Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Effects Of Teachers' Flow Experiences On The Cognitive Engagement Of Students, Nian Q. Zhu Edd

Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the relationship between teachers' flow experiences and student cognitive engagement during class time. Study participants consisted of students and their teachers in grades 6 through 10 from a number of elementary and secondary schools in the Fraser Valley region of British Columbia, Canada. Data were collected through the use of the Experience-Sampling Method, originally developed by Csikszentmihalyi to investigate flow experiences, that allowed teachers and students to fill out sampling forms in response to randomly generated electronic signals transmitted to pagers or wrist watches that the teachers wore. Data were collected …

Faculty Perceptions Of Dean Transitions: Does Trust Matter? An Interpretive Case Study Of Organizational Trust And Organizational Culture, Rebecca L. Woolston Edd

Dissertations

This study looked for factors that might have influenced faculty perceptions of new deans at a professional school in the western part of the United States. More specifically, the study explored the question of how organizational trust may have influenced perceptions of new deans and faculty willingness to trust new deans. A single case study used guided interviews as data for the interpretive analysis. The study sought to provide insight into the phenomenon of dean transitions. The study also endeavored to add new dimensions to current conceptualizations of organizational trust and culture by highlighting a previously underexplored but potentially relevant …

Teachings From Cree Elders: A Grounded Theory Study Of Indigenous Leadership, Leona Makokis Edd

Dissertations

For the past two hundred and fifty years, the relationship between First Nations and Euro-Canadians, has shifted from an equal partnership to one of colonized and colonizer. Despite this history, First Nations people have shown resiliency, continuing to honor beliefs, values, and traditions. Constrained by Euro-Canadian government Indian Affairs polices, First Nations have not progressed economically or politically, but have been caught in the trap of administering their own poverty. The First Nations people are dying a slow death; thus, it is critical to examine their current reality, acknowledging that history does not begin with the arrival of the Europeans, …

The Balancing Act: Work Environment Issues For Women With Children In Student Affairs, Mary Kimberly Braun Padulo Edd

Dissertations

Increasingly in the past two decades, student affairs work at American's universities has been undertaken by women. This work with the co-curricular life of the students in higher education requires administrators at all levels to have a flexible schedule with the ability to commit evenings and weekends to their work. Challenges for academe and for women in the profession have emerged as more women enter the field. One of the most problematic areas is the retention of highly educated and experienced female administrators once they have children. Workplace environment, including work schedule, job demands and employer support, have been suggested …

A Historical Perspective Of The Freedom Schools: Implications For Social Change, O. Yvonette Murrell Powell Edd

Dissertations

Since the first African slave ship arrived on the American shores, the nature of life for these new inhabitants has differed greatly from that of any other immigrant group. The usual patterns of assimilation were not present. While most other immigrant groups were able to assimilate within three generations by making name changes, taking on characteristics of the majority population, finding employment and acculturating via education, the same avenues were not available to Blacks. After approximately 400 years of differential treatment, negative stereotyping, social stigmatization, and inordinate poverty, many Blacks are still struggling to assimilate. One of the greatest points …

Levels Of Acculturation Of Children Of Mexican Descent As Perceived In Their Kinetic Family Drawings, Kevin Adolfo Rosado

Dissertations

Problem. Information on Hispanic children and their families is limited. More research activity is crucial in the light of the rapidly expanding population of Latino/Hispanics. Mexican families present a particular challenge to clinicians and to treatment settings, as well as to researchers. The impact of acculturation on psychological assessment instruments is largely unknown. This study sought to use the Kinetic Family Drawing (KFD) as a tool to gain information about how differences in acculturation are reflected through drawings done by children of Mexican descent.

Method. Private and public schools with representation of Mexican-American and Caucasian children from rural, semi-rural, small …

An Analysis Of Role Perceptions And Job Satisfaction Of Secondary-School Counselors In Trinidad And Tobago, Hillman St. Brice

Dissertations

Problem. The increasing emphasis on school counseling by the Ministry of Education in Trinidad and Tobago highlights the need to clarify and standardize the role of the counselor in the secondary schools. The satisfaction of these needs can be facilitated by determining the perceptions held by counselors, principals, teachers, and students about the counselor’s role in the school system; by clearly articulating this role; and by identifying the relationships between the counselor’s role and the counselor’s job satisfaction. The burden of this study was to determine these perceptions and relationships.

Method. A descriptive mode of inquiry was used to explore …

Job Satisfaction Among Psychologists In A Managed-Care Environment, Walter R. Vyhmeister

Dissertations

The problem. The efforts of managed care to balance resources, cost, and quality of services have created new issues among mental health professionals, affecting their careers and having the potential to affect their job satisfaction. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to investigate how managed care has impacted career satisfaction among professional psychologists.

The method. The present investigation examined 21 factors in the prediction of job satisfaction among licensed psychologists. A sample of 1,000 licensed psychologists located in California, Oregon, and Washington was randomly selected from the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology. Three hundred seventeen participants …

Intergenerational Transmission Of Values Through Adages In An Ecuadorian Family, Norma Albán-Lowry

Dissertations

Problem. This study explored the function of adages in intergenerational value transmission in an Ecuadorian family. Drawing on the richness of Hispanic culture, the study documents a method used by parents and grandparents to pass on their wisdom to younger generations.

The transmission of values to younger generations has always been of special interest to parents, teachers, and religious educators. While the role of the family in the transmission of values has been researched, the use of adages, long practiced as a traditional parenting method in Ecuadorian families, had not been studied.

Method. The ethnographic method, as proposed …

Personality Profiles And Problems Related To Clergy Misconduct, Kenneth S. Brodie

Dissertations

Problem. Clergy sexual misconduct is a significant problem for the church. There are legal and financial problems, as well as damage to individuals and communities. The purpose of this study was to examine personality profiles and situational themes of ministers in treatment whose presenting problems included sexual misconduct.

Method. Inactive case files of ministers in treatment were analyzed. From the case file it was determined if the minister was involved in an intimate affair which included an emotional bond, a casual affair with no emotional bond, or was not involved in an affair. The complete MMPI-2 profile and the …

A Study Of The Relationship Between Police Stress And Moral Reasoning, Coping Mechanisms, And Selected Demographic Variables, Harvey J. Burnett

Dissertations

Problem. Past research provides information on stress and its relationship to the law enforcement officer's coping mechanisms. However, there is no research on how the element of moral reasoning relates within the conceptual framework of Police stress and coping. This present study investigated the relationship between police stress and moral reasoning, coping mechanisms, and selected demographic variables among police officers.

Method. The subjects for this study were 71 full-time certified law enforcement officers in Berrien, Cass, and Van Buren counties of Michigan. A brief demographic questionnaire was utilized, followed by the Police Stress Survey (PSS), the Defining Issues Test …

Impact Of A Short-Term Shelter Program On Selected Outcome Indicators Among Youths And Their Parents, Gale Sandra Hackworth

Dissertations

Problem. Innovative services have been developed over the last 10 years to assist families in coping with the increased demands associated with child rearing. One burgeoning area of resource development has been that of"respite" for parents. A variety of programs and methods have been utilized in providing these services. While families frequently proffer the benefit of these programs, there is a relative paucity of data to substantiate these claims. This study has attempted to evaluate the effectiveness of respite programming using outcome indicators which include both objective and subjective measures. This study focused upon families utilizing a short-term respite …

The Impact On Team Effectiveness Of Personality Preferences Of Team Members Involved In The Connecticut Early Intervention Project, Nancy Krafcik-Rousseau

Dissertations

Problem. Educators are faced with significant challenges daily as they attempt to meet the diverse needs of students. The establishment of school-based problem solving teams is one approach that supports teachers and students. This study will determine if personality preferences of team members impact the effectiveness of teams involved in the Connecticut Early Intervention Project (EIP). EIP incorporates a team approach providing assistance to requesting classroom teachers who have students experiencing difficulties.

Method. The research design consisted of a comparison of two groups of Connecticut public schools that participated in the Early Intervention Project (EIP) and were trained accordingly. Schools …

The Impact Of The College Experience On The Lives Of Female Single-Parent Students, Elizabeth Darby Watson

Dissertations

Problem. Poverty affects all people groups, but women are systematically poorer than men are. The feminization of poverty aptly defines the plight and consequence of women's poverty. In the United States the current federal mandate requires all able-bodied adults to be gainfully employed. Minimum-wage jobs, for unskilled and untrained workers, do not move poor women and their families out of poverty.

Method. This study used quantitative and qualitative data to explore the impact of the college experience on 56 single parents who had attended a tuition-driven, faith-based college during the 10-year period of 1987-1997. Responses from a mailed questionnaire and …

Intergovernmental Mediation : A Technique For Successful Local Government Partnerships, W. Thomas Wiseman

Dissertations

Problem. Statement Local government officials are faced with ever-increasing citizens' demands and unfunded Federal and State mandates while competing with neighboring governments for dwindling federal and state monies. Both of these tend to fuel intergovernmental conflicts. Research is necessary, therefore, to determine the most effective ways of addressing the alarming rate at which intergovernmental conflict is occurring in order to meet the needs of local government officials.

Methodology. This study examined the relationship between local government organizations in terms of intergovernmental mediation, conflict resolution, and the sharing of revenues and resources. Data were collected from county commissioners in Ohio, …

Developmental, Psychosocial, And Economic Predictors Of Healthy Newborns In Michigan’S Teenage Pregnancies, Cheryl Lauber

Dissertations

Teenage pregnancy is a critical health indicator. Using a risk reduction model, this study examined the relationship between the characteristics o f the teenage mother i and her newborn. The research questions were: ( I) what risk factors are associated with poor birth outcomes, (2) is addressing each factor the best way to reduce the risk, and (3) has the overall risk changed as the birth rate has declined? Developmental, psychosocial and economic risks were identified as independent variables, while age and race were mediators.

Combining the birth certificate records of women under age 20 from 1990 through 1997 resulted …

Supervisory Identity Development And Its Relationship To Supervisory Experience, Counseling Experience, And Training In Supervision, Nadine Joy Pelling

Dissertations

The relationship between supervisory identity development and supervisory experience, counseling experience, and training in supervision was investigated in this study. A developmental model of supervisory identity development was utilized, the Supervisor Complexity Model, in both the conceptualization of supervisory identity development and the measurement of supervisory identity development. Consequently, supervisory identity and some factors thought to effect its development are reviewed. Counseling professionals likely to be engaged in providing supervision services were surveyed by mail. Participants completed a measure of supervisory identity development, the Psychotherapy Supervisor Development Scale, and also indicated their supervisory experience, counseling experience, and training in the …

Venture Behavioral Health Southwestern Michigan Treatment Of Depression Collaborative Study: The Effectiveness Of Behavioral Activation Group Therapy: An Initial Investigation, Jeffrey F. Porter

Dissertations

A recent empirical study (Jacobson et al., 1996) suggested that the Behavioral Activation (BA) component of Beck’s Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CT) for depression (Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979) may be as effective a treatment for clinical depression as the full CT treatment. BA involves intervention choices that are fewer in number and more straightforward than those contained in CT, making BA a more efficient treatment than CT. The purpose of this study was to extend the research on BA by administering it as a group therapy and to evaluate this treatment in a natural setting. This was achieved by classifying …

Journey To Self: The Experience Of Inner Life Of Helping Professionals, Candace W. Ross

Dissertations

Based on the assumptions that self-awareness is an important factor in healthy and effective functioning of helping professionals (Corey, Corey, & Callanan, 1998) and that the self of the therapist is an important tool in effective therapy (Baldwin, 2000), this phenomenological study was conducted to explore the experience of inner life of helping professionals. Three women and two men, either licensed counselors or psychologists who were working in therapeutic settings, agreed to participate in a two-part interview. In the first interview, the participants described their experience of inner life, including what facilitated or hindered their experience, how inner life informed …

The Federal Election Commission: An Analysis Of Administrative Behavior, Maurice C. Sheppard

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Membership At Risk: Representation Of Disability In Popular Counselor Education Textbooks, Nancy A. Rosenau

Dissertations

Representations of disability in American culture are saturated with negative images and meanings. Pervasive negativity threatens full societal membership and its related benefits of a sense of belonging, connectedness, and inclusion, and a source of identity, social networks and empowerment for people with disabilities.

Disability pride is a resistant movement that seeks to denaturalize assumptions about the negative experience of disability. The multicultural turn in counseling recognizes that competent practice requires awareness of diverse groups in society. Disability as the largest minority group in the U.S. requires counselor awareness. This study examined the representation of disability in a sample of …

The Effects Of Colonization On The Career Development And Occupational Choices Of African Students Studying In The United States, Augustine E. Bessong

Dissertations

A quantitative research design was utilized to understand the perceptions of the effects of colonization on career choices and occupational development of Africans in the United States. In face-to-face, 60-90 minute interviews using a semistructured interview guide developed by the researcher, participants were asked open-ended questions about the effects of colonization on their career choices and occupational development. Using purposeful sampling, 12 African male and female students, 7 enrolled at one Southeastern university and S from a large metropolitan city in the Southeastern United States, were interviewed for data collection.

Interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed. Transcripts were analyzed using the …

Emotional Expressiveness And Problematic Behaviors Among Male Juvenile Sexual Offenders, General Offenders, And Nonoffenders, Carin M. Ness

Dissertations

This analytic variable study examined the potential differences that exist among male juvenile sexual offenders (JSOs), general offenders (GOs), and nonoffenders (NOs) on the emotional expressiveness variables of alexithymia and affective orientation, and three problematic behavior variables including self-defeating behavior, risk taking, and reckless behavior. It was hypothesized that JSOs and GOs would be statistically significantly different than NOs on all variables but not different from each other.

Hypotheses were tested by a MANOVA. When statistical significance was indicated, ANOVAs were computed to identify the specific groups and measures, which were statistically significant The significance level for all analyses was …

Coping With Chronic Fatigue, Susan Lynne Jensen

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine sense of coherence in those individuals diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), and to explore its relationship to age, gender, work status, duration of illness, fatigue and functional ability/ disability in this population.

This study used a combined methods approach, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. A sample of thirty individuals diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome was surveyed by means of a self-administered questionnaire, including Antonovsky’s 13-item shortened Sense of Coherence (SOC) scale. A subset of 12 participants participated in the qualitative portion of the study, and answered specific questions regarding their …

The Organizational Culture In Community Foundations, Nanette Marie Reiser

Dissertations

Because of the current and future critical roles community foundations play in their geographical areas, the limited research to inform the community foundation field, and the importance o f studying organizational culture, there was a need to study the organizational culture of community foundations. A questionnaire was sent to 179 community foundation staff members in one state in the Midwest. Responses were received from 98 of the 179 staff members.

It was found that the actual organizational culture of the community foundation “industry” was differentiated across all variables (staff overall, paid staff size, asset size, and age of foundation). Organizations …

Counselor-Client Value Similarity And Dissimilarity, The Working Alliance, And Counseling Outcome, Lynn Nylund Lupini

Dissertations

Previous research in client-counselor value similarity and outcome studies has produced contradictory results. In the present study, an expanded model of Vervaeke, Vertommen, and Storms’ (1997) value similarity construct was used to measure the degree of similarity and dissimilarity of values within the counseling dyad. The first purpose of the present study was to investigate the interrelationships among the client-counselor value similarity and dissimilarity, the working alliance and counseling outcome. The second purpose was to determine if the working alliance was a mediating factor between value (dis)similarity and counseling outcome, thus, providing insight into the previous contradictory results within the …

A Preliminary Investigation Of The Acceptability And Effectiveness Of Computer-Based Adjunctive Parent Training For Child Noncompliance, Dwayne M. Munneke

Dissertations

Noncompliance with parent requests is a commonly reported behavior problem for clinic-based child referrals. Parent skills training has been empirically demonstrated as an effective treatment for helping parents increase positive child behaviors and decrease negative behaviors. Unfortunately, many therapists and agencies are unable to implement parent-training programs due to limited therapist training, limited economic resources, or long waiting lists.

Adjunctive, computer-based, treatment programs have become increasingly popular in both research and clinical settings for facilitating psychological assessment and intervention. This project involved the development and preliminary investigation of the effectiveness and acceptability of a computer-based program designed to supplement therapist-delivered …

Capital Punishment: A New Perspective On Race And Ethnic Differences In Punishment And Death Sentence Outcomes, Martin G. Urbina

Dissertations

A review of the existing literature on death sentence outcomes (i.e., executions, commutations) shows evidence of discrimination against minority defendants (e.g., African Americans). Prior studies, however, have followed a Caucasian/African American and/or execution/commutation approach. Latino defendants have either been excluded or treated as a monolithic group. Thus, little is known about death sentence outcomes for Latinos, whose experiences differ from those of African Americans and Caucasians. Additionally, little is known about the treatment of the various ethnic groups (e.g., Cubans, Mexicans) that constitute the Latino community. And, since the focus has been on executions and/or commutations, little is known about …

The Supplemental Effects Of Feedback On Productivity Under Individual Incentives, Barbara R. Bucklin

Dissertations

This study examined the effects of an individual incentive system with and without feedback in order to determine if feedback supplements the effects of incentives. Participants were seven college students who performed a computerized work task called SYNWORK. SYNWORK presented four sub-tasks concurrently: memory, arithmetic, visual monitoring and auditory monitoring. Participants earned points for correct responses. Dependent variables were the total number of points earned, percent correct, and time-on-task. An ABAC within-subject reversal design was used with A = individual monetary incentives without feedback, B = individual monetary incentives with end-of-session feedback, and C = hourly pay with end-of session …

The Victim Rights Movement: A Social Constructionist Examination, Angela Renee Evans

Dissertations

What has been termed the victim rights movement has made great progress in promoting legislative changes regarding victim rights in the United States. This research examines the victim rights movement from a social constructionist perspective by focusing on two pieces of federal legislation passed in the 1980s: the Victim and Witness Protection Act of 1982 and the Victims of Crime Act of 1984. Using the social constructionist perspective, the research examines who was involved in the claims-making activities and which claims were most likely to be heard and acted upon. Rather than seeing social movements as the result of some …