Individual level. Change Pattern(): the individual selected by the household change pattern by moving between its pattern and a new one with a probability determined by a FEASIBILITY MATRIX and the AVAILABILITY of the new pattern. An element of the feasibility matrix, Fαβ describes how the transition between the two patterns is probable: 0≤ Fαβ ≤ 1. If it is zero the transition is not allowed. The transition can happen only if there is availability for the pattern, namely if all the activities in the pattern are available. The probability π of changing from pattern α to pattern β is given by: πα→β= Fαβ .AVβ With AVβ the availability for the pattern β.
Individual level. 2.4.1 The concept of research. Xxxxxxx (1993) stated that although research has become an important part of university life, there is no universal definition of this term. It is interesting to note that in his study the participants were dissatisfied with “their inability to define ‘research’ appropriately” because they were afraid to provide too general or too narrow definition due to its complexity (Xxxxxxx, 1993, p. 100). Nevertheless, he was able to identify three main constituents of research such as new knowledge generation, enquiry, and “the dissemination of research results” (Xxxxxxx, 1993, p. 108).
Individual level. 2.2.a: Universal Individual Behavioral Factors Hygiene and sanitation behaviors are greatly impacted by water insecurity and WASH infrastructure, especially the behaviors of hand washing with soap, proper disposing of feces and safe water storage. These behaviors are especially important, as they can provide mechanisms for infection of fecal-oral diseases (Andargie et al. 2008). Of particular importance to health is open defecation. According to the WHO-UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program (2008), open defecation is widely practiced in rural Ethiopia. The prevalence of open defecation has declined in the past years, but in 2008, 71% of the rural population still used this method. Many programs, such as the USAID Hygiene Improvement Program (HIP), are working to improve the health of Ethiopia through sanitation and hygiene education and behavior change. The HIP baseline study in Amhara Region, Ethiopia (2008) found that only 7.8% of households reported “contained” disposal of children’s feces, 14.4% had a hand washing station with soap near the latrine and that 19.1% of respondents knew to wash their hands after defecating. Sanitation and hygiene practices are in a poor state in Ethiopia, greatly affecting the health of the entire population.
Individual level. 2.a. The greatest mobility of the employee is in the interest of both the employer and the employee. On the basis of this mutual interest, the employer is responsible for making sure the employee can actually participate in training by providing facilities for his development.
Individual level a series of three questions investigated how often the respondent was supportive, resistant, and angry/violent towards condom use. Response options were „often‟, „sometimes‟, and „never‟. A composite variable was created by identifying individuals who responded positively to all three questions (i.e. „never angry‟, „never resistant‟, and „often supportive‟) versus those that did not. Partner-level: a similar series of three questions investigated the respondent‟s perception of how often their partner‟s behavior had been supportive, resistant, and angry/violent towards condom use. Response options and creation of the partner-level composite variable were the same as for the individual-level variable. Couple-level: With the respondent‟s self-report of supportiveness and their partner‟s perception of their supportiveness, we were able to compare these responses to identify couples in which both partners were found to be supportive and their spouses perceived them as supportive versus couples in which non-supportiveness was reported by at least one partner (alpha=0.76). This couple-level variable served as the dependent variable for bivariate and multivariate analyses. Individual- and couple-level characteristics Retrieved from the parent study‟s demographic data, measures included respondent‟s sex, current age (continuous), years of cohabitation (continuous), years since enrollment (continuous), country of residence (Zambia or Rwanda), and direction of infection (who is the HIV positive and negative partner in the relationship). Behavioral measures When appropriate, variables that were not dichotomous were collapsed to contrast the response options that are protective towards HIV infection and not protective. Sexual behavior questions included perceived risk of HIV transmission to the negative partner, occurrence of condom breakage, condom skills, and desire for children. Each is described below. Perceived risk: One item assessed the chance that the negative partner would become HIV positive in the next 12 months based upon condom use in the last 12 months (or since study enrollment if it had been less than 12 months). Response options were „very high chance‟, „somewhat high chance‟, or „low chance‟. The categories „low chance‟ and „somewhat high/high chance‟ were used for the analysis. Condom breakage: One item was used to assess condom breakage in the last three months (yes/no). Condom skills assessment scale: Respondents demonstrated how to put a male cond...
