Attitudes

We examined the relationship between attitudes toward urban ecological restoration and cognitive (perceived outcomes, value orientation, and objective knowledge), affective (emotional responses), and behavioral factors using residents of the Chicago Metropolitan Region. Positive and negative attitudes were both related to perceived outcomes of ecological restoration. In addition, positive attitudes were related to values wlzile negative attitudes were related to emotions. Attitudes of high and low importance groups were connected to perceived outcomes of ecological restoration; however, attitudes of the high importance group were also related to values, emotions, and behavior. Positive and negative attitude groups IZiffered on perceived outcomes, basic beliefs, knowledge, and behavior. I~nplications lie in understarzding of complex attitudes toward natural resource issues and improved communication efforts to influence or educate the public.

Racism is part of the foundation of U.S. society and institutions, yet few studies in community psychology or organizational studies have examined how racism affects organizations. This paper proposes a conceptual framework of institutional racism, which describes how, in spite of professional standards and ethics, racism functions within organizations to adversely affect the quality of services, the organizational climate, and staff job satisfaction and morale. Grounded in systems theory and organizational empowerment, the framework is based on data that describe how racism was made manifest in a county public health department. The findings highlight the importance of understanding how organizations are influenced by external forces and can negatively affect clients, communities, and their own staff members.

Although male partner cooperation is often essential for successful use of the female condom, only a few studies have directly assessed men's experiences of using the device. We examined barriers to and facilitators of female condom use via qualitative in-depth interviews with 38 young men (18 to 28 years) in South Africa whose partners, all university students, were enrolled in a female condom intervention trial. In all, 21 men used the female condom; the remaining 17 did not attempt use. The main facilitators to female condom use were convenience of use for men, curiosity to see how female condoms compared to male condoms, enhanced sexual sensation, and perceptions of better safety and comfort of the device compared to male condoms. The main barriers were men's limited familiarity with the device, insertion difficulties, and men's concerns about loss of control over sexual encounters. We recommend that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention and condom promotion ...

This paper describes the design (process and content), implementation, and evaluation of a program module developed to sensitize elementary school students to issues related to disability. The objectives of the activities were to enable the students to gain factual and practical information about people with disabilities and the barriers (physical, psychological, social-emotional) they encounter. Another objective of the program was to help students and teachers examine their own attitudes toward disabilities, their stereotypes, and rejection mechanisms and stigmatization tendencies. The program evaluation outcomes suggest that students were sensitized to issues related to disability and reported more positive attitudes toward their disabled counterparts.

Ethnobotanical approaches to the study of Mediterranean food plants offer novel ways for analyzing and preserving traditional knowledge and agrobiodiversity in the Mediterranean area. This article highlights our strategy to increase the awareness within traditional knowledge systems and encourage the continuous evolution of it, avoiding the loss of substantial parts of the local cultural and biological diversity. The strategy is part of a broader stream of thought, which does attempt to disseminate information locally in a multitude of ways, e.g. through a range of publications in rural or urban zones, to people with or without formal education, to children or the elderly. This article is a very personal account of the experience of the authors, but there is an urgent need to assess the impact of such activities on a broader level, and, also, to reassess the impact researchers have on the communities. Our clear impression in all field sites has been that the simple fact that such traditional knowledge systems are the focus of scientific investigation are an essential element of giving renewed sociocultural value to such knowledge and that activities like the ones described here are of great interest to the communities we worked in.

This study examines whether the romantic comedy as an information source can impact on and shape viewer attitude toward and intention to visit a place. Data were collected from patrons at a large cinema chain located in a major shopping center in Australia. Using an experimental approach, the experimental group watched a romantic comedy set in New York, whereas the control group did not. Subjects in the experimental group had significantly higher empathy, past experience, place familiarity, attitude toward, intention to visit New York, and significantly lower performance/financial risk associated with visiting New York than the control group. Furthermore, perceived social risk played a significant role in influencing place familiarity in the control group. This suggests that romantic comedies can be an effective information source in allaying viewers' concerns about a movie location. This article provides researchers with theoretical underpinning for future empirical studies in ...

Objectives The process of development of age-friendly environments is one of the key challenges of policy makers. The aim of present study was to compare the elderly people's and managers' views towards age-friendly city indexes. Methods & Materials In this descriptive-analytic study, the attitudes of 379 older adults and 57 managers were compared. Data collection tool was WHO age-friendly cities indicators (2013). Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, frequency percentage) and gamma test using SPSS software V. 21.0. Results Of the 379 older adults, 64.9% (246 persons) were female. The mean age of the elderly was 68.31±8.25 years (minimum 60 and maximum 89 years). There were significant differences between older adults' and managers' views in 13 indicators of 21 indicators. The major indicators were evaluated 'bad to very bad " from elderly people's views. The significant difference from the managers' views includes availability of source of information about health concerns and service needs of older persons (57% of elderly versus 14% of managers) (P=0.001). The policy-making status to guide the planning of new housing construction with regard to elderly person's needs (57% of elderly versus 31.6% of managers)(P=0.014). Conclusion Collaboration of organizations' custodian of elderly with older adults seems necessary in order to obtain the age-friendly city indexes.

The purpose of the current study is to determine the relationship between secondary and high school students' ecocentric, anthropocentric and antiphatic attitudes towards the environment and their academic achievement. The study was conducted with the participation of totally 854 students attending secondary and high schools in the city of Aksaray in the spring term of 2013-2014 school year. In the collection of the data, " Ecocentric, Anthropocentric and Antipathic Environmental Attitude Scale " developed by Thompson and Barton (1994) and adapted to Turkish by Erten (2007) was used. In the analysis of the data, one-way variance analysis and Pearson Correlation analysis were conducted. At the end of the study, a significant difference was found in the ecocentric attitude mean scores of the secondary school students in favor of the students having higher academic achievement (F=3.161; p<.05) and a significant difference was found in the antipathic attitude scores of the students in favor of those having lower academic achievement (F=14.700; p<.001). No significant difference based on the students' academic achievement was found in the students' anthropocentric attitude scores

The aim of this study was to assess Australian girls' beliefs and feelings about menarche and menstruation using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Eighty-seven Grade 6 girls were interviewed and completed questionnaires, including both self-report and projective measures, relating to pubertal status, attitudes to and knowledge about menstruation. Results showed knowledge to be limited, with evidence of incorrect and negative myths about menstruation. Attitudes to menstruation were characterized by embarrassment, discomfort, and ambivalence about growing up. Themes in story completion tasks further reflected these attitudes, along with shame and anxiety, linked periods with incapacity or illness, and expressed the norm of periods as events which require the use of deception and denial as coping strategies. Mature problem-solving approaches to the hypothetical situations in the stories were rare. Factor analysis of the attitudinal and knowledge data revealed four factors — Comfort through Knowledge; Negative Feelings: Discomfort through Knowledge; and Independence — which were discussed in terms of the ambivalent social construction placed on menstruation.

This study cotnpares differences in attitude, of oral health care of nursing personnel working with dependent elderly and se\ crely disabled patients. A questionnaire was administered to 398 person-nel covering (1) personal oral health care habits. (2) experiences and ...

Objectives.-Although many adolescents use over-the-counter (OTC) analgesics, their knowledge about these drugs is unclear. This study evaluates misconceptions and knowledge gaps about OTC side effects, risks, and interactions among adolescents attending a hospital-based clinic.

The attitudes and epilepsy-related knowledge of teachers are an important component of the educational experiences of children with epilepsy. Unfortunately however, the exploration of teacher attitudes and knowledge has been extremely limited in the United States. This article describes a survey-based research study of the attitudes and epilepsy-related knowledge of a randomly selected national sample of 512 elementary and middle school teachers in the United States. The questionnaire included the Scale of Attitudes Toward Persons with Epilepsy (ATPE), a summated rating scale that measures both attitudes toward persons with epilepsy and knowledge about epilepsy, as well as a demographic and teaching experience survey and several additional attitude and knowledge items developed by the researchers. The results suggest that although teachersÕ attitudes about epilepsy were generally positive, there were significant deficits in terms of general knowledge about epilepsy, its impact in educational settings, and the appropriate management of epilepsy and seizures in the classroom. Critical areas in which to focus remedial education and outreach efforts are identified.

This article examines the community-level impact of concentrated child welfare agency involvement in African American neighborhoods. Based on interviews of 25 African American women in a Chicago neighborhood, the study found that residents were aware of intense agency involvement in their neighborhood and identified profound effects on social relationships including interference with parental authority, damage to children&#39;s ability to form social relationships, and distrust among neighbors. The study also discovered a tension between respondents&#39; identification of adverse consequences of concentrated state supervision for family and community relationships and neighborhood reliance on agency involvement for needed financial support. The author discusses the implications of these findings for a new research paradigm aimed at understanding the community-level effects of racial disproportionality.

Özet Bu araştırmanın amacı öğretmen adaylarının öğretmenlik mesleğine karşı tutumları ve bilgisayar yeterlikleri ile teknoloji kullanımına karşı tutumları arasında nasıl bir ilişki olduğunu belirlemektir. Araştırma tarama modelinde yürütülmüştür ve araştırmanın çalışma grubunu ...

The spread of ICTs constitutes an intriguing phenomenon for studying the interweaving between ways of knowing, thinking and experiencing new ÔrealitiesÕ. A suitable framework for investigating this topic is the social representations one, which addresses socially shared structures of knowledge, loaded with emotional features and symbolic values. In the present study, we explore how the internet is represented and how it is related to social well-being.

Objectives To examine dietitians' views of overweight and obese people, to explore the role of level of severity on these perceptions (overweight vs. obesity), and to explore the relationship between dietitians' views and their reported weight management practices.

Aim: To determine attitudes of paediatric consultants and trainees towards immediate care of babies born at 22-24 weeks gestation. Methods: A questionnaire was sent to one consultant and one trainee within each of 63 neonatal units in South East England.

In this article, Brahm Norwich, Professor of Education at the University of Exeter, examines the roles that special schools can play within inclusive educational systems. He notes that the percentage of young people in special schools in England has remained broadly stable over a number of years, despite inclusive policy initiatives. Brahm Norwich suggests that policy makers and practitioners have found it hard to understand how a broad and shifting notion like inclusion should be operationalised, especially when valued positions, such as meeting individual needs and providing a sense of belonging and participation, can appear to generate such tensions and contradictions. Brahm Norwich summarises findings on teachers' attitudes towards this crucial 'dilemma of difference' from three countries and argues that it is time to develop more sophisticated ways of thinking about provision. Rather than insisting on locating 'mainstream' and 'special' at opposite ends of a one-dimensional placement continuum, Brahm Norwich puts forward a multidimensional model in which a number of attributes can be considered when analysing provision. The 'flexible interacting continua' provided in this model concern identification, participation, placement, curriculum and teaching and governance and Brahm Norwich shows how schools, whether mainstream or special, need to strive towards commonality in terms of all five dimensions rather than simply in terms of placement. Policy makers as well as staff in both mainstream and special schools will be interested in exploring the implications of these ideas.

Bernoulli's framework of expected utility serves as a model for various psychological processes, including motivation, moral sense, attitudes, and decision making. To account for evidence at variance with expected utility, the authors generalize the framework of fast and frugal heuristics from inferences to preferences. The priority heuristic predicts (a) the Allais paradox, (b) risk aversion for gains if probabilities are high, (c) risk seeking for gains if probabilities are low (e.g., lottery tickets), (d) risk aversion for losses if probabilities are low (e.g., buying insurance), (e) risk seeking for losses if probabilities are high, (f) the certainty effect, (g) the possibility effect, and (h) intransitivities. The authors test how accurately the heuristic predicts people's choices, compared with previously proposed heuristics and 3 modifications of expected utility theory: security-potential/aspiration theory, transfer-of-attentionexchange model, and cumulative prospect theory.

Charity sport events have emerged as widespread and integral fundraising mechanisms for charitable organizations. This article explores the meaning that charity sport events hold in participants’ lives. Using the Psychological Continuum Model (PCM) as the theoretical framework, the authors examine participant attachment to charity sport events. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants in a charity sport event (N = 32) to discuss their perceptions of the event and their overall event experiences. Results revealed that camaraderie, cause, and competency reflect the enhanced meaning of the event and provide further explanation of attachment. Suggestions are made for charitable organizations and host communities to leverage these factors effectively and develop long-term sustainable events, and to assist in recruiting volunteers and facilitating social change in host communities.

The Olympic Games are considered to be the most prestigious multi-sport event in the world. However, with growing costs associated with hosting such events against a backdrop of questionable economic benefits, and yet elation that follows from sporting success, a number of studies have started to address its intangible or softer impacts as a justification for the investment. It is well known that sentiment plays a part in the evolving economic valuation of companies through the stock market. What is less well known is how 'news' affects the sentiment towards major public investments like the Olympics. In this paper we consider, from the context of the preevent stage of the 30 th Olympiad, the relationship between attitudes towards the Olympics and Olympic-related news; specifically the bad news associated with an increase in the cost of provision, and the good news associated with Team GB's medal success in 2008. Using a unique data set and an event-study approach that involves compositional time-series analysis, it is found that 'good' news affects sentiments much more than 'bad' but that the distribution of such sentiment varies widely. For example, a much more pronounced effect of good news is identified for females than males, but 'bad' news has less of an impact on the young and older age groups. The paper consequently argues that extreme caution should be exercised in policy pronouncements that are based on such sentiments.

This study assesses the effectiveness of different types of Jewish schools in producing adult religious involvement, using a sample of 1,009 individuals from the Chicago area and an analysis of covariance design. Based on his analysis, the author concludes that the type of supplementary Jewish education received hiy over 80 percent of those Jews who have received any form of Jewish education has not had any lasting impact on their adult_religious involvement. Statistical analysis showed that the relationship between Jewish schooling and adult religious involvement is not wholly linear. Schooling exhibits threshold, plateau, and ceiling effects; it begins to have an impact at 2,000 hours, reaches a plateau between 3,000 and 4,000 hours, and obtains a maximum effect at 10,000 hours when reinforced by other agents of religious socialization. (Author/3G)

This .paper reports on a study conducted during the 1972-73 school year. The study aimed at providing facts, empirical evidence, feedback, and other'forms of information to aid administrators and the professional staff' in a self-assessment directed to the continued improvement of the Departmentls'leadership potential._Although the study results exist on three levels of specificity, this report repreSents only the,summary portion of study findings. The populations sampled consisted of public school, area school, county, unit, and DPI personnel. An analysis of pretest sample returns indicate in. part that, in general, teachers and school borad Members were too;little'informed about the DPI to comment about their attitudes toward it, their perceptions of functions in whiqh the DPI is engaged, or their desires for activities in which the DPI should. engage. A positive general attitude toward the DPI was evidenced by superintendents, principals, administrators, and student service personnel in. school districts, county units, and area schools, as well as by the professional staff of the DPI; and a positive correlation was found to exist.betweeh the overall attitude displayed by respondents in both their :desire for and their perception of DPI. involvement in activities denoted,by items in the instrument.

Ethnic identity was conceptualized into three categories: (1) unexamined, (2) searching for identity, and (3) achieved ethnic identity. Analyses of data collected from 12,386 adolescents showed that ethnic identity is an important qualifier of the relationships between independent variables of ethnicity and gender, and dependent variables of global self-esteem, academic self-confidence, and purpose in life. Whites and Native Americans had lower ethnic identity, and Blacks and Hispanics had higher ethnic identity. Asians and repondents of mixed ethnicity had intermediate levels of ethnic identity. The greater the ethnic identity, the higher the self-esteem, purpose in life and selfconfidence. This mechanism applies to ethnic minorities and to women among whom achieved ethnic identity may blunt the negative effects of social denigration and stereotyping, and it applies to whites, too. The paper argues that multiculturalism in the schools can increase ethnic identity.

This paper presents and discusses the role of community engagement, i.e. attitudes of local stakeholders, engagement of elected officers and pricing, towards the success of water reuse on the island of Bora Bora, French Polynesia. To better preserve public health and overcome all constraints related to public perception, a membrane tertiary treatment was implemented for the production of high-quality recycled water. Consequently, the demand for the new recycled water has steadily increased during the last four years with a wide diversification of urban uses including irrigation, cleaning, industrial and commercial uses and fire protection. The primary keys to success of this water reuse scheme are the strong commitment of elected officers and large industrial users with the implementation of an adequate public communication and education programme. The resulting outcome is the public trust in recycled water and the recognition of the economic and environmental benefits of water reus...

Aims and objectives. The aim of this paper is to explore maternal views and experiences of stimulant pharmacotherapy in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Background. The very nature of ADHD means that it exists in a climate of scepticism and doubt. However, parents must make decisions about how to treat their children affected by ADHD. Of the treatments available, the use of stimulant therapy is the most controversial. Design. Qualitative. Method. Snowball sampling was used to recruit mothers (n = 11) of children with ADHD and a narrative-based qualitative methodology was used. Results. Decisions around the use of stimulant medication for children with ADHD were difficult for these mothers. Detailed findings are presented under the themes of: Ambivalence and confusion: everybody would be down on me like a ton of bricks; Influence of the media: so much bad publicity; Deciding against medication: you're changing their whole personality; and, Deciding for medication: he's just been wonderful. Conclusions. While these mothers revealed that they were discriminating in selecting information to guide their decisionmaking, many of their friends and family were influenced solely by media reports. Mothers experienced misgivings from family and friends who were sceptical about the need for medication and the implications and ethics of administering stimulant medication to children. Relevance to clinical practice. Nurses and healthcare professionals have an important role in providing accurate and current information for parents and families and should be aware of the pressures parents are under when making decisions about treatments for their children with ADHD.

The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &

We used a standardised behavioural surveillance survey (BSS), modified to be directly relevant to populations in conflict and post-conflict settings as well as to their surrounding host populations, to survey the populations of a refugee settlement in southwestern Uganda and its surrounding area. Two-stage probability sampling was used to conduct 800 interviews in each population. The BSS questionnaire adapted for displaced populations was administered to adults aged 15-59 years. It collected information on HIV knowledge, attitudes and practices; issues before, during and after displacement; level of interaction and sexual exploitation among the refugees and host communities (i.e., nationals). Population parameters were compared and 95% confidence intervals were calculated for core HIV indicators. The demographic characteristics were similar (except for educational achievement), and HIV awareness was very high (>95%) in both populations. The refugees reported more-accepting attitudes towards persons with HIV than did nationals (19% versus 13%; p < 0.01). More refugees than nationals reported ever having had transactional sex (10% versus 6%; p < 0.01), which mostly occurred post-displacement. Five percent of females among both the refugees and nationals reported experiencing forced sex, which mostly occurred post-displacement and after the arrival of refugees, respectively. Nationals reported more frequent travel to refugee settlements than reported by refugees to national villages (22% versus 11%; p < 0.01). The high mobility and frequent interactions of these two populations suggest that integrated HIV programmes should be developed and would be an efficient use of resources. Evidence suggesting that female refugees may be at elevated risk for HIV infection, due to forced sex, transactional sex and other vulnerabilities, warrants further examination through qualitative research. The findings indicate a need for additional, focused HIV-prevention programmes, such as youth education, for both refugees and Ugandan nationals.

This paper challenges a finding reported by several researchers, that fundamentalism could be associated with a reduction in racial prejudice after controlling for authoritarianism (RWA). We argue that the presence of fundamentalism in the construct definition of the conventionalism cluster of RWA leads to higher associations between fundamentalism and conventionalism than with other aspects of RWA. This creates a statistical artefact that distorts the results of multiple regression analyses that include both fundamentalism and RWA as independent variables. To test this hypothesis, 299 participants completed measures of prejudice as well as fundamentalism and the three RWA clusters (conventionalism, authoritarian aggression, and submission). In regression analyses using fundamentalism and the combined RWA scale we replicate previous findings that when RWA is controlled, higher fundamentalism leads to lower prejudice. After removing the overlapping method variance in the scales, this pattern is eliminated and the commonly observed positive relationship between fundamentalism and prejudice is found. We describe the statistical artefact, its antecedents, and its theoretical implications, and outline how investigations in this important area should proceed.

The effects of activities about knowing our body unit to students 'success, scientific process skills, attitudes Vücudumuzu tanıyalım ünitesinde alternetif etkinliklerin öğrencilerin başarılarına, bilimsel süreç becerilerine, tutumlarına etkisi Abstract In this study was intended to investigate the activities of the unit " Meet Our Body " in the Science and Tecnology course of the fourth grade in primary school education and whether there is a significant difference between this unit and the alternative activities designed by the researchers for the unit in terms of the accesablity of the target behaviours. In the study, both survey model and experimental model have been used. First, the opinions and suggestions of 50 primary education class teachers in Bursa regarding the current curriculum was handled. Then, development activities designed by the researchers was applied on the sample group consisting of 70 fourth grade students. The applications, which were planned as three hours per week, lasted 6 weeks in 2010-2011 academic year spring term. The Unit Achievement Tests, The Teacher Curriculum Sight Survey, The Scientific Process Skills Scales, The Teacher Activity Assessment Survey and developed by the researchers and The Attitude Scale Towards Science and Tecnology Courses were used as data collection instruments in the present study. In the data analysis, the SPSS 11.5 statistics program was used and mean score, frequency, percentage, standard deviation, variance and t-test calculations through this program. Consequently, it was found that the alternative activities are more efficiently than unit activities on solving the basic problems the matter of time and the crowded classes. Furthermore, it was found that the alternative activities are more efficiently than unit activities on students' achievements, attitudes towards to Science and Tecnology and the development of scientific process skills. It is thought of that, the development activity designs are assisted the usage of the Science and Technology education curriculum more efficiently.

In the fall of 1990 we began a longitudinal study of a cohort of students enrolled in the introductory chemical engineering course. One of us (RMF) taught these students in a sequence of five chemical engineering courses in five consecutive semesters, using a variety of instructional methods including extensive collaborative (team-based) learning, routine assignment of open-ended problems and problem formulation exercises, and other techniques designed to address the spectrum of learning styles found in all engineering classes. The students enrolled in the introductory course in the Fall 1992 semester were designated as a comparison group. They took traditionally-taught chemical engineering courses from whichever teachers happened to be assigned to teach them, but not from Dr. Felder. Academic p e i f o m n c e and retention data were collected and attitudes and selfconfidence levels were assessed for both groups throughout their second, third, and fourth years of college.

Hospital malnutrition is prevalent, but nutritional practice in hospitals has a low priority. To improve the quality in nutritional routine, ESPEN has developed standards to improve the inadequate and insufficient nutritional treatments seen today. However, there is a discrepancy between the standards and clinical practice. This study was conducted to investigate nutritional practice in different hospital settings in relation to these standards (e.g.: screening of all patients, assessment of at-risk patients) among Scandinavian doctors and nurses.A questionnaire about nutritional attitudes and routine was mailed to doctors and nurses in Denmark, Sweden and Norway.Altogether, 4512 (1753 doctors, 2759 nurses) answered the questionnaire. Both screening and assessment of at-risk patients differ between the countries. Nutritional screening was more common in Denmark (40%), compared to Sweden (21%) and Norway (16%). Measuring dietary intake in nutritional at-risk patients was more common in Denmark (46%), compared to Sweden (37%) and Norway (22%). However, all countries agreed that nutritional screening (92%, 88%, 88%) and measuring dietary intake (97%, 95%, 97%) were important, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, respectively.There is a large discrepancy between nutritional attitudes and practice. The standards suggested from the ESPEN are not fulfilled.

Volume 41 Number A positive approach to change: the role of appreciative inquiry in library and information organisations Tricia Kelly Investigating the news seeking behavior of young adults M. Asim Qayyum, Kirsty Williamson, Ying-Hsang Liu, and Philip Hider Higher education in TAFE: a new "mixed sector" library paradigm Paul Kloppenborg Is an online learning module an effective way to develop information literacy skills?

Background: Unsafe abortion is a major Public health problem in developing countries, where women make several unsafe attempts at termination of the unintended pregnancy before turning to health services. Community health workers can act as a bridge between the community and their health facilities and can use Emergency Contraceptive Pills to significantly reduce the mortality and morbidity related to unsafe abortions. Aims: This study explores the knowledge, attitudes and practices of the Lady Health Supervisor of the National Program for Family Planning, district Rawalpindi, regarding emergency contraception pills. Materials and Methods: The cross sectional survey was conducted during the monthly meeting of Lady Health Supervisors. Self administered, anonymous and voluntary questionnaire consisting of 17 items, regarding demographic profile, awareness, knowledge, attitudes and practices, was used. Results: Insufficient knowledge, high misinformation and strongly negative attitudes were revealed. More than half did not know that emergency contraceptive pills do not cause abortion. About four fifths believed that emergency contraceptive pills will lead to 'evil' practices in society. More than four fifths recognized that the clients of National Program for Family Planning need emergency contraceptive pills. The attitudes were significantly associated with knowledge (P=0.034, Fisher's Exact Test). Conclusion: The awareness of emergency contraceptive pills is high. Serious gaps in knowledge have been identified. There is a clear recognition of the need of emergency contraceptive pills for the clients of National Program for Family Planning. However, any strategy to introduce emergency contraceptive pills must cater for the misplaced beliefs of the work force.

Traveler attitudes and preferences as well as demographic variables are important components in the travel behavior process. Using travel attitudes a factor and cluster analysis were conducted to segment the sample. Six distinct groups were extracted: Transit Enthusiasts, Anxious Status Seekers, Car-less Riders, Green Cruisers, Frugal Travelers, and Obstinate Drivers. The segments showed unique combinations of attitudes with distinct travel behaviors and varying degrees of intention to use public transport. Gender differences were then investigated and the results suggest that women and men exhibit differences on attitudes, preferences and behavior. The design of strategies to promote alternatives to car use should target the market segments that are most motivated to change, focusing on the attitudes that can induce a change, such as pro transit or sensibility to the environment.

This paper tests the influence of gender on daily car use and on willingness to reduce car use. Car use is modeled in terms of practical factors combined with manifestations of the specific influence of gender. Willingness to reduce car use is modeled in terms of attitudinal factors using a theory of environmentalism. The results confirm the existence of a gender component. The concluding discussion suggests that more research is needed to further our theoretical understanding and methodological expertise regarding how gender can be modeled in travel research in order to attain current policy regarding a gender equal transportation system.

Introduction. This research presents the validated proposal of an entrepreneur competency profile. We analyzed the phases of the entrepreneurial process, and the functions involved in each of them, in order to identify the tasks involved in each function/role and consequently the specific competencies of entrepreneurs. Method. The proposal was validated in two stages, based on judgments from 6 experts (entrepreneurs and scholars). In the first stage, according to the majority assessment of the participating experts, we established the tasks related to each of the functions involved in phases of the entrepreneurial process. In the second stage and using the same criteria, we analyzed the attitudes and skills involved in each of the competencies needed to carry out each task. Results. We present a profile of the competencies of entrepreneurial individuals, in connection with their functions and tasks. Each competency is then described according to its constituent attitudes and skills. Conclusion. The resulting competency profile is a fundamental tool for designing entrepreneurial training, and is in itself a first step in planning such training, since it helps establish educational goals as well as methodological proposals in order to meet them.