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Measuring Trainee Comprehension Of Casework Relationship In A Public Welfare Orientation Program, Margaret Berweger

Dissertations and Theses

This study was undertaken as a first step in measuring effectiveness of the Oregon State Public Welfare Orientation Center program in teaching principles of the casework relationship as conceptualized by Felix P. Biestek. This anticipated the development of a reasonably reliable instrument, improvement and validation of which would be undertaken in a subsequent study.

The population tested was made up of male and female college graduates, newly hired by the State, who were then entering a four week orientation program for caseworkers. Their education and experience varied, but all had passed the State Civil Service examination for this position.

Learning …

The Attack On Bourgeois Society: An Introduction To Cultural Despair In The Late Nineteenth And Twentieth Century European Thought, With Four Illustrative Studies From Traditions Of The European Intellectual Milieu, Craig Evan Wollner

Dissertations and Theses

The rise of the middle class to power and influence in European culture and politics in the nineteenth century created the conditions of modern life which to many European intellectuals were distasteful and ominous. They viewed urbanization, commercialization, industrialization and the qualities of life that they engendered, such as anxiety, limitation of freedom, and pervasive mediocrity in cultural expression, as being inimical to the traditional and more reliable values of European civilization or, in some instances, as being incapable of providing the bases for a free and humane existence.

This study focuses on the attack on bourgeois society in Europe …

Value Orientation In Relation To Emphasis In The Process Of Diagnosing The Family In State Of Crisis, Bradford Lynn Everson

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this project was to explore for the possible existence of value orientations as factors operative in the social work judgment process. The study first tested for differences in value orientation between social workers. The extent to which these value orientations dominate the pre-disposing attitudes of the social worker was to be determined for the case of diagnosis of families in crisis. Utilized as a test for value orientation were five constructs developed by Charles Morris. These constructs as characterized by their titles were: A. Social Restraint and Self-Control; B. Enjoyment in Action; C. Withdrawal and Self-Sufficiency; D. …

Investigation Of Attitudinal And Behavioral Changes Of Selected Sixth Grade Students Who Attend An Outdoor School, Robert R. Sesar

Dissertations and Theses

The out-of-doors is being utilized increasingly by school personnel for developing programs to extend the classroom to include the natural environment. It is hoped that a climate for learning, enriched with direct laboratory experiences, will establish a situation where all students benefit. This study is concerned with the investigation of students' attitudes and self-concepts following such an outdoor school experience.

The students selected for this study attended a sixth grade class from one of the following Oregon schools: Holy Redeemer and George, of Portland; Eastham, located in Oregon City, and Rainier located in the town of Rainier. The test group …

Selected Factors In Assessment Of A Group Designated As School Malperformers, Janet E. Bullock, Ronald M. Marshall, E. Frank Oliver, Shizuko H. Sakai

Dissertations and Theses

This project was an exploratory study of malperformance among 60 children of the seventh grade of Creston Elementary School, Portland, Oregon. This class was described as an unusually disruptive group of students and was considered by the school as one of the most troublesome in the school's history. The study focused on the concept of malperformance itself and the reliability of its assessment. The major hypotheses were these: A. Teachers are consistent among themselves in how they define malperformance and in whom they designate as malperformers. B. Teachers' and students' estimation of the students' level of performance in the dimensions …

In-Service Education For Teachers Of Family Life Education From A Sociological Viewpoint, Helen M. Running

Dissertations and Theses

Harmony is found between a specific area of professional family life literature and the results of several surveys from within a particular metropolitan area. Revealed is a teacher inadequacy to the task of family life education in the primary and secondary schools. Deterrents are found to be a lack of both pertinent knowledge and skill.

Having shown consensus that the stated problem exists the further purpose of the thesis is to propose an aid to its remedy. Three factors require attention. Teachers need additional information from both the social and physical sciences. They need an opportunity to become aware of …

A Clarification And Evaluation Of Black Power, Beverly Jo Olson

Dissertations and Theses

Black Americans have entered a new phase in the Civil Rights Movement. First they struggled for their legal rights. Then they struggled for equality, which meant integration and implementation of their legal rights. Now they struggle for power--"black power".

"Black power" is a metaphor which became part of the English language less than two years ago. Because of its newness, it has not been clearly defined nor its purposes clarified and evaluated. This paper is A Clarification and Evaluation of Black Power.

Black power serves as a rallying call for unity and self-help among black people. But the words are …

Assessment Of Subjective Experiences Of Boys Entering The Community From A Correctional School, Thomas W. Dejardin

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore, classify, and evaluate the personal experiences of juvenile offenders following release from a state training school.

During a two month period beginning in the fall of 1967, a group of twenty-three releasees from the MacLaren School for Boys in Woodburn, Oregon were interviewed on a weekly basis in the Portland metropolitan area. The boys, ranging in age from thirteen to seventeen were contacted in their homes, schools, and other settings to learn of positive, negative, and critical experiences encountered in the community.

Open ended questions based upon a twenty- seven item schedule …

Verbal Accessibility Between Marital Partners As Studied In A Court Of Domestic Relations, Patricia Walker

Dissertations and Theses

This study investigated the concept of verbal accessibility in marriage. It is an example of the interactional approach to the study of marriage, which is concerned with the on-going socialization process in marriage. Verbal communication is one component of the socialization process and also of problem solving in marriage.

Interpersonal communication is influenced by many variables--personality, culture and social situation. Polansky (1965) conceptualized verbal accessibility as the degree of readiness to communicate verbally and to participate in communication about determinant attitudes. Determinant attitudes are those which have the most far reaching influence on other attitudes and on behavior.

One of …

Traits Associated With Choosing Social Work As A Career, Helen Ellsworth

Dissertations and Theses

This was a study of traits associated with the choice of social work as a career. Two samples of people from the metropolitan area of Portland, Oregon, who had shown an interest in social work, were studied, together with the factors that influenced this interest. The traits and factors considered were substantially those examined by Arnulf M. Pins in Who Chooses Social Work, When and Why?

Traits measured by the Pins study of individuals who had gone on to graduate education in social work were held indicative of individuals most likely to become professional social workers. The Pins' questionnaire was …

The Use Of Self-Determination And Confidentiality In Casework And Group Work Practice: An Exploratory Study, George A. Fisher, James M. Hanson, Frances Peterson, Helen Phillips

Dissertations and Theses

This study is the seventh in a series begun in 1957 to relate social work theory to general systems theory. The purpose of this study was to assess, through the judgment of professional social workers, the use of the two concepts, self-determination and confidentiality, in casework and social group work situations. The two concepts were operationalized by construction of five practice principles for each concept. An instrument was developed in which a critical hypothetical situation exemplified each principle for both methods with a forced choice of four actions evidencing the degree of self-determination and confidentiality. Forty randomly selected trained social …

Social Exchange In Private Family Day Care Arrangements, Gerald Wesley Perry

Dissertations and Theses

A study of social exchange between working mothers and their sitters was based on a sample of terminated family day care arrangements in Portland, Oregon (1966-67). The sample, provided by the Multnomah County Public Welfare Commission and the Day Care Exchange Project of northwest Portland consisted of the arrangements of 27 mothers and 23 sitters.

Review of the literature on family day care revealed a paucity of research on the relationship between mothers and sitters in such arrangements. The purpose of the study was to test the hypothesis that continuity of a family day care arrangement is a function of …

A Scale Of Verbal Accessibility In Marriage, Barbara F. Kresse

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this project was to develop a tool to clarify one concept of verbal interaction in marriage. This concept, Verbal Accessibility, was developed by Norman Polansky and defined as the degree of readiness of the individual to communicate verbally and to participate in communication about his determinant attitudes. Verbal Accessibility is dependent on two variables: l) the enduring characteristics of the individual, and 2) the release of inhibiting factors in a given situation.

In order to facilitate the use of this concept in treatment, a scale was needed to measure Verbal Accessibility of both the person and of …

Using Eriksonian Concepts In Observing Developmental Levels In Two Groups Of Preschool Children, Roland J. Lindstrom

Dissertations and Theses

In this study concepts from Erikson's widely cited theory of child development were operationally defined and empirically tested.

The purposes of the study were: (1) to ascertain whether a set of social workers with an understanding of Eriksonian theory could use it in a meaningful way to observe pre-school children; (2) to ascertain whether the theory could be used to differentiate between culturally advantaged, culturally deprived, and, as emerged in the analysis, handicapped children; (3) to ascertain whether the theory could be used diagnostically to obtain information about a child's developmental level or problem area.

In the fall of 1966 …

Constructing A Tool For Measuring Common Social Work Activities, Patricia M. Armstrong

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis is one in a series of studies concerned with the interrelationship of General Systems Theory and social work knowledge. The purpose of this particular study was to develop a questionnaire to test the generic quality of the actions performed among the three traditional specialties of social work -- casework, group work and community organization.

The universe from which the sample of concepts was obtained were the acts performed by people in behalf of others. Specifically, the 421 concepts in the sample were obtained from literature in the fields of social work, sociology, psychology, and counseling and guidance. These …

Unmet Social Work Needs In An Inmate Population Of A County Correctional Institution, Jerry M. Harkins

Dissertations and Theses

This descriptive study was designed to elicit the kinds, extensity and intensity of needs of the inmate population of Multnomah County Correctional Institution, a minimum security jail for misdemeanants.

A guiding hypothesis asserted that there were unmet needs of prisoners which could be met through social work services both within and outside the institution.

Almost the entire population of the institution was interviewed. Open-end and structured responses were recorded on schedules. Five broad areas of need were defined. These were 1) physical needs -- including food, clothing, shelter, and medical care; 2) social needs -- including interpersonal ties, group membership, …

Marital Interaction Theory: Some Implications For Research, Lucille S. Pugh

Dissertations and Theses

This project examines specific basic areas of marital interaction theory. Individual chapters are developed around the following themes: historical development of the theory of interaction; a theoretical discussion of selected concepts; personality as a determinant of interaction; communication in marriage; marital interaction patterns; methodology pertaining to research findings; and finally some implications for research which became apparent as this project developed.

The project lays the conceptual groundwork for a series of empirical studies that will use the interactional approach as a theoretical base. The immediate purpose of this project therefore is to describe the important dimensions of the interactional approach …

Some Factors Influencing Case Classification In A Public Welfare Agency, Miriam Berry

Dissertations and Theses

This group project represented an attempt to study some factors pertaining to the formation of a system of case classification in a county public welfare agency, Multnomah County Public Welfare Commission, Portland, Oregon. The classification tool was a Case Planning Schedule intended to encourage diagnostic thinking on the part of the caseworker and to enhance planning and service for the client.

The focus of the study was limited to two areas: (1) whether or not the use of the Schedule resulted in agreement among caseworkers in classification and in consistency on prognoses, (2) the attitudes of the caseworkers in various …

Use Of The Depth Interview In Examining Attitudes Of Delinquent Boys: An Exploratory Study, Alice Allen

Dissertations and Theses

This exploratory study designed to disclose new directions for further research and practice in the field of juvenile delinquency.

By exploring through limited depth interview the attitudinal areas of authority, fear, aspirations for the future, obstacles to be overcome, capabilities, societal ideals and therapy the project attempted: (1) to elicit, from adjudged juvenile delinquents, information different from that usually sought by public societal agencies and (2) to evaluate the depth interview as a means of eliciting such material.

Specific criteria were established for choosing fifteen interviewees, selected from three methods of dealing with juvenile delinquency: probation, institutionalization and parole. Depth …