Based on qualitative research, we developed the theoretical construct "clinician information usage propensity" as a hypothetical indicator of attitudes and behaviour towards clinical information and systems. We devised a survey to validate the construct and had 146 responses. Principal components analysis extracted four factors accounting for 47.2% of the variance: beliefs about clinical judgem...

A person’s identity is the way she is perceived by herself (personal identity) and by others (social identity). For example, “I am a believer in doctrine x”, “I am racially/morally superior”, “I will be hailed as a martyr.” Forms of identity such as these can be valued per se. In their seminal work on the subject, Akerlof and Kranton (2000, 2010) develop a framework for analyzing the role of id...

For the last several decades, Chinese society has experienced transformative changes. How are these changes understood among Chinese people? To examine this question, Part 1 in this research solicited folk beliefs of cultural change from a group of Chinese participants in an open-ended format, and the generated folk beliefs were rated by another group of participants in Part 2 to gage each beli...

The present study investigates the processes by which essentialist beliefs about religious categories develop. Children (ages 5 and 10) and adults (n = 350) from 2 religious groups (Jewish and Christian), with a range of levels of religiosity, completed switched-at-birth tasks in which they were told that a baby had been born to parents of 1 religion but raised by parents of another religion. R...

Niche construction is the process by which organisms can alter the ecological environment for themselves, their descendants, and other species. As a result of niche construction, differences in selection pressures may be inherited across generations. Homophily, the tendency of like phenotypes to mate or preferentially associate, influences the evolutionary dynamics of these systems. Here we dev...

Despite the ubiquity of conflict, it is not inevitable. In any given dispute, other outcomes are possible. Why then does conflict grip us repeatedly despite the horrors that war veterans, movies, television, and history books promise? Undoubtedly, many factors specific to the time and place of a conflict are ultimately responsible for its occurrence. Here we explore one factor that may contribu...

INTRODUCTION Disabling chronic low back pain (CLBP) is associated with negative beliefs and behaviours, which are influenced by culture, religion and interactions with healthcare practitioners (HCPs). In the UK, HCPs encounter people from different cultures and ethnic backgrounds, with South Asian Indians (including Punjabis) forming the largest ethnic minority group. Better understanding of th...

This paper examines the relationship between witchcraft beliefs, a deep-rooted cultural phenomenon, and various elements of social capital. Using novel survey data from nineteen countries in Sub-Saharan Africa we establish a robust negative association between the prevalence of witchcraft beliefs and multiple measures of trust which holds after accounting for country fixed effects and potential...

The pattern of disease in Taiwan has changed from acute to chronic with a higher incidence of cancer, including breast cancer. Cancer is also the leading cause of death in Taiwan; the mortality of breast cancer has increased and more than cervical cancer. The majority of research on Chinese women’s breast cancer and breast self examination (BSE) are quantitative surveys based on the framework o...

BACKGROUND Despite numerous interventions promoting optimal breastfeeding practices in Kenya, pockets of suboptimal breastfeeding practices are documented in Kenya's urban slums. This paper describes cultural and social beliefs and practices that influence breastfeeding in two urban slums in Nairobi, Kenya. METHODS Qualitative data were collected in Korogocho and Viwandani slums through 10 fo...