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This study aims to investigate university students' knowledge about and attitudes toward e-cigarette (EC) use. It will also examine whether students' EC use is associated with knowledge about and attitudes toward EC use. The study also aims to analyze the determinants of students' use of ECs. The effects of gender, smoking behavior and friends' and family members' smoking behaviors on students' use of ECs were analyzed.

Completed questionnaire surveys were received from 1,362 students at King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi in Bangkok City, Thailand, in November and December 2019. Chi-square tests and an independent samples t-test were conducted to determine whether students' knowledge about ECs and attitudes toward EC use influenced their use of ECs. A logistic regression analysis was performed to identify significant factors affecting students' use of ECs.

The results revealed that students' EC use was associated with knowledge about ECs: Students with less knowledge about the harmful effects of ECs were more likely to use them. In addition, students who were EC users had more positive attitudes toward EC use than those who were not EC users. The results also revealed that male students, students who had also smoked tobacco cigarettes and students with friends who smoked tobacco cigarettes were more likely to use ECs. These results could suggest strategies to reduce the use of ECs among university students.

This study provides deep understanding about university students' knowledge about and attitudes toward EC use and their participation in EC use. The result clearly shows university students who are participating in EC use still have less knowledge about EC, thus, they have positive attitudes toward ECs. Gaining social acceptance from friends who use EC also influences students' decision to use EC. Therefore, EC use among students could significantly increase overall EC use.

This study investigates the willingness of household heads in Madhesh Province, Nepal, to enroll in the National Health Insurance Program (NHIP) and examines the contextual barriers that may hinder this enrollment.

A quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted with 319 household heads through face-to-face interviews from May 15 to June 13, 2023. The ability, motivation and opportunity (AMO) framework guided the assessment, employing bivariate and multivariate binary logistic regression analyses to identify significant factors influencing willingness.

Over 80% of respondents were willing to enroll in NHIP, driven by significant factors such as perceived susceptibility to health issues (AOR = 15.65) and knowledge about NHIP benefits (AOR = 2.20). However, contextual barriers such as the lack of enrollment assistants (73%) and inadequate healthcare package offerings (53%) were prevalent, highlighting that despite a strong desire to enroll, these barriers prevent many from taking action.

The findings highlight the need to address contextual barriers, such as expanding NHIP benefit packages and enhancing enrollment support, to convert willingness into action.

To enhance enrollment rates, it is crucial to address these barriers by increasing the availability of enrollment assistants and improving healthcare packages.

Strengthening NHIP can reduce high out-of-pocket expenditures and contribute to achieving universal health coverage in Nepal.

This study provides critical insights into the factors affecting NHIP enrollment in one of Nepal’s lowest-enrollment regions, offering actionable recommendations for policy improvements.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the environmental behaviors of well-educated people in Thailand. Determinants of individuals’ involvement in pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs) are evaluated.

An exploratory model was created to investigate the relationship between PEBs and potential predictors that were selected based on the purposes of environmental risk communication and environmental education improvements. Those factors included dispositional, attitudinal, motivational, environmental knowledge, and psychosocial characteristics. Questionnaire surveys with well-educated people (n=810), that is those holding an educational qualification that ranged from a senior high school degree to a doctoral degree, were conducted. Multiple regression analysis was performed to justify the proposed relationship.

The result revealed that PEBs of well-educated people could be greatly predicted by an individual’s sense of obligation, perceived probability of receiving impacts from environmental problems, outcome expectancy from environmental behaviors, and environmental knowledge related to environmental phenomena and appropriate environmental actions; whereas, an individual’s environmental worldview and life satisfaction were less significant. Moreover, most of psychosocial variables were not significant predictors.

Factors determining well-educated people’s engagement in PEBs were evaluated. The results of the investigation provided the implications for environmental risk communication and environmental education improvements.

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the roles of public spaces in promoting community relations and sense of place in a coastal community, which are both important elements of sustainable community development. This study investigated how activities in public spaces can foster community relations, thereby affecting sense of place, and described how public spaces are used by local residents.

The Ban-Chaytalae community in the coastal area of Samutsakorn province, Thailand, was selected as a case study. This community has plentiful wetland resources, which provide various benefits for local people, and several areas in the community are used as public spaces for various activities, such as social interactions, recreation, sports, learning activities and cultural and traditional practices. In-depth interviews with residents in the community were conducted, and a questionnaire was administered in the Ban-Chaytalae community during August-December 2017.

The results of content analysis revealed that several places in the community are utilised as public spaces, including shrines, commercial shops, transportation routes, the coast and spaces between homes. Moreover, the results of path analysis revealed that engaging in cultural, traditional, community development and socialising activities had direct effects on residents’ sense of place and indirect effects on sense of place through community relations.

The study findings implied that land development policy should avoid the deterioration of public places, and furthermore, public spaces should be developed to facilitate activities that can strengthen the active roles of citizens in sustainable community development.

This study provided empirical evidence on the role of public activities and spaces in promoting community relations and sense of place. The study results imply that the quality and quantity of public spaces where cultural, socialising and community development activities are performed should be conserved. Any development that might change these public spaces has the potential to affect people’s ways of living, which, in turn, influences social relationships and sense of place.

Waste management behaviours (WMBs) play an important role in minimising metropolitan solid waste generation and reducing the environmental impacts caused by waste disposal. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of social norms, organisational norms and personal norms in explaining individuals’ engagement in WMBs, which include waste avoidance, green purchasing, reusing and recycling and waste disposal.

The metropolitan city of Bangkok, Thailand was selected as a case study – it faces waste management problems caused by a massive increase in waste over the past decade. This study distributed questionnaires to 193 public and private officers residing in the city of Bangkok. Path analyses and a multiple regression analysis were performed to test the effect of each norm and the association of various norms on individuals’ engagement in WMBs.

The results revealed that organisational norms had the strongest effect (both direct and indirect) on WMBs. Personal norms also had a direct effect on WMBs. In contrast, social norms did not directly influence WMBs; however, they did have an indirect effect on WMBs through organisational norms.

This study suggests that the role of organisational norms should be heavily emphasised in promoting the WMBs of public and private officers.

This study found that the role of organisational norms is the most significant factor influencing WMBs in workplaces. In addition, both provincial and subjective environmental norms in organisations significantly affect WMBs. They should be enhanced in order to promote WMBs in organisations.