Water scarcity due to climate change, low rainfall, and the damaging effects of human activity is a global concern. In the United Arab Emirates, water consumption rates are among the highest in the world. Recently, researchers have suggested social marketing might assist to change individual water consumption. Guided by the theory of interpersonal behavior (TIB), this study sought to identify segments in one water use market, drawing on demographic, geographic, psychographic, and behavioral segmentation bases. A cross-sectional theoretically based online survey was designed based on the TIB constructs to collect data about one residential population’s water knowledge/awareness attitudes, emotions, religiosity, habits, surrounding social norms, and facilitating factors. E-mail invitations to complete the survey were sent to the target population. Two-step cluster analysis was used to analyze the data ( N = 1350), and three major water user segments were identified (regular, conscious, and careless users), who could be characterized based on psychographic and water use (behavioral) determinants. Audience segmentation is often absent or done on the fly, and this article proposes that effectiveness could be improved by applying a rigorous and theoretically based approach. Opportunities for social marketers to develop interventions targeting specific user groups are subsequently identified, along with a future research agenda.

The integration of electronic health records (EHRs) has shown promise in improving health-care quality. In the United Arab Emirates, EHRs have been recently adopted to improve the quality and safety of patient care. A cross-sectional survey of 680 health-care providers (HCPs) was conducted to assess the satisfaction of HCPs in the United Arab Emirates with EHRs' impact on access/viewing, documentation and medication administration and to explore the barriers encountered in their use. Data were collected over 6 months from April to September 2014. High overall satisfaction with EHRs was reported by HCPs, suggesting their acceptance. Physicians reported the greatest overall satisfaction with EHRs, although nurses showed significantly higher satisfaction with the impact on medication administration compared with other HCPs. The most significant barriers reported by nurses were lack of belief in the value of EHRs for patients and lack of adequate computer skills. Given the large investment in technology, additional research is necessary to promote the full utilization of EHRs. Nurses need to be aware of the value of EHRs for patient care and be involved in all stages of EHR implementations to maximize its meaningful use for better clinical outcomes.

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AimsThis study explored concerns among nurses working in the United Arab Emirates associated with the use of electronic health records, including privacy, confidentiality, security and patient safety.BackgroundGiven the widespread implementation of electronic health records, there are concerns about data integrity that could jeopardize healthcare quality. Addressing nurses’ concerns about data integrity and safety is critical to inform health policies and promote public trust.MethodsNurses working in healthcare settings in the United Arab Emirates (N = 562) were invited to share their concerns about data integrity and patient safety using a mixed‐method approach. Data were collected between January and June 2018 via questionnaires and focus group interviews. Following a survey of nurses’ concerns about privacy, confidentiality, security and patient safety in electronic health records, six focus groups were held to gain deeper insights about their concerns. Major themes that emerged from the focus groups were extracted to align with the main sections of the questionnaire.ResultsNurses expressed concern over the security of electronic health records (n = 270, 48%). Administrative‐related security, inadequate training and access by unauthorized users were the most frequently reported concerns. The main patient safety concerns were associated with non‐technological factors, including lack of audit by staff, poor communication with technology vendors and length of time required for documentation. The focus group results reflected similar issues, with an additional theme being inconsistency in data integrity policies.Conclusions and implications for nursing/health policyFrontline nurse managers need to integrate pragmatic policies to support staff compliance with the code of ethics when using online data. Nurses must follow workplace policies that foster reporting of risks to online incident systems to ensure data integrity. A unified health policy based on multidisciplinary partnership is critical to safeguard online data and promote public trust.