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Though agriculture is the most dangerous occupation in the United States, two key issues impede the effectiveness of farm safety interventions. First, little is known about what farmers think about farm equipment accidents and safety procedures. Second, current safety interventions are typically atheoretical and focus on information exchange, instead of persuasion. Formative evaluation is desperately needed, but rarely used in farm safety campaigns. The study reported here represents a formative evaluation based on a theoretically-grounded persuasive health message framework. The goal of this formative evaluation was to discover farmers' safety practices, as well as their beliefs about farm equipment accidents and safety. Methodological triangulation was achieved by assessing farmers' beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors via face-to-face interviews ( N = 46), telephone interviews ( N = 48), and mailed surveys ( N = 177). The formative evaluation revealed that farmers believe farm equipment accidents to be severe and dangerous, yet believe themselves to be invulnerable to these accidents. East Texas Farmer, Fall 1992 [My neighbor's wife] was running the big old tractor to shredding. And she hit a stump and it throwed her off and it run over her. Them big old tires run right over her and that shredder still running just chopped her all to pieces. Killed her just real quick.

Swimming at patrolled beaches reduces the likelihood of drownings and near-drownings. The present study tested the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), with the addition of risk perceptions, in predicting people's intentions to swim between the flags at patrolled beaches. We examined also the predictors of people's willingness to swim [1] up to 10 m and [2] more than 10 m outside of the patrol flags. Participants (N = 526) completed measures of attitudes, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control (PBC), intentions/willingness, and both objective and subjective risk perceptions. Two weeks later, a sub-sample of participants reported on their beach swimming behaviour for the previous fortnight. Attitude and subjective norm predicted intentions to swim between and willingness to swim outside of the flags. Age and PBC influenced willingness to swim beyond the flags. Objective risk predicted willingness to swim beyond the flags (both distances) while subjective risk predicted willingness to swim up to 10 m outside the flags. People's intentions to swim between the flags were correlated with their behaviour at follow-up. This study provides a preliminary investigation into an important safety behaviour and identifies factors to target when promoting safe swimming behaviours to prevent drowning deaths on Australian beaches.

Objective. To provide a preliminary test of a Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) belief-based intervention to increase adolescents’ sun protective behaviors in a high risk area, Queensland, Australia. Methods. In the period of October-November, 2007 and May-June, 2008, 80 adolescents (14.53 ± 0.69 years) were recruited from two secondary schools (one government and one private) in Queensland after obtaining student, parental, and school informed consent. Adolescents were allocated to either a control or intervention condition based on the class they attended. The intervention comprised three, one hour in-school sessions facilitated by Cancer Council Queensland employees with sessions covering the belief basis of the TPB (i.e., behavioral, normative, and control [barrier and motivator] sun-safe beliefs). Participants completed questionnaires assessing sun-safety beliefs, intentions, and behavior pre- and post-intervention. Repeated Measures Multivariate Analysis of Variance was used to test the effect of the intervention across time on these constructs. Results. Students completing the intervention reported stronger sun-safe normative and motivator beliefs and intentions and the performance of more sun-safe behaviors across time than those in the control condition. Conclusion. Strengthening beliefs about the approval of others and motivators for sun protection may encourage sun-safe cognitions and actions among adolescents.

Using an extended Prototype/Willingness Model, we examined the predictors of willingness to donate an organ to a partner/family member and a stranger while living. A questionnaire assessed university students’ ( N = 284) attitudes, subjective norm, prototype favourability, prototype similarity, moral norm, and willingness to donate organs in each recipient scenario. All variables, except prototype favourability, predicted willingness to donate organs in both situations. Future strategies should emphasise perceived approval from important others for living donation, the consistency of living donation with one’s own morals, and encourage perceptions of similarity between oneself and living donors to increase acceptance of living donation.

A qualitative study explored beliefs about active voluntary euthanasia (AVE) in a sample ( N = 18) of medical practitioners and nurses from Australia, where AVE is not currently legal. Four behaviors relating to AVE emerged during the interviews: requesting euthanasia for oneself, legalizing AVE, administering AVE to patients if it were legalized, and discussing AVE with patients if they request it. Using thematic analysis, interviews were analyzed for beliefs related to advantages and disadvantages of performing these AVE behaviors. Medical practitioners and nurses identified a number of similar benefits for performing the AVE-related behaviors, both for themselves personally and as health professionals. Benefits also included a consideration of the positive impact for patients, their families, and the health care system. Disadvantages across behaviors focused on the potential conflict between those parties involved in the decision making process, as well as conflict between one's own personal and professional values.

Using a prospective study of 77 1st-year psychology students' voluntary attendance at peer-assisted study sessions for statistics, the authors tested the addition of role identity to the theory of planned behavior. The authors used a revised set of role-identity items to capture the personal and social aspects of role identity within a specific behavioral context. At the commencement of the semester, the authors assessed the students' attitudes, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, role identity, and intention. The authors examined the students' class attendance records 3 months later. Attitudes and perceived behavioral control predicted intention, with intention as the sole predictor of attendance. Role identity also predicted intention, reflecting the importance of the student role identity in influencing decision making related to supplementary academic activities.

BACKGROUND: With an increasing demand for blood and blood products in Australia, there is a continual need to recruit blood donors. As such, it is important to investigate the factors that impact on nondonors' decision-making processes with regard to donating blood for the first time. Previous research has established the efficacy of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) in predicting blood donor intentions. The current research aimed to test a TPB model augmented with constructs implicated in previous blood donor research; specifically descriptive norm, moral norm, anticipated regret, and donation anxiety. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Participants completed measures assessing the standard TPB variables of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control (PBC) as well as descriptive norm, moral norm, donation anxiety, and anticipated regret. Path analysis examined the utility of the augmented TPB model to predict 195 non-blood donors' intentions to donate blood. RESULTS: A final revised model provided a very good fit to the data and included attitude, PBC, moral norm, descriptive norm, anticipated regret, and donation anxiety as direct predictors of intention, with these factors accounting for 70 percent of the variance in intentions to donate blood. CONCLUSION: A revised TPB model provided a more efficacious predictor of nondonors' intentions to donate than the standard TPB model and highlights the role that norm-based factors and affective-laden constructs play in predicting non-blood donors' intentions to donate.

With an ever-increasing demand on blood supplies worldwide, there is an immense need to ensure a safe and sufficient supply of blood products. However, recruiting and retaining blood donors remain key challenges for blood agencies. In an attempt to address these problems, researchers have identified a range of sociodemographic, organizational, physiological, and psychological factors that influence people's willingness to donate blood. Although past research has largely focused on donor recruitment, in particular, demographic variables associated with blood donation behavior, the issue of donor retention has become increasingly important. A growing number of studies have also highlighted the role of psychological factors in explaining, predicting, and promoting blood donation behavior. In line with recent trends in blood donation research, the present article reviews the contributions of, and current directions in, psychological research on blood donation attitudes and behavior, with special emphasis on donor return and repeat blood donation behavior. Although there is overlap between factors that predict the initiation and the maintenance of blood donation behavior, it is suggested that changes in motivation and the development of self-identity as a blood donor are crucial for understanding the processes whereby first-time donors become repeat donors.

Context Limited studies, particularly in Australia, are aimed at understanding young people's beliefs about organ donation. Identification of such beliefs may serve to increase donation decision registration and decision discussion rates among this age cohort. Objectives To examine young adults' knowledge about organ donation and to use a theory of planned behavior framework to determine the differences in behavioral, normative, and control beliefs between young adults who had and those who had not registered and discussed their organ donation decision with family or significant others. Participants Australian university students (N = 233) completed a questionnaire assessing knowledge about the organ donation process and beliefs related to organ donation decision registration and decision discussion. Results Young adults demonstrated knowledge deficits about the support of Western religious denominations for organ donation and the circumstances surrounding donation. Unregistered donors were more likely to focus on the costs of registering; however, no belief-based differences for decision discussion emerged. Young adults who had registered and discussed their decision were more likely to believe that family members and friends thought they should do so. Lack of motivation was reported as preventing registering and discussing, and uncertainty about how and when to raise the topic prevented young adults discussing their donation decision. Conclusions Understanding of young adults' knowledge and beliefs enables the development of strategies encouraging donation decision registration and donation decision discussion with family or significant others, thereby increasing the likelihood that the donor's wishes will be carried out.

Objectives The present research examined the sun protection intentions and behaviours of young people in a high risk skin cancer area using an extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB) incorporating additional social influences of group norms and image norms. Design The study employed a prospective design to examine young people's sun protection intentions and behaviour. Method Participants (N = 1134), aged 12 to 20 years, were students (school, university, TAFE) and young employees living in Queensland, Australia. Participants completed a questionnaire assessing the TPB predictors (attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control) and additional social influences (group norm, image norm) of sun protection intentions. Two weeks later, participants (n = 734) reported their sun protection behaviour for the previous fortnight. Results Results revealed that the TPB variables of attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control and the additional social influence variable of group norms, but not image norms, emerged as significant predictors of intentions to engage in sun protection. The extended TPB variables accounted for 36% of the variance in intentions. For behaviour, the extended TPB variables accounted for 27% of the variance with both intention and, unexpectedly, group norm as the significant direct predictors of sun protective behaviours. Conclusions Results of this study provide support for the application of the TPB in the sun safety context and highlight the importance of considering the influence of group norms in the development of future interventions to increase young people’s sun protection intentions and behaviour.

Issue addressed Differences in the behavioural, normative and control beliefs of young Australian sun-protectors and non sun-protectors are analysed using a theory of planned behaviour belief-based framework. Methods A questionnaire assessed the sun-safety-related beliefs and perceptions of a Queensland sample (n=858) of young people aged between 12 and 20 years. Two weeks later, participants reported their sun-protective behaviour for the previous fortnight. Results The study found that clear differences emerged between sun-protectors and non-protectors on underlying normative and control beliefs related to sun-safety behaviours (but not behavioural beliefs). Specifically, sun-protectors were more likely to believe that their friends and family think they should perform sun-protective behaviours. Sun-protectors were also more likely to perceive that a range of motivating factors would encourage them to perform sun-safety behaviours. Finally, non-protectors were more likely to report forgetfulness and laziness as barriers preventing them from performing sun-protection behaviours than sun-protectors. Conclusions Findings indicate that future interventions should target young people’s normative and control beliefs related to sun safety. So what? Targeting the normative and control beliefs of young people in relation to sun protection is important to encourage an increase in sun-safety behaviours in these high-risk populations.

Background The quantum increases in home Internet access and available online health information with limited control over information quality highlight the necessity of exploring decision making processes in accessing and using online information, specifically in relation to children who do not make their health decisions. The aim of this study was to understand the processes explaining parents’ decisions to use online health information for child health care. Methods Parents (N = 391) completed an initial questionnaire assessing the theory of planned behaviour constructs of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control, as well as perceived risk, group norm, and additional demographic factors. Two months later, 187 parents completed a follow-up questionnaire assessing their decisions to use online information for their child’s health care, specifically to 1) diagnose and/or treat their child’s suspected medical condition/illness and 2) increase understanding about a diagnosis or treatment recommended by a health professional. Results Hierarchical multiple regression showed that, for both behaviours, attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, (less) perceived risk, group norm, and (non) medical background were the significant predictors of intention. For parents’ use of online child health information, for both behaviours, intention was the sole significant predictor of behaviour. The findings explain 77% of the variance in parents’ intention to treat/diagnose a child health problem and 74% of the variance in their intentions to increase their understanding about child health concerns. Conclusions Understanding parents’ socio-cognitive processes that guide their use of online information for child health care is important given the increase in Internet usage and the sometimes-questionable quality of health information provided online. Findings highlight parents’ thirst for information; there is an urgent need for health professionals to provide parents with evidence-based child health websites in addition to general population education on how to evaluate the quality of online health information.