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The Lair Hill Park Neighborhood On Examination Of The Phenomenon Of Community Creation, Joseph S. Uris

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis is a study of a community in physical isolation. The first chapter describes the methodology used. Short form questionnaires and in-depth interviews were gathered. Three sets of historical maps were drawn from documented sources. A film describing the life style and beliefs of some community residents was made. The second chapter is an evaluation of some of the literature on the neighborhood. This chapter details the hypothesis that external pressures and externally created needs tended in the case of the Lair Hill area to produce a Gemeinschaft-like situation which proves stronger than the many factors making for heterogeneity …

The European Powers In Africa: Can The Obstacles To National Unity Be Attributed To Them? Nigeria, A Test Case, Bassey John Ituen

Dissertations and Theses

During the latter part of the nineteenth century, European powers acquired large territorial areas in Africa. These territories ignored the boundaries of old African tribal kingdoms and the African modes of life, because the new countries were to serve as 'common market' areas supplying Europe with the wealth of the tropics. Nigeria is an example of the new superstructure which in operation fails to become a homogeneous entity after the assumption of political power by the Africans. There are problems of existing tribal kingdoms, of geographic distribution of ethnic groups and of traditional values. The British colonization of Nigeria also …

Religious Commitment And Attitudes Toward Deviant Behavior, Donald Alban Gibbs

Dissertations and Theses

Troeltsch’s distinction between the church and the sect and similar dichotomies suggest that different kinds of religious organizations affect not only members’ religious beliefs but also their more general attitudes in different ways. For example, the church-type organizations generate more receptiveness to community involvement while the sect-type organizations induce more collective self-centeredness among members. This study examines the tendency toward punitiveness—i.e. a tendency to punish rather than reforms those who break the rules—in a similar context. It was assumed that the individuals belonging to a sect-type organization would be more punitive that those belonging to a church-type organization. The results …

A Study Of Eighty-One Sexual Offenders At Oregon State Hospital, Eugene Fletcher Booth

Dissertations and Theses

This project was conceived at the Psychiatric Security Unit of Oregon State Hospital in 1968-69. The purpose of the study-was to develop a fund of knowledge concerning the Oregon "sexually dangerous" and to emphasize those elements of the subject which require more sophisticated research. It was undertaken with the hope that the information provided would prove of value to the professional and layman in their understanding of sexual offenses against children. The study plan, designed around an investigation of sexual offender characteristics, was submitted to the administrator of Oregon State Hospital, and permission was granted to examine clinical histories of …

A Study Of The Effects Of Professional Authority On The Attitude Change Of High School Sophomores, Sandra Lee Kelley, Lane Alan Myers

Dissertations and Theses

This research project was designed to test, directly, the effects of perceived professional authority on producing attitude change among high school sophomores. The study utilized a social psychological theoretical orientation to examine a specific aspect of socially mediated information, namely, persuasive communication as it is influenced by the source or communicator of the persuasive message, “Authority, as it has been defined in this study, includes two factors: (1) the prestige and (2) the credibility of the source. The two professions selected were that of a physician and a social worker. It was expected that the physician, by virtue of his …

The Sex Offender In Oregon : Fact And Fallacy, Richard G. Storch, Virginia T. Peterson

Dissertations and Theses

The principal objective of this study was to examine the proposition, advanced by several authorities, that the views, attitudes and beliefs of the public concerning the sex offender and his offense are characterized by fallacy, stereotype and misconception. That the approach to the problem of the sex offense has been and continues to be primarily legislative is a fact that can be demonstrated; and that legislation reflects and is influenced by public attitudes and beliefs is a premise that can be supported. Hence the accuracy or inaccuracy of these public attitudes and beliefs will have a bearing on the legislation …

Mobility Of Physicians Into Prepaid Group Health Practice; A Case Study, Ann Schroeder Sato

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis is concerned with changes over time in the social characteristics of doctors who have entered prepaid group health plans. It focuses on the past social positions which these doctors have occupied and on their status, or rank. The general expectation is that both the rank and positions occupied by doctors prior to entering prepaid group plans have varied as the prestige of these plans has varied. The entrance of physicians into prepaid group health plans was conceptualized as mobility between different contexts of work. Blau’s exchange theory of mobility proved to be the most fruitful source of hypotheses …

Madrona Movers: A Sociological Analysis Of A Work Group As A Process Of Harmony And Dissent, John Vance Cannucci

Dissertations and Theses

The research problem discussed in the thesis is generally concerned with the investigation of a group of men who work as furniture movers. The problem is focused on the dynamic interplay of status equality and status differentiation as contradictions that render harmony and dissension as common group denominators.

Three questions were asked. First, are there consistent ways of behaving while working as a furniture mover? Second, if consistent ways of behavior do exist, how are they related to the notions of status equality and status differentiation? Third, if this latter relationship should exist, can harmony and dissent be conceptualized as …

Women In Professions And Status Inconsistency, Miriam Grace Mcclure

Dissertations and Theses

The general concern of this thesis is with the position of women in the United States. Specifically, the focus is on women in the professions. The theoretical perspective is taken from Everett C. Hughes’ 1945 discussion of “Dilemmas and Contradictions of Status.” Hughes maintained that when an incumbent of a status holds an unexpected auxiliary characteristic he is in a dilemma because others do not know how to respond to the contradictory stimuli. Others’ responses tend to reflect unfavorably back on the individual’s self-image and he seeks to avoid reactions from others by adopting behavior to reduce the impact of …

An Experimental Study Of The Effects Of Personal Proximity Upon Selected Aspects Of Conversational Content, Ronna S. Loewen

Dissertations and Theses

Proxemics is an area of study devoted to the interrelated theories of man's use of space as a special elaboration of culture. Edward T. Hall, an anthropologist, has begun to draw these theories together in his work dealing with proxemics.

It is the purpose of this study to determine whether certain dimensions of interpersonal conversations vary with the distance between the conversants. Three distances were used as experimental variables. Intimate distance was set at nine inches, personal distance at three feet, nine inches, and social distance at eight feet. A total of fifty-four subjects was used with nine pairs situated …

A General Study Of Tests And Testing With Special Emphasis On Concepts, Controversy, And Teaching Ideas Applicable At The First Grade Level, Jean I. Dimick

Dissertations and Theses

A general study of testing with special focus on, and analysis of, tests being used in the primary grades by selected cities; the controversy concerning aptitude and intelligence testing as it applies particularly to genetic factors and race; and the identification and selection of ideas which would be of value to a first grade teacher seeking diverse and unusual ways to discover abilities and aptitudes in first grade children. Study covers in detail some of the controversy about racial intelligence as it concerns black and white Americans starting with interpretations and controversies that occurred after World War I, and also …

Verbal Accessibility And Authoritarian Family Ideology: A Study Of 50 Graduate Social Work Students And Their Spouses, Linda Louise Metz

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis is the fourth in a series of empirical investigations concerned with symbolic interaction in marriage. Its basic assumption is that personal predispositions of marital partners as well as the social context of their marriage influences marital intimacy particularly the partner's readiness to communicate verbally with each other about important attitudes and feelings.

Fifty married graduate students attending Portland State University School of Social Work and their spouses comprised the sample. The subjects responded to three instruments: (1) a personality scale (Authoritarian Family Ideology – AFI) developed by Jane Loevinger, (2) a measure of verbal accessibility (VA), and (3) …

Evaluation Of The Role Of Neighborhood Health Coordinators In A Comprehensive Neighborhood Health Services Project, Sharron Faye Easley

Dissertations and Theses

This study evaluates the role of the Neighborhood Health Coordinators (NHC's) within Kaiser Foundation's Comprehensive Neighborhood Health Services (CNHS) Project. This project was established in September 1967, under the provisions of the 1966 amendments to the Economic Opportunity Act, to provide and make readily available comprehensive medical care to low-income persons. In compliance with the stipulations of this Act, persons who reside in target areas, designated as depressed neighborhoods, were hired to serve as NHC's. These indigenous non-professionals serve as links or "gatekeepers" between the low-income persons enrolled in this program, and the Kaiser medical care facilities which include the …

An Examination Of Disengagement Among Elderly People In A Low Income Public Housing Facility, Linda Bennion, Marion Paradis, Sheila Petrie

Dissertations and Theses

This project studied the consequences of disengagement among elderly people and examined the respondent's opinions about society's responsibility to the aged.

The study population was limited to 48 elderly people, equally divided between men and women, married and unmarried; residing in Northwest Tower, a high-rise public housing facility.

The possible consequences of disengagement which were studied included isolation, depression, frustration, despair, factors preventing satisfaction with present circumstances, desired activities in relation to available activities, and energy and desire relative to activity and responsibility. Finally, opinions were sought about society's responsibility to the elderly.

Six general hypotheses guided the development of …

The View From The Future; The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy As An Element In Historical Causation, William Welker Lenon

Dissertations and Theses

The behavioral sciences in conjunction with history provide a unique opportunity for a more creative, yet precise, approach to the role of man as an historical and social agent. On the one hand history provides an approach to man’s role based on the appeal to both facts and creative interpretation. On the other, the behavioral sciences can provide historians with a more precise concept of the mechanism of social, cultural, and personal role development and action. The creative conjunction of the behavioral sciences and history is called Neo-synthecism in order to more easily identify this approach. There are two purposes …

An Analysis Of Children's Drawings Of Policemen, Jess A. Armas, Linda L. Simonitch

Dissertations and Theses

The overall objectives of this study had a dual focus. One was to determine the attitudes of children toward police from projective drawings. The second utilized the experience of performing the first objective to assess the possible adaptation and use of projective techniques in social work. One hundred and twenty-nine children from three different Portland public schools were given the topic “I met a policeman in my neighborhood” and asked to draw a picture. Second graders in an upper white socioeconomic school, a lower white socioeconomic school, and a school in a lower socioeconomic Negro area were compared. It was …

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 …

Selected Experiences Of Boys And Girls Entering The Community Of Ketchikan, Alaska From Correctional Schools, Marian L. Swain

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore differences in self-reported experiences of fifteen boys and girls who were released from correctional schools from June 24, 1965, to May 16, 1967, into the community of Ketchikan, Alaska, from a control group of nineteen who had not been in correctional institutions, who were matched by sex, age and race. Between the dates of July 16, 1967, to September 13, 1967, I interviewed and administered a questionnaire to each respondent in both groups. The respondents, ranging in age from 14 years to 20 years, were seen in the welfare office, the person's …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Medical-Social Needs In A Sample Population Of Elderly Post-Hospital Patients, Rose N. Cooper

Dissertations and Theses

The EPP Project was a descriptive and inferential study designed to determine the psychosocial and medical needs of elderly post-hospital dischargees.

The areas of need assessed were (1) living arrangements, (2) use of leisure time, (3) vocational adjustment, (4) financial functioning and (5) adjustment to illness.

The instrument adopted for the purpose of this study was an adaptation of a scheduled in the New York Study. The New York Study, described in The Elderly Ambulatory Patient: Nursing and Psychosocial Needs by Doris Schwartz, Barbara Henley and Leonard Zeitz was a long-range study of the needs of elderly clinic patients. The …

Franz Michael Felder: Bregenzerwalder Dorfgeschichten Und Schriften, Eine Erziehungsstudie, Richard Deal Stones

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis is the first known study to analyze the writings of the Austrian, Franz Michael Felder, as an educative device, which the author himself utilized to enlighten and instruct his country folk in Bregenzerwald, Vorarlberg.

An attempt is made to uncover the basic message inherent in all of Felder's works: close family relationship, high moral standards and diligence are important to him; he fights petty prejudice, meaningless tradition and hypocrisy. The many native customs peculiar to the region are, of course, immanent in his literary production and, what is particularly significant, he stages a continuous battle against the social …

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, …