Digital Commons Network^™

The Effects Of Part-Training On Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Skill Acquisition And Retention, David William Hagedorn

Masters Theses

Many thousands of lives could be saved annually in America with the prompt and correct execution of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The bystander is a vital resource in the basic treatment of an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. However, studies have demonstrated that not only is retention of these lifesaving CPR skills poor, but initial acquisition of the CPR skills during training may be inadequate. This paper reviews methods and tools for CPR training, discloses areas of retention loss, and proposes solutions to be explored with further empirical research. With critical skills like CPR, the urgency to better train lay people and medical …

A Descriptive Study Of Offenders Sentenced To Special Alternative Incarceration From 1988-1990 In Kalamazoo County, Sherri Deboef Chandler

Masters Theses

This is a descriptive study of the first two-year cohort of offenders sentenced in Kalamazoo County to Special Alternative Incarceration (SAI). Data were compiled from the Kalamazoo County Probation Department records which indicated 84 young men were sentenced to SAI from its inception in 1988 to 1990. Data were gathered on these offenders spanning 1988 to 1992. Successful graduation from SAI, completion of the probationary period, and recidivism were compared to offense, race, SES, education, employment, and other variables. The data of this group were also compared to national data of those sentenced to Special Alternative Incarceration programs. This group …

Stimulant Medication And Attributional Style In Adhd Children, Maria Zoubek

Masters Theses

The results of this study indicated that stimulant medicated ADHD children do not exhibit a more external global academic attributional style than a nonreferred control group. Further, the ADHD children's specific level attributions suggested that these children believed their medication was at least somewhat helpful and that they rated as providing a good effort on the spelling test. Additional analyses revealed that children who did not attribute successful outcomes to their effort tended to report higher levels of depression. Discussion focuses on implications for the role of global and specific level attributions in ADHD children's depressive symptomatology.

Effective Supervision In Community-Based Services From The Developmentally Disabled, Laura L. Methot

Masters Theses

This study investigated the effects of a supervisor training program on the subsequent use of objective measures and contingent consequences by a manager when monitoring and evaluating the performance of supervisors, and by supervisors when monitoring and evaluating the performance of direct care staff in a human service agency. Data also were collected to examine whether changes in supervisor performance produced changes in the direct care staff's use of contingent consequences for client performance and changes in client behaviors. One manager, 4 supervisors, 7 staff and 16 clients from an employment training center and a group home participated in the …

The Effects Of Sensory Integrative Therapy And Functional Communication Training On Stereotypic Behavior, Thomas M. Starzynski

Masters Theses

Three developmentally delayed individuals who exhibited self-stimulatory behaviors were exposed to sensory-integrative therapy. Prior to treatment, a Motivation Assessment Scale was completed and a functional analysis baseline was conducted to identify the maintaining variables of the self-stimulatory behavior. Each subject displayed a pattern of responding suggesting that stereotypic behaviors were maintained by automatic reinforcement. Results show that sensory-integrative therapy had no effect on self-stimulatory behaviors. The stereotypic behaviors of Subject 1 and Subject 2 were later reduced when functional communication plus response interruption was applied. The self-stimulatory behavior of Subject 3 was not affected by the implementation of functional communication …

The Testing Of A Protocol For Validating Claims Of Facilitated Communication, Jorge Teodoro

Masters Theses

Facilitated Communication (FC), is a new and controversial augmentative communication technique. This study examined the facilitated messages of six severely mentally impaired school children, produced under naturalistic, yet controlled, experimental conditions. The students were removed from the presence of their facilitators and experienced out-of-classroom events. When the students returned, their facilitators read descriptions containing True, False or No Information about the students' experiences. Messages produced in the ensuing facilitation sessions indicated that the facilitators influenced the facilitated messages, although they appeared unaware that they were doing so. Meanwhile, students showed little resistance to the testing procedures. Based on these results …

Using Differential Outcome To Teach Medication Discriminations To Head Injured Adults, Scott C. Votava

Masters Theses

In attempt to replicate the DOE in teaching medication discriminations, the efficiency of differential outcomes and nondifferential outcomes procedures was compared. Additionally, the effects of the differential outcome procedures and nondifferential outcomes procedures upon generalization probes to novel medications were investigated. Finally, the effects of differential and nondifferential outcome procedures on probes to real medications were investigated. The results showed the differential outcome procedure employed produced the desired discrimination more rapidly than the nondifferential outcome procedure. No conclusive statement can be made regarding data obtained in generalization probes or in probes with real medications.

Spouse Adaptation After The Partner's Open Heart Surgery, Marietta J. Gardner

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to describe the adaptation of male and female spouses after their partners' open heart surgery using the theory of person as an adaptive system. A descriptive correlational design was used to examine adaptation of male and female spouses to their partners' open heart surgery (criterion variable); and partners' health prior to surgery, length of time partner diagnosed with heart disease, number of years married, and general state of marital relationship prior to surgery as perceived by the spouse were predictor variables. The sample consisted of 20 male and 25 female spouses, 31 to 88 …

Perceptions Of Nurse Behaviors By Persons With Copd During Acute Shortness Of Breath, Joyce A. Kowatch

Masters Theses

This study employed a qualitative approach to explore the perceptions of clients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease recalling nursing behaviors as a part of a process of helping during dyspnea. Grounded theory was used to look at how a client's world was constructed in this particular situation. Examination of data led to the generation of a hypothesis to explain the process of helping. Subjects were asked what it was like when they were extremely short of breath and what nursing behaviors helped or didn't help them.; Identified changes were categorized as suffocation, pain, energy depletion, panic, and cognitive haze. Helpful …

Burnout And Job Dissatisfaction Among Practicing Illinois School Psychologists, Kathryn M. Niebrugge

Masters Theses

Survey materials including a Maslach Burnout Inventory, a School Psychologists Stress Inventory, and specially designed demographic and job satisfaction questionnaires were completed by a random sample of members of the Illinois School Psychologists Association (N=139). Results suggested that symptoms of burnout frequently occur among this group of professionals. Although job related stressors (e.g. lack of resources, time management) were related to burnout, demographic factors (e.g. satisfaction with supervision, case discrepancy index) were found to be the best predictors of burnout. Results suggest that supervising psychologists are considered to be primary figures in resistance to burnout. Further research could aid in …

Generalization Of The Four Roles Found In Adult Children Of Alcoholics To A College Population, Todd E. Pienkos

Masters Theses

The Children's Roles Inventory was developed to assess the four theoretical children's roles found not only in alcoholic families but in all families regardless of parental alcoholism: the Hero, Mascot, Lost Child, and Scapegoat. A sample of 266 college students, with 19% indicating parental alcoholism, completed the CRI and measures of self-actualization and self-esteem to verify any differences between the identified groups of adult children of alcoholics, adults from nonalcoholic families and the four roles within. Demographic information was also obtained including: gender, age, and whether the individual was a member of a fraternity or sorority.

Significant differences were found …

A Study Of The Adaptive Functioning And The Behavioral And Emotional Problems Of Child Victims And Witnesses Of Family Violence, Christine E. Rinkel

Masters Theses

Behavior problems and adaptive behavior were evaluated in a sample of 30 children, mean age 9.5 years, whose mothers had been temporarily residing in a shelter or had been receiving shelter services during the 6 1/2 months of data collection. Using a sequential sampling design, the mother of every child exposed to family violence, was selected. Fifteen mothers were interviewed regarding the nature of the violence that their children had witnessed and/or experienced (including type, frequency, duration, and recency of the violence) as well as the nature of their children's adaptive behavior (Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales). Mothers also rated their …

Informational And Attitude Changes Toward P.M.S. As A Function Of Viewing An Educational Video And Presenter Gender, Paula J. Kirk

Masters Theses

Subjects were 61 volunteer college women and men randomly assigned to one of three conditions: condition A= viewed video presenting factual information about Premenstrual Syndrome presented by female; condition B= viewed video with identical dialogue, except presented by a male; condition C= control group. Pre and post measures were taken at a ten day interval and a presenter evaluation form was completed by subjects in conditions A and B after viewing the video.

Results indicate the following: First, participants who viewed an instructional video on PMS gained more educational information than those participants who did not. Second, Sex of presenter …

An Evaluation Of Pre-Intake Attention On Kept Intake Appointments In An Outpatient Setting, Lauren Roberts

Masters Theses

The present study attempted to reduce the no-show rate for scheduled intake appointments at a local CMHC through the use of two interventions. Thirty-seven subjects who called for an intake appointment were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups: an Orientation and Standard Intake Procedure or an Orientation and Modified Intake Procedure. Both treatment groups were compared to a Base Group consisting of intake appointments scheduled during the same time period the previous year. Individuals assigned to OMIP revealed a reduction in the no-show rate from 51% during baseline to 36%. Individuals assigned to OSIP did not reveal similar …

Comparison Of High School Adolescents And Court Ordered Adolescents On Perception Of Parental Unconditional Love: A Short Pilot Study, Wanda Sandy Reid

Masters Theses

This project was conducted to determine if a difference exists in the perception of parental unconditional love between a group of high school students and a similar group of court ordered adolescents.

The subjects were fifty high school age students and fifty court ordered individuals ranging in age from eleven to eighteen.

The subjects were asked to complete a ten-question instrument with a response scale of one to seven. When the data was analyzed, the scale was reduced from seven to three in order to make the data more meaningful.

The results show that there was not a significant difference …

The Reliability And Validity Of An Object Assembly Task, Dane'l A. Koonce

Masters Theses

A computerized object assembly task (COA) was constructed and compared to the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) object assembly subtest (OA). The two tasks, the COA and the OA, were administered to seventy-one college undergraduates. The correlation between the WAIS-R OA subtest and the two COA conditions, Preview and NoPreview, combined was moderate and statistically significant. The findings support the feasibility of constructing a computerized version of the OA task.

Perceived Differences In Family Characteristics Among Women Exhibiting Varying Levels Of Eating Disorders, Emily K. Altemus

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.