OBJECTIVE: This study aims to explore the relationship between the nursing station design and use of communication technologies by comparing centralized and decentralized nursing stations. BACKGROUND: The rapid changes in communication technologies in healthcare are inevitable. Communication methods can change the way occupants use a space. In the meantime, decentralized nursing stations are emerging as a replacement for the traditional centralized nursing stations; however, not much research has been done on how the design of nursing stations can impact the use of communication technologies. METHODS: A cross sectional study was conducted using an Internet-based survey among registered nurses in a Southeastern hospital in the United States. Two units with centralized nursing stations and two units with decentralized nursing stations were compared in terms of the application of communication technologies. A total of 70 registered nurses completed the survey in a 2-week period. RESULTS: The results revealed no significant differences between centralized and decentralized nursing stations in terms of frequency of communication technologies used. However, a difference was found between perception of nurses toward communication technologies and perceptions of the use of communication technologies in decentralized nursing stations. CONCLUSIONS: Although the study was limited to one hospital, the results indicate that nurses hold positive attitudes toward communication technologies. The results also reveal the strengths and weaknesses of each nursing station design with regard to communication technologies.

This study reports findings from what is, to the authors’ knowledge, the first nationally representative survey of public attitudes toward honor-based violence (HBV) in a Middle East country affected by such violence, and one of very few if any such national surveys undertaken in any context. In a telephone survey of 1,050 adult citizens of the Arab Gulf state of Kuwait, we collect attitudinal and behavioral measures of support for HBV. Facilitated by vignettes, item order randomization, and other survey best practices designed to reduce social desirability bias, the survey measures both support for HBV in principle and support for legislation permitting it. We also assess the correlates of views toward honor-based crimes, including demographic attributes (age, sex, and education), social indicators (economic status, religiosity, and tribal attachment), and political indicators (political interest, engagement, and ideology). These unique data permit investigation into the individual-level predictors of support for HBV among citizens of a country that has experience with HBV and laws that afford reduced punishment for perpetrators of honor killing. Results reveal, first, considerable levels of public support in Kuwait for HBV. Half of citizens report agreement that physical violence is justified as punishment for female adultery, whereas a third of both men and women say they would support a law permitting violence against a female adulterer. The strongest positive predictors of individual support for HBV are tribal attachment, religiosity, and support for political Islam. Surprisingly perhaps, permissive views of HBV are most likely among the youngest generation of Kuwaitis. The findings have important implications for understanding the factors that help explain the existence and persistence of HBV in the Middle East, in Islamic contexts, and elsewhere where it occurs.

COVID-19 has been spreading fast worldwide, and until effective and safe vaccines have been widely adopted, preventive measures such as social distancing are crucial to keep the pandemic under control. The study’s research questions asked which psychosocial factors predict social distancing behavior and whether there are country-level differences in social distancing? Using the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) as a theoretical lens, we examined the predictive effects of threat and efficacy and demographic variables on adherence to the COVID-19 preventive behavior of social distancing using a survey among an international sample of university students. Using path modeling and analysis of covariance, we confirmed the predictive effects of the EPPM on social distancing behavior. Our final model showed that perceived susceptibility to COVID-19 was both directly and indirectly (through response efficacy) associated with social distancing behavior; that perceived severity of COVID-19 yielded a significant indirect effect on social distancing behavior through both self-efficacy and response efficacy; that perceived susceptibility is indirectly and positively associated with social distancing behavior through response efficacy; and that self-efficacy and response efficacy were directly associated with social distancing behavior. Additionally, there were country-level differences in social distancing. Possible explanations for and implications of these findings are discussed.

Where criticism of a government could be punishable, political cartoons are used to make critical social commentary in a less direct way. In this study, political cartoons published in four Kuwaiti newspapers during Arab Spring protests were analyzed. Most of the 261 cartoons linked negative attributes to Arab Spring and Kuwaiti politics, society and economy despite certain press restrictions. Newspapers established after a change in press regulations in 2006 were remarkably similar to older newspapers. Liberal and conservative papers both published mainly negative messages but provided starkly different issue agendas; of the 89 cartoons depicting the Arab Spring, only 8 appeared in conservative papers. Conservative papers concentrated on topics relating to Kuwaiti society, economy, and politics.

The growth of tourism in the Middle East suffers from ongoing political unrest and conflicts across the region. While previous studies have discussed the impact of psychological factors and political unrest on the tourism industry in the Arab world at an aggregated level, the role of major and dominant political factors such as perceived risks, media, and neutral diplomatic foreign relations on tourism have not yet been investigated. The objectives of this study are to compare the differences between local and international tourists, in the psychological and political risk factors affecting their loyalty to Oman as a tourist destination; investigate how attitudinal and behavioral loyalty is influenced by tourists’ satisfaction, perceived value, attachment, familiarity, and motivations; and measure the extent to which political factors could mitigate the risk of political instability in the region, thereby enhancing the tourism industry in the case of Oman. This study employed qualitative (descriptive and comparison analyses) and quantitative (multiple regression and ordinal logistic models) techniques in the analyses. Findings reveal that international tourists have developed both attitudinal and behavioral loyalty toward Oman in which its neutrality does matter, despite risk perceptions of the region. International tourists significantly report higher satisfaction than locals’ satisfaction with Oman as a tourism destination. It can be concluded that the psychological factors of Omani tourists have outperformed the risk factors associated with the region. Results are important for decision-makers as they reveal the best practices to increase the quantity and quality of tourists based on their characteristics, knowledge, and behaviors. This study reveals potential reforms to increase re-visitations that contain important implications for tourism agencies and private sectors—improving services around tourism sites; investing in sports, wildlife, and adventure tourism; hiring public relations firms for tourism marketing; eliminating any bureaucracy around investors and businesses and welcoming competition; and enhancing domestic tourism in stimulating the economy during downturns.

This study looks at news coverage of terrorist attacks on Twitter over a five-year period. It examines Twitter accounts of three US and three UK elite newspapers. This study found that terrorist attacks in core countries received more attention than attacks in non-core countries. Also, this study revealed that just three terrorist attacks: January and November 2015 Paris attacks and Brussels 2016 bombings, accounted for nearly a half of the overall US and UK tweets examined in this study.