim of this study was to explore the beliefs and attitudes of PHC clinicians about incorporating lifestyle risk factor management into their routine care and to examine whether these varied according to their self reported level of risk factor management.

Methods
A cross sectional survey was undertaken with PHC clinicians (n = 59) in three community health teams. Clinicians' beliefs and attitudes were also explored through qualitative interviews with a purposeful sample of 22 clinicians from the teams. Mixed methods analysis was used to compare beliefs and attitudes for those with high and low levels of self reported risk factor management.

Results
Role congruence, perceived client acceptability, beliefs about capabilities, perceived effectiveness and clinicians' own lifestyle were key themes related to risk factor management practices. Those reporting high levels of risk factor screening and intervention had different beliefs and attitudes to those PHC clinicians who reported lower levels.

Conclusion
PHC clinicians' level of involvement in risk factor management reflects their beliefs and attitudes about it. This provides insights into ways of intervening to improve the integration of behavioural risk factor management into routine practice.

Exploring attitudes and behavioral intention of brazilian consumers towards fair trade and fair trade products

As vendas globais de produtos FT cresceram de forma consistente nos últimos anos. De acordo com a FLO, as vendas cresceram de menos de € 1 bilhão em 2004 para cerca de € 5,5 bilhões em 2013. Apesar do movimento ainda estar engatinhando no Brasil, alguns esforços visando a institucionalização da FT estão sendo tomados. Por exemplo, o Schneider (2012) mostrou que existe um mercado potencial para os produtos FT no Brasil. Entretanto, ele ainda não é bem desenvolvido. Portanto, há uma necessidade de compreender melhor as variáveis que afetam a intenção de compra destes produtos. Estudos anteriores identificaram fatores que são considerados previsores de intenção de comprar produtos FT. Considerando esses fatores, o presente estudo tem como objetivo determinar as variáveis que estão mais relacionadas com a intenção de compra e disposição para pagar por produtos FT no Brasil. Com base nas respostas de 124 entrevistados, os resultados mostram que a intenção de compra de produtos FT no Brasil está ligada a atitudes de consumo éticas dos consumidores, o interesse e qualidade dos produtos, baixo ceticismo e percepção de relevância acerca do conceito FT. Os resultados também mostraram dois grupos antagônicos de consumidores a respeito de suas atitudes. O grupo dos "ativistas" tem atitudes positivas, de alta intenção de compra e disposição a pagar mais. Por outro lado, os "incrédulos" têm atitudes negativas, baixa intenção de compra e não estão dispostos a pagar mais. Com base nos resultados deste estudo, organizações e indivíduos que visam fomentar o mercado FT no Brasil podem entender melhor o consumidor e tomar decisões de marketing mais assertivas, considerando a relevância dos fatores que afetam a intenção de comprar, como também as diferenças entre os consumidores.

The Culture of entrepreneurship: a study of the entrepreneurial motivation and attitudes towards business creation in the UAE in comparison to the US and Brazil

This study demonstrates the cultural dimension and the surrounding environment of different entrepreneurs selected from three countries, the United States of America, the Federative Republic of Brazil, and the United Arab Emirates. The general objective is to understand the difference in the entrepreneurial motives and spirit towards venture creation from the three different countries. After conducting field research and collecting the required data, a deep analysis was conducted to draw a comparison between the three cultures from an individual’s point of view, to help shape a set of proposed recommendations, which could be used to improve the current culture of entrepreneurship in the UAE.

The impact of content marketing on attitudes and purchase intentions of online shoppers : the case videos & tutorials and user-generated content

This thesis was written as part of a Double-Degree Masters program in Management, with focus in Marketing. Aligned with the nature of the degree, this study aims to be a useful tool for managers and marketers, which conduct business online. This thesis is a study of Content Marketing in the content of online commercial product pages. Its aim is to understand how to use content marketing to drive conversion, by understanding consumer attitudes and purchase intention towards content. A in-depth study of existing theories and exploratory primary research was developed in other to attain these objectives. Business-to-consumer electronic commerce (B2C e-commerce) has provided consumers and online retailers with a more effective medium to perform online transactions through commercial websites. Although consumers have realized that the benefits of online shopping; such as time saving, minimizing effort, convenience, broader selection, and wider access to information, they are still greatly unwilling to shop online. Consumers shop essentially for two motives, to meet experiential (fun) or goal-oriented (efficiency) needs (Wolfinbarger & Gilly, 2001). The information provided by content marketing seeks to focus on consumers need for information and entertainment, instead of focusing on the brand. Thus, it is expected that the type of content format will have different effects on the attitudes and purchase intention on the online shopper, depending on the online shopping purpose. Concretely, a goal-oriented shopper should find user generated content (UGC) to be more valuable content formats, since they decrease the amount of search effort. While on the other hand, videos & tutorials (VT) might be perceived as more valuable for a consumer looking to spend time and being entertained through online shopping. The exploratory research was characterized by a survey experiment with online consumers. Participants were exposed to stimuli of content marketing tested according to their attitudes and purchase intention. The focus was to understand the impact of two different content marketing tactics—User-generated content and Videos & Tutorials—on attitudes and purchase intentions and how they interact with content complexity. The results indicate that content marketing in commercial product pages is relevant in driving consumer attitudes and purchase intentions. Consumers are not motivated by a specific content marketing tactic, unless that content has a certain level of complexity. In that case, Ur-Generated Content becomes a relevant tactic in product pages, however VT is not.

Knowledge and attitudes of health care workers from intensive care units regarding nosocomial transmission of influenza: a study on the immediate pre-pandemic period

The transmission of influenza in health care settings is a major threat to patients, especially those with severe diseases. The attitude of health care workers (HCWs) may influence the transmission of countless infections. The current study aimed to quantify knowledge and identify attitudes of HCWs involved in intensive care units (ICUs) regarding the risk of nosocomial influenza transmission. A questionnaire was applied through interviews to HCWs who worked in one of the five ICUs from a teaching hospital. Questions about influenza were deliberately dispersed among others that assessed several infectious agents. Forty-two HCWs were interviewed: nine physicians, ten nurses and 23 nursing technicians or auxiliaries. Among the 42 HCWs, 98% were aware of the potential transmission of influenza virus in the ICUs, but only 31% would indicate droplet precautions for patients with suspected infection. Moreover, only 31% of them had been vaccinated against influenza in the last campaign (2008). Nursing technicians or auxiliaries were more likely to have been vaccinated, both by univariate and multivariable analysis. When asked about absenteeism, only 10% of the study subjects stated that they would not go to work if they had an influenza-like illness. Those findings suggest that, in non-pandemic periods, influenza control in hospitals requires strategies that combine continuous education with changes in organizational culture.

HIV attitudes and practices among professors in a Brazilian dental school.

Although there is considerable published research on Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), individual biases persist because of lack of information regarding HIV virus transmission. As a result, both infected patients and health care professionals suffer. The objective of this study was to determine if there is prejudice among university professors at the School of Dentistry at Aracatuba's Sao Paulo State University (FOA-UNESP) concerning HIV-positive patients or HIV-positive health care professionals. Out of the seventy-seven professors who responded to the questionnaire, 62.3 percent (forty-eight) stated that they advise their students not to refuse to treat a patient with HIV. Although 96.2 percent (fifty-two) of the fifty-four professors who treat patients have reported that they treat patients who are HIV-positive, only 65.3 percent of them were aware of infection control precautions, and only 32.7 percent reported that they would treat an HIV-positive patient like any other patient. There is also prejudice regarding HIV-positive professionals because only 48.1 percent (thirty-seven) of the professors responded that they would be willing to be treated by an infected professional. It can be concluded that there is prejudice among some of the FOA-UNESP university professors regarding individuals who are HIV-positive.

A survey of owner attitudes and experiences in managing diabetic dogs

A survey of the experiences of owners of diabetic dogs was carried out by distributing questionnaires to veterinary clinics in São Paulo, Brazil. A total of 93 dog owners were surveyed over a 4. month period and descriptive statistical analysis, frequency distribution and correlations were performed. In most cases the clinical condition of the dogs had improved following treatment and owners were largely satisfied with veterinary intervention. Injection of neutral protamine hagedorm twice daily was the most commonly prescribed treatment and respondents found this procedure easy to perform, although it did pose some difficulties when the owners were away from their animals. Cost was considered an important factor at the initiation of treatment programs. The information gleaned from this survey, in providing useful insights into the attitudes and experiences of owners of diabetic animals, will contribute to improvements in the treatment and management of such patients. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.