Experiential Beliefs Research Articles

The Undergraduate Engineering Mental Health Help‐Seeking Instrument (UE‐MH‐HSI): Development and validity evidence

AbstractBackgroundUndergraduate engineering students experiencing distress are less likely than peers to ask for professional help. A population‐specific instrument to facilitate the identification of factors that influence mental healthcare utilization could guide development and testing of interventions to increase help seeking.PurposeWe used mixed methods guided by the Integrated Behavioral Model (IBM) to develop and evaluate the Undergraduate Engineering Mental Health Help‐Seeking Instrument (UE‐MH‐HSI).MethodFirst, we adapted existing measures of mental health help‐seeking intention and mechanisms (i.e., attitudes, perceived norm: injunctive, perceived norm: descriptive, personal agency: autonomy, personal agency: capacity). Second, we coded qualitative interviews (N = 33) to create population‐specific mental health help‐seeking belief measures (i.e., outcome beliefs, experiential beliefs, beliefs about others' expectations, beliefs about others' behavior, beliefs about barriers and facilitators). Third, we tested the psychometric properties using data from 596 undergraduate engineering students at a historically White, research‐focused institution in southern United States.ResultsPsychometric analyses indicated that (1) help‐seeking mechanism and intention measures demonstrated unidimensionality, internal consistency, construct replicability, and sufficient variability; (2) mechanism measures demonstrated criterion evidence of validity; and (3) most items within the belief measures demonstrated sufficient variability and convergent evidence of validity.ConclusionsThe UE‐MH‐HSI is an evidence‐based tool for investigating mental health help‐seeking factors and their relationship to help‐seeking behavior, well‐being, academic success, and engineering identity formation. Guidelines for use are provided.

The integrated behavioral model of mental health help seeking (IBM-HS): A health services utilization theory of planned behavior for accessing care.

This article introduces the integrated behavioral model of mental health help seeking (IBM-HS), a theoretical model for understanding the constructs (e.g., systemic, predisposing, and enabling factors; mental health literacy; illness perceptions; perceived need; stigma; shame; perceived benefits, motivation) that influence people's decision making around seeking professional mental health care and their ultimate access to formal treatment. The IBM-HS is a help-seeking-specific adaptation of the empirically supported integrated behavioral model and integrative model, which are themselves evolutions of the theory of planned behavior and theory of reasoned action. The IBM-HS posits that help-seeking determinants (e.g., structural forces; cultural influences; past help-seeking experience; evaluated need; mental health perceptions, knowledge, and skills; social support) influence help-seeking beliefs (i.e., outcome beliefs, experiential beliefs, beliefs about others' expectations, beliefs about others' behavior, logistical beliefs), which in turn determine their respective help-seeking mechanisms (i.e., attitude, perceived norm, personal agency). These mechanisms collectively influence help-seeking intention, which drives prospective help-seeking behavior, subject to the moderating effects of determinants. Finally, prospective behavior has reciprocal feedback loop effects on certain determinants and beliefs. This article describes the need for the IBM-HS, the model's constructs and their interrelations, measurement considerations, and how the model can be used by scholarly and applied users to systematically understand people's intention to seek professional mental health care services and what helps or hinders them from utilizing this care. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

What factors are associated with physical activity promotion in the podiatry setting? A cross-sectional study

ObjectiveTo describe the status of and identify factors associated with physical activity promotion by podiatrists. DesignCross sectional survey. MethodIn 2016−17 Australian podiatrists were invited to complete an online survey. Items assessed by Likert scale included; frequency of assessing and promoting physical activity and podiatrists’ intentions, attitudes, social norms, confidence, barriers, role beliefs and perceived knowledge and skills regarding the promotion of physical activity. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. ResultsOf 316 respondents, 62% reported always/or often giving general and 39% specific physical activity advice. Attitudes to physical activity promotion were mostly positive and 83% agreed it was part of their role. Many believed they have the knowledge 62%) and skills to promote physical activity. Most podiatrists were confident to carry out basic physical activity promotion activities (83%), but fewer were confident assessing physical activity levels (54%), providing specific advice (47%), monitoring patient physical activity levels (49%) and carrying out physical activity counselling (41%). Modelling revealed intention to promote physical activity was most strongly influenced by experiential beliefs (β=0.35, 95%CI 0.20−0.51) and instrumental beliefs (β=0.27, 95%CI 0.15−0.40), whereas physical activity promotion was influenced by intention (β=0.45, 95%CI 0.35−0.55) and behavioural control (β=0.43, 95%CI 0.33−0.53). ConclusionPhysical activity promotion is feasible and regularly practiced in the podiatry setting, however current practice appears suboptimal. Attitudes and behavioural control appear influential in engagement and deserve consideration when designing strategies to improve delivery in podiatric practice.

Scalar bounds and expected values of comparatively modified numerals

Abstract Speakers routinely employ world knowledge to draw scalar implicatures in numerals. For instance, in the context of ‘an exceptionally hot summer’, speakers will use their knowledge of average summer temperatures and record temperatures to construct a range of potential values. However, it is not clear how they do so when they do not have strong expectations or context is less informative. 1270 adult American English native speakers were shown short dialogues and stories containing numerals modified by ‘more than’ and ‘fewer than,’ and were asked to estimate the range of potential values and to name the potential value they thought was most likely. Results show the most likely value follows a Weber fraction relative to the numeral’s order of magnitude and preferences for certain boundaries of the range shift according to a similar Weber fraction. The similarity between the Weber fractions found and the acuity of the approximate number system (ANS) suggests that the ANS bootstraps scalar implicature in comparatively modified numerals whenever context is not informative enough to refine experiential beliefs about the range and likelihood of potential values. Contrary to previous findings, roundness of the modified numeral does not play a crucial role.

Shoplifting in mobile checkout settings: cybercrime in retail stores

Purpose Retailers are implementing technology-enabled mobile checkout processes in their stores to improve service quality, decrease labor costs and gain operational efficiency. These new checkout processes have increased customer convenience primarily by providing them autonomy in sales transactions in that store employee interventions play a reduced role. However, this autonomy has the unintended consequence of altering the checks and balances inherent in a traditional employee-assisted checkout process. Retailers, already grappling with shoplifting, with an estimated annual cost of billions of dollars, fear that the problem may be exacerbated by mobile checkout and concomitant customer autonomy. The purpose of this paper is to understand the effect of mobile checkout processes in retail stores on cybercrime in the form of shoplifting enabled by a technology transformed the retail environment. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted an online survey of a US sample recruited from a crowdsourced platform. The authors test a research model that aims to understand the factors that influence the intention to shoplift in three different mobile checkout settings − namely, smartphone checkout settings, store-provided mobile device checkout settings, and employee-assisted mobile checkout settings − and compare it with a traditional fixed location checkout setting. Findings The authors found that, in a smartphone checkout setting, intention to shoplift was driven by experiential beliefs and peer influence, and experiential beliefs and peer influence had a stronger effect for prospective shoplifters when compared to experienced shoplifters; in a store-provided mobile devices checkout setting, experiential beliefs had a negative effect on shoplifters’ intention to shoplift and the effect was weaker for prospective shoplifters when compared to experienced shoplifters. The results also indicated that in an employee-assisted mobile checkout setting, intention to shoplift was driven by experiential beliefs and peer influence, and experiential beliefs had a stronger effect for prospective shoplifters when compared to experienced shoplifters. Originality/value This study is the among the first, if not first, to examine shoplifters’ intention to shoplift in mobile checkout settings. We provide insights into how those who may not have considered shoplifting in less favorable criminogenic settings may change their behavior due to the autonomy provided by mobile checkout settings and also provide an understanding of the shoplifting intention for both prospective and experienced shoplifters in different mobile checkout settings.

Teacher Trainers' Beliefs About Feedback on Teaching Practice: Negotiating the Tensions Between Authoritativeness and Dialogic Space

Contradictory tensions are apparent during the feedback given to pre-service English language teachers by trainers following their practice teaching. Trainers’ beliefs may serve as a resource in dealing with these conflicting tensions. Trainers' beliefs about the feedback they provide during teaching practice conferences were elicited, and feedback on teaching practice across one full course was recorded to investigate the congruence between these beliefs and the practice of giving feedback. Framed within a dialogic approach, beliefs and practice were analyzed with a specific focus on elements of authoritativeness in the feedback discourse. Findings highlight two sets of beliefs: those based closely on trainers’ personal experience or ‘experiential beliefs’, and ‘received beliefs': those associated with widely-accepted progressive methodologies which trainers may be under social pressure to conform to. Experiential beliefs and practice show high levels of congruence, but received beliefs, here reflecting the social desirability of low levels of authoritativeness, are more often incongruent with practice.

Young Women’s Perspectives on Cervical Cancer Prevention in Appalachian Kentucky

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination coupled with routine Papanicolaou (Pap) tests can prevent pervasive HPV infections causing cervical cancer. However, both HPV vaccination rates and Pap testing rates in Appalachian Kentucky are lower among all age groups than the rest of the United States. We recruited 19 young women residing in Appalachian Kentucky from university-based and rural clinical settings for group and individual interviews. After considering an integrated behavioral framework, we illustrate these women's perspectives by detailing five themes, including (a) experiential beliefs pose barriers to performing behaviors, (b) three vaccine doses complicate vaccination intention, (c) women have misunderstandings about HPV and the HPV vaccination function, (d) normative influences cue action (and inaction), and (e) specific environmental and contextual barriers exist to performing cervical cancer prevention behaviors in Appalachian Kentucky. These findings related to cervical cancer prevention in Appalachian Kentucky have implications for health-message design and clinical practice.

I Imagine, I Experience, I Like: The False Experience Effect

False memories refer to the mistaken belief that an event that did not occur did occur. Much of the research on false memories has focused on the antecedents to and the characteristics of such memories, with little focus on the consequences of false memories. In this research, we show that exposure to an imagery-evoking ad can result in an erroneous belief that an individual has experienced the advertised brand. We also demonstrate that such false experiential beliefs function akin to genuine product experience beliefs with regard to their consequences on product attitude strength, a finding we call the false experience effect. We further demonstrate two moderators of this effect–plausibility of past experience and evaluation timing.

The Dissimilar Significance of Functional and Experiential Beliefs when Marketing Brands in Cross-Cultural Settings

Drawing from social science literatures, this paper proffers and examines a theory that firms should adapt their marketing strategies in cross-cultural settings in order to reflect the dissimilar significance of their brand’s functional and experiential elements in disparate cultures. Employing American and Chinese respondents, the paper tests hypotheses that empirically examine whether there is support for the discussed theory. It presents the findings, some which were unexpected, and offers new insight into the ongoing standardized vs. localized marketing strategy debate, with respect to marketing brand(s) in cross-cultural settings. The paper also provides a future research program to further our understanding of which marketing strategies are more apposite in cross-cultural settings.

Internalist Foundationalism and the Problem of the Epistemic Regress*

I provide a construal of the epistemic regress problem and I take issue with the contention that a foundationalist solution is incompatible with an internalist account of warrant. I sketch a foundationalist solution to the regress problem that respects a plausible version of internalism. I end with the suggestion that the strategy that I have presented is not available only to the traditional versions of foundationalism that ascribe foundational status to experiential beliefs. It can also be used to generate a version of internalist foundationalism based on reliabilist principles.

BEYOND THE INTERNAL REALIST'S CONCEPTUAL SCHEME

AbstractPutnam holds that there can be equally coherent but incompatible conceptual schemes which fit our experiential beliefs equally well. On the other hand however, especially when discussing values, he wants to avoid total relativism because, for him, our choice of values can be considered constant even though our notion of truth varies. I argue that the apparent tension between these two views does not show that the internal realist position is self‐contradictory. The way internal realists like Putnam can hold on to both claims is to emphasise the fact that all inquirers, by the very fact that they are classified as inquirers, must be assumed to have a common cognitive faculty. There is flexibility when it comes to conceptualization, but a certain minimal amount of sameness as regards the evaluation of beliefs. In basic everyday practice, all inquirers have the same doxastic attitude towards some basic propositions. The set of all such universal doxastic attitudes constitutes the non‐plastic aspect of the mind.