Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Perceived Stress Levels Of Registered Nurses Employed In Medical-Surgical And Critical Care Units, Karen Snyder Keese

Masters Theses

The purpose of this research was to compare perceived stress levels of registered nurses employed in medical-surgical units to perceived stress levels of registered nurses employed in critical care units. A descriptive, correlational study was conducted using Wolfgang's (1988) Health Professions Stress Inventory. Perceptions of stress were measured and related to specialty, years of experience, years of nursing education, hours worked per week, and shift worked. A convenience sample of 102 registered nurses from two midwestern hospitals participated by a self administered questionnaire. Study findings included: medical-surgical nurses perceived significantly higher levels of stress than critical care nurses; stressors for …

The Influence Of Touch And Gender On Subjects' Perceived Social Support And Emotional State, Edmond R. Cochard

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine how males and females react to touch. It was hypothesized that females who were touched, compared to females who were not touched, would report higher levels of perceived social support, increases in positive affect, decreases in negative affect and higher evaluations of the confederate that touched them. In contrast, it was hypothesized that males who were touched, compared to males who were not touched, would report less perceived social support, decreases in positive affect, increases in negative affect and lower evaluations of the confederate. Eighty subjects, 40 male and 40 female, participated …

Development Of Athletes Conceptions Of Sport Officials Authority, David W. Rainey, Nicholas R. Santilli, Kevin Fallon

Psychology

This study examined baseball players' conceptions of umpires' authority. Eighty male players, ages 6-22 years, completed an abbreviated Inventory of Piaget's Developmental Tasks (Furth, 1970), which was used to measure cognitive development. They then heard recorded scenarios describing conflicts with an umpire and a parent. Players indicated if they would argue with the authorities, why they obey the authorities (obedience), and why the authorities get to make decisions (legitimacy). Obedience and legitimacy responses were categorized into Damon's (1977) three levels. Measures of arguing, obedience, and legitimacy were analyzed for four age levels and three levels of cognitive development. Older and …

Symptoms Of Stress And Social Support In Wives Of State Legislators, Kimberly Montgomery

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to determine if wives of politicians differ from other wives in terms of symptoms of stress and social support. There were N = 50 political wives and N = 68 nonpolitical wives who served as subjects. Using the General Health Questionnaire-28, the two groups were compared on aspects of stress (e.g., somatic symptoms, anxiety and insomnia, social dysfunction, and severe depression) and coping (e.g., emotional and practical support as measured by the Significant Others Scale). The results indicated that political wives report more stress symptoms than nonpolitical wives. Significant differences were also found between …

A Study Investigating The Cognitive Variables Involved In Adolescent Use Of Alcohol, William E. Fahey

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the relationship of adolescents• level of alcohol use to various cognitive and contextual variables. The cognitive variables of concern included (a) alcohol knowledge, (b) generation of alternatives thinking, (c) means-ends thinking, and (d) selfefficacy. The contextual variables were specific factors associated with most recent alcohol use experiences. The sample consisted of 113 high school sophomores from two separate high schools located within a rural county in the upper Midwest. Subjects were separated into three groups (Nonusers, Occasional Users, and Heavy Users) based on their self-reported level of alcohol use in the past month. Subjects completed various questionnaires …

Gender And Age Differences In Self-Generated Coping Strategies For Depression, Joan R. Hudson

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined coping strategies generated by a community sample of 527 adult men and women in response to three vignettes that described various presentations of depression. Analyses revealed quantitative differences by vignette and by subject variables. Results indicated that women gave more coping strategies than men. Social support was the most frequently suggested method of coping, and younger subjects mentioned it significantly more than older adults. Younger subjects also suggested ~ore inactive coping strategies in general. situational context was a strong determinant of type of strategy suggested, although beliefs about depression also influenced coping strategies. Results of multiple regression …

A Study Of Ninth Grade Students' Satisfaction With School And Self-Esteem In Two Grade Organization Patterns, Marcia Jane Brokenik Fivizzani

Theses and Dissertations

This study focused on ninth grade students attending school in two grade organization patterns, 7 through 9 and 9 through 12. Students' satisfaction levels with school as measured by the NASSP Student Satisfaction Survey and students' self-esteem measures on the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory were assessed to determine whether a relationship between grade organization, gender, satisfaction with school, and self-esteem existed. Ninth graders from one upper midwest community who attended a four-year high school (N=317) or a 7 through 9 junior high school

Findings revealed that both schools scored within the average range on all subscales of the Student Satisfaction Survey. …

Examination Of Community Mental Health Services For Persons With Serious Mental Illness: A Descriptive Study Of 31 Counties In Michigan, Pamela C. Werner

Masters Theses

Thirty-one out of 55 Community Mental Health Boards participated in a survey conducted by the Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Michigan. This study examined a number of variables in the questionnaire using a product-moment correlational analysis.

Results indicated that family and consumer input is modestly correlated with comprehensive service delivery and staff/consumer education and training. Budget and the active number of mentally ill cases had a low correlation with comprehensive service delivery and staff/consumer education and training. Interagency collaboration was modestly correlated with program evaluation, and comprehensive services available to consumers. Weaknesses were noted in the management structure of …

Inservice Training And Accessing Knowledge: The Perceived Needs Of Parents And Educators Of Children With Special Needs In North Dakota, Randal W. Eckart

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose and procedure. The purpose of this study was to provide a detailed analysis of needs assessment data regarding inservice training and accessing knowledge as perceived by parents, special education teachers, general education teachers, related services providers, and administrators in the state of North Dakota. These five groups were surveyed by the Bureau of Educational Services and Applied Research at the University of North Dakota. Resulting data were statistically analyzed utilizing frequency distributions and percentages to identify perceived needs for accessing knowledge or skills in special education and inservice training.

Conclusions and recommendations. Educators prioritized concerns over programming and instruction …

Training And Maintenance Of Breast Self-Examination Skills, Bernardine M. Pinto

Dissertations

Maintenance of breast self-examination (BSE) skills is crucial to the effectiveness of self-exams in early detection of breast tumors. While researchers have developed an effective technology for training these skills, the maintenance of BSE proficiency is questionable (Pennypacker et al., 1982). The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of reassessment (and retraining) on the maintenance of BSE skills. Twenty-nine women (ages 25-64) were trained to criterion using the MammaCare training package. Experimental subjects were required to demonstrate their skills at a 2 month reassessment and received retraining if their skills had declined below criterion. Control subjects were …

16pf Personality Profiles For Social Workers: Form A/Form S Comparisons, Stephen J. Guastello

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

The goal of this report was to identify the distinguishing features of 16PF personality profiles for social workers that have been collected with Experimental Form S (prototype of Fifth Edition 16PF Questionnaire). In the analysis, the new profile was compared against known profiles for social workers reported in Cattell et al. (1970). Gender differences in personality scores for these groups were noted. The relevance of the 16PF Empathy composite was discussed.

16pf Traits And Work Performance Among Restaurant Workers, Stephen J. Guastello, Lenore Frigo

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Personality traits have been linked to work performance in a variety of jobs. For as many restaurants as there are in every major city, little is known about the traits that characterize the success of their personnel. Personality traits are thought to be especially relevant to restaurant work because, in the case of the wait staff, interaction with the public is a major part of the job. In the case of the kitchen staff, it is necessary to work under conditions of heat and work load stress, while at the same time make each meal turn out exactly the way …

Detection Of Sexual Cues: An Assessment Of Nonaggressive And Sexually Coercive College Males, Rita Kenyon-Jump

Dissertations

Seventy-four nonaggressive and 78 sexually coercive college males, as determined by the Sexual Experiences Survey (Koss & Oros, 1982) and ranging in age from 18-25 years, participated in a study designed to assess their ability to detect specific behavioral cues of female partners’ unwillingness to engage in kissing, genital fondling, and sexual intercourse. Contrary to prediction, a 2 (nonaggression and sexual coercion) X 3 (kissing, fondling, and intercourse) analysis of variance revealed no statistically significant difference between the nonaggressive and sexually coercive males in their ability to detect cues of female unwillingness to engage in kissing, genital fondling, and sexual …

An Arbitrary Matching Training Supplement To The Avc Discrimination Test, Charles P. Butler

Masters Theses

Kerr, Meyerson and Flora (1977) devised a series of small learning tasks that could be used to assess developmentally disabled individuals on the typical tasks to be performed in a school setting or sheltered workshop and required only very simple equipment. Davine (1990) suggested that there may be transitional skills between AVC levels IV and V not found by Kerr et al. Davine looked at four experimental steps designed to test this notion. The results of this study were inconclusive. Wilson (1991) tested the same notion by devising a series of non identity matching tasks which were generally found to …

Experimental And Theoretical Analyses Of Instructional Tasks: Reading, Discrimination, And Construction, Satoru Shimamune

Dissertations

The effectiveness and efficiency of three kinds of workbooks were compared in teaching behavioral systems analysis to college students. Each workbook contained the same content but utilized different types of instructional tasks. The reading workbook had the definitions, and examples and nonexamples of the concepts to be taught, and the subjects were asked to read them. The discrimination workbook had the same definitions, examples and nonexamples, but the subjects were asked to work on discriminating the examples from the nonexamples. Feedback was given with regard to the correctness of the subjects' responses. The construction workbook had the same definitions of …

Neuropsychological Effects Of Short-Term Abstinence In Adolescent Alcoholics, Asiah Mayang

Dissertations

The Michigan Neuropsychological Battery (Smith, 1975) was administered to 14 to 17-year-old alcoholics from an inpatient and outpatient substance abuse treatment center within 7 days of their last drink, and again after 28-33 days of abstinence (a = 26). Comparisons were made between this group and an adolescent alcoholic group who did not abstain and was not receiving treatment for their alcohol abuse (n = 15). The non-abstaining group was also given the same test battery twice. Results indicated that subjects who abstained from drinking (experimental group) performed better than subjects who did not abstain (control group) on measures of …

Changes In Extension Educators' Perceptions Of Job Dimensions And Job Satisfaction Following Organizational Restructuring, John W. Furgason

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The literature provides ample evidence that state Extension programs across the country are introducing new or modified program development approaches and reorganized work units as they attempt to remain responsive to the public's educational needs. Implementation of such innovations, in many instances, represents change in Extension agent roles and responsibilities which could be characterized as a redesign of Extension work. Research on the effects of job redesign has consistently found evidence that workers' perceptions of certain core dimensions or characteristics of their jobs influence their satisfaction with that job. Given the changing organizational climate within Extension and the findings of …

Lesions Of The Perirhinal Cortex But Not Of The Frontal, Medial Prefrontal, Visual, Or Insular Cortex Block Fear-Potentiated Startle Using A Visual Conditioned Stimulus, Jeffrey B. Rosen, Janice M. Hitchcock, Mindy Miserendino, William A. Falls, Serge Campeau, Michael Davis

Psychology Faculty Publications

The present study is part of an ongoing series of experiments aimed at delineation of the neural pathways that mediate fear-potentiated startle, a model of conditioned fear in which the acoustic startle reflex is enhanced when elicited in the presence of a light previously paired with shock. A number of cortical areas that might be involved in relaying information about the visual conditioned stimulus (the light) in fear-potentiated startle were investigated. One hundred thirty-five rats were given 10 light-shock pairings on each of 2 consecutive days, and l-2 d later electrolytic or aspiration lesions in various cortical areas were performed. …

Refining Personality Disorder Assessment Procedures: The Relationship Between Mcmi-Ii And Scid-Ii, Robert J. Pass

Student Work

The purpose of this study was to examine the compatibility of personality disorder diagnoses made by a self-report questionnaire (Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory, MCMI-II) and a standardized interview (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R, Axis II, SCID-II). Diagnoses of 50 intake clients at NOVA Therapeutic Community's residential facility were compared using Chi-Square analysis. Agreement between the two instruments was promising at the cluster level (p

Self-Concepts Of Career Level Ii And Iii Teachers And Career Ladder Eligible Teachers In The Public Schools Of Tennessee, Lois C. Myers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a significant difference in the self concept of Career Level II and III teachers and teachers who are eligible to apply but have not elected to participate in the Career Ladder Program in the public schools of Tennessee. The technique of causal-comparative research was used in this study. The Tennessee Self Concept Scale (TSCS), developed by William Fitts, was selected as the appropriate instrument for use in this study. The TSCS is a versatile instrument that measures ten dimensions related to self concept: total level of self esteem, self …

Congress And Early Federalist Military Policy: An Examination Of Defense Related Roll Calls In The Second United States Congress, 1792-1793, Elbert S. Barker Iii

Theses and Dissertations

The legislators of the Second United States House of Representatives faced a set of challenging military and political problems when they met in November 1791. The issue of what would be the primary means of the young nation's defense had not yet been determined. The old British and colonial precedents of a militia as the first line of defense were firmly rooted in the minds of most congressmen meeting in Philadelphia. Many of the legislators had been indelibly imprinted with a fear of a large standing army in peacetime from their own personal experiences in the pre-Revolutionary days. Many of …

The Problems Of Assessing Change In Hopelessness Among Employees In Employee Assistance Programs, James Paul Porowski

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Hope has been designated by many theorists as playing an important part in both psychological and physical healing. However, to this point, whether or not time-limited psychotherapy can increase the level of hope in clients has not been adequately investigated. This study sought to measure the level of hope in participants pre-therapy and post-therapy by the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS). It also sought to explore the special problems that are encountered when conducting research within an Employee Assistance Program. Three hypotheses were proposed. The first stated that groups would differ in pretest hopelessness levels according to type of presenting problem. …

Nova University Ed.D. Program In Child And Youth Studies 1992–1993 Student Handbook - Revised November 1992, Nova University

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice College Archive

No abstract provided.

Perception/Action: An Holistic Approach, John M. Flach

Psychology Faculty Publications

A general systems approach is taken to studying the emergent properties of the human perception/action system. Two task domains, the control of locomotion and the recognition of objects, are used to study human performance. The locomotion task involves the control of altitude. Experiments are described that will manipulate the type of texture, the speed of forward motion, and altitude. A general hypothesis is presented that performance in the altitude control task is a function of the signal-to-noise ratio within the flow field--where signal refers to optical activity resulting from change of altitude and noise refers to optical activity resulting from …

Choice Reaction Time As A Function Of Set Size And Signal Frequency, Barbara M. Herzing

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This research was conducted in two experiments. The first experiment assessed whether set size for the negative and positive sets affected reaction time during a visual scanning task. The effects of signal frequency on these relationships were assessed in the second experiment. It was hypothesized that as set size increased, reaction time would increase. In addition, as signal frequency increased, it was hypothesized that reaction time would decrease. In the first experiment, 12 groups of 10 subjects each were tested varying the number of stimuli for the positive and negative sets. The second experiment tested 18 groups by varying the …

Subjective Fatigue In A-6, F-14, And F/A-18 Aircrews During Operations Desert Shield And Storm, C. A. Dejohn, S. A. Shappell, D. F. Neri

Publications

Fatigue occurring during naval air combat can reduce performance, impair operational effectiveness, and compromise safety. This study examines the effect of combat missions on the subjective fatigue of naval aircrews deployed aboard USS AMERICA during Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Fatigue was determined using three questionnaires that were completed before and after each mission. Although fatigue significantly increased during combat missions, it usually returned to preflight levels by the next day without noticeably increasing as the operation progressed. We feel that judicious aircrew scheduling on the part of operational planners was one of the most important factors contributing to this …

Psychoanalytic Object-Relations Theory And Western Orthodox Theology: Toward An Integrative Dialogue, Bruce H. Pickle

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

This is a study of humankind from the perspectives of a representative from psychology, the psychoanalytic British object-relations physician and psychoanalyst, William Ronald Dodds Fairbairn, M.D. (1889 to 1965), and from theology, the Western Orthodox Christian Dominican theologian and Doctor of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, O.P. (Order of Preachers) (1225 to 1274).

These theorist/practitioners share a common scientific and philosophical method dedicated to the discovery of reality under God. Each believed that a person's nature is relationally based. Both believed that the person is a psyche and soma, a psychological and biological, unity. Each believed that turning from real …

Mountain Goat Removal In Olympic National Park: A Case Study Of The Role Of Organizational Culture In Individual Risk Decisions And Behavior, Seth Tuler, Gary E. Machlis, Roger E. Kasperson

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Using a case study, the authors explore the mediating role of organizational culture in individual Risk-taking decisions and behaviors. They argue that organizational culture can establish unique conditions that lead to highly reliable performance of high-Risk, undesired tasks. The authors also discuss the need for further research and its implications for Risk management.

Utah Families- The Issues They Face, Ted W. Warstadt, Larry Forthun

All Archived Publications

With the wide variety of difficulties that our society faces and the limited funding available to address these concerns, it is important to identify and prioritize critical family issues. Because the family is a major contributor to individual and societal development, it is important to focus attention on issues which have a direct impact on family functioning. In identifying issues it is also helpful to understand demographic and geographic influences which may contribute to an individual's perceived urgency of a given issue. This can assist policy makers in their efforts to appropriately allocate limited funds to the best suited and …

Vol. 15 No. 3 (1992): Pacific Studies Full Issue, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Pacific Studies is published two times a year by The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies, Brigham Young University Hawai‘i #1979, 55–220 Kulanui Street, Lāʻie, Hawai‘i 96762, but responsibility for opinions expressed in the articles rests with the authors alone. Subscription rate is US$40.00 yearly, payable to The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies. The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies (formerly The Pacific Institute) is an organization funded by Brigham Young University Hawai‘i. The Center assists the University in meeting its cultural and educational goals by undertaking a program of teaching, research, and …