Development and Validation of Oral Health Knowledge, Attitude and Behavior Questionnaire among Indian Adults

Background and objectives: The Indian population faces numerous challenges to attain better oral hygiene due to a lack of oral health literacy. For the past 10 years, the prevalence of dental-related conditions in India has become a considerable problem in every state of India. A health-education-based oral health promotion strategy will be an ideal choice for the Indian population instead of endorsing conventional oral health promotion. The use of unsuitable tools to measure may lead to misleading and vague findings that might result in a flawed plan for cessation programs and deceitful effectiveness. Therefore, the research aimed to develop and validate an instrument that can assess the oral health knowledge, attitude and behavior (KAB) of adults in India. Materials and Methods: This study was carried among adults in India, who live in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. A questionnaire was fabricated and then validated using content, face, as well as construct. The knowledge domain was validated using item response theory analysis (IRT), whereas exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to validate the behavior domain and attitude. Results: Four principal sections, i.e., knowledge, attitude, demography and behavior, were used to fabricate a questionnaire following validation. Following analysis of item response theory on the knowledge domain, all analyzed items in the domain were within the ideal range of difficulty and discrimination. The Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin measure of sampling adequacy was 0.65 for the attitude and 0.66 for the behavior domain. A Bartlett’s test of sphericity was conducted and demonstrated that outcomes for both domains were highly significant (p < 0.001). The factor analysis resulted in three factors with a total of eight items in the attitude domain and three factors with a total of seven items in the behavior domain depicting satisfactory factor loading (>0.3). Across the three factors, i.e., knowledge, attitude and behavior, internal consistency reliability was tested using Cronbach’s alpha, and the values obtained were 0.67, 0.87, 0.67, and 0.88, respectively. Conclusions: The findings of this study that assessed validity and reliability showed that the developed questionnaire had an acceptable psychometric property for measuring oral health KAB among adults in India.

MENINGKATKAN SIKAP TOLERANSI PADA DOMAIN AFEKTIF, KOGINITIF DAN PERILAKU SISWA DALAM INTEGRASI PENDIDIKAN AGAMA KRISTEN DAN BUDI PEKERTI MELALUI PENERAPAN METODE FILMED ROLE-PLAY [INCREASING TOLERANCE IN STUDENTS' AFFECTIVE, COGNITIVE, AND BEHAVIOUR DOMAINS THROUGH THE INTEGRATION OF CHRISTIANITY AND MORAL STUDIES USING THE FILMED ROLE-PLAY METHOD]

<div>Indonesia is a religion based country. Religion studies should be positioned as school’s curriculum priority, both in public and private school. Integrated Christianity and moral studies might be the solution of conflicts within family, school, community, both national and international societies. One of many values that urgently needs to be promoted is an attitude of tolerance in facing our multicultural society. School as an educational institution has an important role in teaching tolerance skill to students as early age. One of the challenges is finding the right method to deliver the abstract concepts to children who are in the stage of pre-operational concrete. This research has done an introductionary study towards the bullying case that happened earlier in the researchers workplace 4^th and 5^th graders within 4 months. Therefore, this research address the urgency of an integrated curriculum of Christianity studies with moral studies practices, specifically on multicultural values through experiential learning with filmed role-play. Research was conducted in XYZ School for primary 3, 4 and 5. This instructional strategy resulted in increase of attitude of tolerance both in cognitive and behavior domain, but has no increase in the affective domain. All respondents agree by implementing filmed role-play has contributed to their deeper understanding towards the concept of tolerance.</div>

Newly graduated dentists’ knowledge of temporomandibular disorders compared to specialists in Saudi Arabia

Background General dentists are often the first healthcare professionals to see patients with orofacial pain (OFP). OFP conditions associated with the temporomandibular joint are often confused with dentoalveolar disorders, which leads to mismanagement. The objective of this study was to evaluate the level of knowledge of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) among newly graduated dentists compared to OFP specialists in Saudi Arabia. Methods This was a descriptive cross-sectional study utilizing an anonymous validated questionnaire assessing professional knowledge regarding TMDs in newly qualified dentists and OFP specialists. The questionnaire interrogated four domains including chronic pain/pain behavior, etiology, diagnosis/classification, and treatment/prognosis. OFP specialists were used as the reference group. Results A total of 393 dentists participated, a response rate of 67.6% in newly graduated dentists and 77.3% in OFP specialists. The degree of agreement between newly graduated general dentists and OFP specialists was highest for the “chronic pain and pain behavior” domain. The consensus among specialists was highest for the “treatment and prognosis” domain and the least for the “chronic pain and pain behavior” domain. Conclusion Newly graduated general dentists have limited knowledge of TMD in almost all domains compared to specialists. Given that a lack of knowledge of TMD can lead to clinical mismanagement, dental school curricula must address this important knowledge gap.

Efficacy Validation of the Revised First Step Program: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Disruptive behavior problems frequently emerge in the preschool years and are associated with numerous, long-term negative outcomes, including comorbid disorders. First Step is a psychosocial early intervention with substantial empirical evidence supporting its efficacy among young children. The present study reports on a validation study of the revised and updated First Step early intervention, called First Step Next, conducted within four preschool settings. One hundred sixty students at risk for school failure, and their teachers, were randomized to intervention and control conditions. Results indicated coach and teacher adherence to implementing the core components of the program was excellent. Teachers and parents had high satisfaction ratings. For the three First Step Next prosocial domains, Hedges’ g effect sizes (ESs) ranged from 0.34 to 0.91. For the problem behavior domain, children who received the First Step Next intervention had significant reductions in teacher- and parent-reported problem behavior as compared to children randomized to the control condition. For the problem behavior domain, Hedges’ g ESs ranged from 0.33 to 0.63, again favoring the intervention condition. All of the domains were statistically significant. This study builds on the evidence base supporting the First Step intervention in preschool settings.

Norms Across Cultures: A Cross-Cultural Meta-Analysis of Norms Effects in the Theory of Planned Behavior (corrected & updated)

This paper presents a corrected version of a manuscript published in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. Norms have emerged as a central concept across various fields of psychology. In social psychology, norms have been important to predict intentions and behavior, but cultural variability has not been examined. In cultural psychology, norms have also played a central role in explained cultural differences. In contrast, to date, variability in norm-intention and norm-behavior relationships has not been systematically investigated. Any systematic variability may be challenging to both social and cultural psychology. We re-analyzed effect sizes taken from five previously published meta-analyses using a fixed-effects model and demonstrate that the relative strength of norm-intention and norm-behavior correlations in this sample of previously published studies are systematically higher in less economically developed societies. We also found significant, but weaker, effects for individualism, tightness–looseness and monumentalism vs flexibility. Meanwhile, behavior domain effects also emerged, which suggests that norms are behavior specific. Norms effects systematically vary across previously published studies, implying that more attention is needed to investigate culturally conditioned domain and behavior effects.

Prosocial Behavior as a Human Essence

Aristotle said that humans are social animals; humans may also be described as prosocial animals. The chapter discusses prosocial tendencies as a core attribute of human psychological functioning and posits these tendencies as central to the human essence. Human prosocial behavior resides in the complex interconnections among factors affecting our prosocial lives. Penner, Dovidio, Piliavin, and Schroeder (2005) proposed a multi-level approach identifying not only types of prosocial behaviors but also the processes that motivate and regulate acts that benefit others. They structured the prosocial behavior domain hierarchically into three levels that provide mutually supportive, coherent, and comprehensive explanations for prosocial actions and a scaffolding for them that can be linked horizontally within and vertically between levels to provide an integrative “prosocial matrix.” Thus a consilience of prosociality emerges that suggests something unique about the human inclination to benefit others, supporting prosociality as an essential quality of being human.

In search of a model explaining organic food purchase behavior

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the domain relevance of a comprehensive yet almost overlooked theoretical framework for studying organic food purchase behavior in a global context. This conceptual paper argues that there exists an apparently powerful model in health behavior domain that may readily be brought into organic food purchase behavior research. The paper argues for domain relevance and proposes that Montano and Kasprzyk’s integrated behavior model may readily be used in organic food behavior studies with some relevant modification. Design/methodology/approach The paper follows an exploratory approach and shows how variables used in the past may be aggregated to the model in question. The challenge is addressed by following both the inductive and the deductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning calls for investigating whether such behavior may be classified as health behavior. Inductive reasoning calls for proving relevance of all the variables in the aforesaid model to the organic food research context. Findings The paper concludes that the Montano and Kasprzyk’s model is theoretically relevant to the organic food behavior domain. However, it is observed that the domain-specific operationalization is necessary for further empirical studies. Research limitations/implications Since the model was rarely tested empirically in predicting organic food purchase intention, the variable-specific relevance may not warrant the relevance of the whole model with intertwined relationships at the same time. Practical implications The paper may pave a way toward further empirical research and may also explain the apparent intention-behavior gap as often reported in literature. Originality/value The paper may provide a useful direction in future organic food purchase behavior studies by showing the domain relevance of an apparently powerful model, along with addition of some newer variables that may enrich the existing model.

Understanding Consumer Attitudes Toward Web-based Communication Tools

<p>Motivated by the growing role of online transactions and Web-related Word-Of-Mouth (WWOM) in the consumer behavior domain, we propose a theoretical model that relates two antecedents (consumers’ community and content ownership) to attitudes toward four WWOM tools (Viral Marketing, Consumer-Produced Ads, Consumer Web Logs, and Collaborative Filters). The model and related hypotheses are empirically tested with the structural equation modeling (SEM) approach, using data from a large-scale survey. Results validated most of the proposed hypotheses and generated new insights. For example, we found that the direct relation between consumers’ community and their attitude toward blogs was completely mediated by their sense of content ownership. Finally, we delineate the limitations of the study and outline directions for future research.</p>

Social Influence in Marketing

Much of consumer behavior is socially based, involving public consumption of products, exposure to individuals or groups engaging in consumption, and discussions about products with family, friends, acquaintances, and strangers. We examine research on the effects of social influence on consumer behavior, focusing on articles from the top journals in the field. A large part of this work applies and expands on theories developed in the field of psychology; however, given the interdisciplinary nature of marketing, consumer research incorporates findings from other fields, including economics, sociology, anthropology, and communications. Some topics unique to consumer research include gift giving, brand community, and word of mouth. We close the chapter with a discussion of social influence research opportunities in the consumer behavior domain.