Determinants and Consequences of Car Use

Global demand for road travel is likely to double by 2050, creating serious environmental and human health risks. Forms of transport that are more sustainable should, therefore, be encouraged. This research aimed to generate a better understanding of personal transport decisions to contribute towards improving interventions and policies for reducing car use with four studies. The first reviewed psychological theories applied to understanding car use. These theories have evolved to become more comprehensive, however, some mechanisms of car use choice remain unaccounted for. Thus, the CAUSE framework was developed with the review’s findings to provide an integrated conceptual overview of potentially modifiable antecedents of car use. The second is a quantitative analysis exploring the relationships between public transport connectivity, commuting and two aspects of wellbeing: life satisfaction and mental distress. Life satisfaction was related to mode choice and mental distress was related to public transport connectivity. The study highlights the role of connectivity when understanding the psychological effects of travel. The third is a cross-cultural interview study investigating transport decisions and experiences among two culturally different cities. Accessibility, affordability and comfort were common transport decision considerations. However, distinct differences were observed in the attitudes and perceptions of private vehicles due to the different transport policies in both cities. The fourth is a quantitative analysis exploring the considerations of environmental factors during car purchases. Pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours were found related to environment-related consideration during car purchases in general. However, the extent of the consideration and profile of these individuals differed significantly across sociodemographic and regions, possibly as a result of different policies. Overall, this research summarises the complexity of car use behaviour both at the theoretical and experiential levels. The implications of these findings for interventions and policies are discussed further in the final chapter of the thesis, alongside future directions for research in this area

A social justice perspective on access to human rabies vaccines

Rabies kills tens of thousands of people every year despite being entirely vaccine preventable. Key global health actors have launched a country-driven plan to achieve zero human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030 worldwide. This partnership has recently been strengthened by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance’s decision to invest in human rabies vaccines for post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). While nation states are key to rabies elimination, the importance of Gavi's role cannot be understated. Unlike any other actor, Gavi can directly address an otherwise intractable market failure in the inadequate supply of rabies PEP. In this commentary, we employ the Capabilities Approach to identify the barriers to PEP access that lead to this market failure and, as a result, unnecessary deaths and suffering. We show the role that Gavi can play in reducing exposure of PEP supply to market forces as a matter of social justice, and hence redress the inequity underlying human rabies deaths

When is a career transition successful? a systematic literature review and outlook (1980–2022)

A definition of career transitions was initially proposed by Louis in 1980. The pace of career transitions has since increased, unraveling traditional linear career pathways. Despite this, we have inadequate knowledge about what defines successful career transitions. Hence, we conducted a systematic review of the scholarship to understand how career transition success is operationalized and to identify research gaps and directions. We identified and reviewed 244 articles published from 1980 to 2022. We found that career transition success outcomes studied fall under the self-referent category, with the outcomes in the other-referent category absent. Further, most studies rely on a mix of objective and subjective success criteria, with no study considering possible interactions between the two. The review revealed a fragmented scholarship of career transition success and an urgency to broaden investigations of career transition success criteria given rapidly evolving employment trends globally

Commuting and wellbeing: A critical overview of the literature with implications for policy and future research

© 2019, © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This review provides a critical overview of what has been learnt about commuting’s impact on subjective wellbeing (SWB). It is structured around a conceptual model which assumes commuting can affect SWB over three time horizons: (i) during the journey; (ii) immediately after the journey; and (iii) over the longer term. Our assessment of the evidence shows that mood is lower during the commute than other daily activities and stress can be induced by congestion, crowding and unpredictability. People who walk or cycle to work are generally more satisfied with their commute than those who travel by car and especially those who use public transport. Satisfaction decreases with duration of commute, regardless of mode used, and increases when travelling with company. After the journey, evidence shows that the commute experience “spills over” into how people feel and perform at work and home. However, a consistent link between commuting and life satisfaction overall has not been established. The evidence suggests that commuters are generally successful in trading off the drawbacks of longer and more arduous commute journeys against the benefits they bring in relation to overall life satisfaction, but further research is required to understand the decision making involved. The evidence review points to six areas that warrant policy action and research: (i) enhancing the commute experience; (ii) increasing commute satisfaction; (iii) reducing the impacts of long duration commutes; (iv) meeting commuter preferences; (v) recognising flexibility and constraints in commuting routines and (vi) accounting for SWB impacts of commuting in policy making and appraisal

Evaluation of appendicitis risk prediction models in adults with suspected appendicitis

Background Appendicitis is the most common general surgical emergency worldwide, but its diagnosis remains challenging. The aim of this study was to determine whether existing risk prediction models can reliably identify patients presenting to hospital in the UK with acute right iliac fossa (RIF) pain who are at low risk of appendicitis. Methods A systematic search was completed to identify all existing appendicitis risk prediction models. Models were validated using UK data from an international prospective cohort study that captured consecutive patients aged 16–45 years presenting to hospital with acute RIF in March to June 2017. The main outcome was best achievable model specificity (proportion of patients who did not have appendicitis correctly classified as low risk) whilst maintaining a failure rate below 5 per cent (proportion of patients identified as low risk who actually had appendicitis). Results Some 5345 patients across 154 UK hospitals were identified, of which two‐thirds (3613 of 5345, 67·6 per cent) were women. Women were more than twice as likely to undergo surgery with removal of a histologically normal appendix (272 of 964, 28·2 per cent) than men (120 of 993, 12·1 per cent) (relative risk 2·33, 95 per cent c.i. 1·92 to 2·84; P < 0·001). Of 15 validated risk prediction models, the Adult Appendicitis Score performed best (cut‐off score 8 or less, specificity 63·1 per cent, failure rate 3·7 per cent). The Appendicitis Inflammatory Response Score performed best for men (cut‐off score 2 or less, specificity 24·7 per cent, failure rate 2·4 per cent). Conclusion Women in the UK had a disproportionate risk of admission without surgical intervention and had high rates of normal appendicectomy. Risk prediction models to support shared decision‐making by identifying adults in the UK at low risk of appendicitis were identified

Advancing Behavioural Theories in Sustainable Mobility: A Research Agenda

Ensuring that the growing mobility demand is met in a sustainable manner is important for our climate goals, and this would require changes to our current mobility behaviours. Behaviour and behaviour change theories have an important role in informing the mobility behaviour research and practices that seek to achieve these changes, and this paper discusses the application of these theories in both research and practice. Newer and more comprehensive theories have been developed in this area in the last decade, improving the quality of theories available. However, two key challenges of using theories are identified. The great number of theories today makes it challenging when deciding what and when to use them, and the appropriateness of many theories are either too simplistic or too complex. Thus, there is a need to critically review the state of theories in this area and identify ways to advance our application and development of behavioural theories. Here, two suggestions are put forward on how we can address these challenges while advancing the use of theories in mobility behaviour research and practice. First, integrate and summarise multiple, individual theories into a comprehensive and accessible framework for researchers and practitioners. Second, expand this framework beyond behaviour and behaviour-change theories by mapping out their interconnections with theories from other paradigms and disciplines using a systems approach to facilitate a more holistic theorisation

Parental comments: relationship with gender, body dissatisfaction, and disordered eating in Asian young adults

The present study explored the relationships between different categories of parental comments (negative, positive, and importance and comparison), body dissatisfaction, and disordered eating concerns in 383 young adults (69% female) in Singapore. Self-report measures of parental comments, body dissatisfaction, and disordered eating were completed with results indicating that females, compared to males, reported significantly higher levels of body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, and negative maternal and positive paternal comments. Although the relationships found between the different categories of parental comments, body dissatisfaction, and disordered eating differed by gender, negative maternal comments emerged as a consistent predictor of disordered eating for both genders. This relationship was partially mediated by body dissatisfaction. The findings highlight the role of parental influence through weight-related comments on body dissatisfaction and disordered eating, and the need for further exploration of gender-specific pathways of parental influence

Parental influences on young adult body dissatisfaction and disordered eating: the role of gender

The present study explored the role of gender on the influence of parental comments on body shape and disordered eating concerns in young adults living in Singapore. Participants were 384 young adults (mean age = 21 years, SD = 1.90) who completed self-report measures (Parental Comments Scale and the Clinical and Research Inventory for Eating Disorders). Significant gender differences were found in the levels of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating, and perception of parental comments, with females reporting higher scores on all measures. These findings highlight the need for further exploration of gender-specific pathways of parental influence

COVID-19 pandemic response behaviors: a Singapore experience of the “circuit breaker”

10.1093/tbm/ibaa135Translational Behavioral Medicin