No abstract

Making decisions regarding the selection of a business major is both very important and challenging for students. An understanding of this decision-making process can be valuable for students, parents, and university programs. The current study applies the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) consumer decision-making model to examine factors that influence college students' intentions to choose a business major. A total of 670 undergraduate students enrolled at a large midwestern university participated in the study. Social image, job availability, and aptitude were found to be significant factors that impact students' decisions to select a business major. The results also reveal that family, high-school counselors, and professors have a major influence on students' decisions. Furthermore, some unique differences were found related to gender and decided/undecided status of students. The implications of these results for promoting different majors and future research are discussed.

No abstract

This is a report on the study of the prevalence and pattern of the use of dependence‐producing drugs on 1,192 postgraduate students from the faculties of Arts, Science and Commerce and final year undergraduate medical students. The overall prevalence rate of drug use was 50.08 % (65.22 % in medical and 34.85 % in non‐medical students). The highest drug use (76.43 %) was among male medical students. Male students preferred to use alcohol and bhang while femala had a preference for meprobamate followed by alcohol. In the majority of cases, the age of initiation was in the “teens”. “Friends” were most responsible for suggesting drug use, although “more than one” influencing agents out‐numbered all the single influencing agents. Parents were found to have a significantly “tolerant” attitude towards drug use by their off‐spring. “Personal reasons” were not responsible for indulgence in or abstaining from drug use. L.S.D. users had the maximum number of after‐effects. The effects experienced in respect of most drugs were generally unpleasant and sometimes contrary to the expectations of users. Most “non‐users” and “infrequent users” did not favour self‐decision for drug indulgence though some “moderate” and “frequent” users were in favour of giving this freedom for some substances. Stringent measum against drug use among students were advocated by all drug users.More males, particularly male medical students, than females reported drug experience. Among male users, religion, caste, earlier education, residence (both sexes), employment status, occupation of the father, parental education and family income (among females as well) were the variables found to be significantly associated with drug use.

Aims and methodTo assess the usefulness of the electronic patient record, we used the search engine Clinical Record Interactive Search (CRIS) to scan all acute admissions during 2008 for possible substance use disorders. In addition, screening interviews were undertaken with 75 in-patients, and documentation in their files was compared with results of screening interviews.ResultsOf 839 acute admissions during 2008, 47% of males and 29% of females had reference to a substance misuse problem in their file. Documentation was unsystematic and inconsistent and mostly occurred in progress notes rather than in structured questionnaires. Screening interviews and manual review of files of 75 current in-patients confirmed that substance use disorders were common, but poorly documented.Clinical implicationsThe study highlights the power of search engines in scanning electronic clinical records, but also identified the limitations of unsystematic documentation in research and practice. Mental health staff were reluctant to diagnose or rate severity of substance misuse problems.