This study examined to what extent the biological sex of the nurse-physician interactants affects the interpersonal communication satisfaction experienced by the nurse. Hypotheses One and Two predicted that communication satisfaction would differ significantly across various combinations of sex of nurse and sex of physician dyads. Hypothesis Three predicted that male nurses would experience higher levels of communication satisfaction than would female nurses. Interpersonal communication satisfaction was operationalized by two self-report instruments. The sample included 153 male and female nurses. Results indicated that same-sex interactions were more satisfying for female nurses, while mixed-sex interactions were more satisfying for male nurses. Nurses reported greater communication satisfaction when interacting with female physicians. Hypothesis three was not supported.

M.A. / Of late there has been an accelerated impetus in the study of marriage and its associated issues. A veritable deluge of research articles are regularly devoted to the topic, for example Hatfield and Sprecher (1986); Fincham and Bradbury (1987); Dion and Dion (1993); Kamo (1993). There has also been some recent South African research on marriage and mate selection, particularly Crous and Pretorius (1994). New books appear with striking regularity while instruments to measure aspects of relationships are readily available. These include Hendrick and Hendrick's Love Attitude Scale, Spanier's Dyadic Adjustment Scale, and Rubin's Love Scale (Tzeng, 1993). Relationships, love and marriage are becoming increasingly measurable and as more questions become answered, researchers are able to unravel some of the complexity within the field. Adams (1988) looks back at fifty years of family research to discover that it has become increasingly scientific despite dealing with so-called "soft" variables like adjustment and attitudes. When even more elusive constructs like satisfaction, contentment and love are introduced, social scientists find that the terrain might be uncomfortably abstract. However, it is anticipated that as this domain, once only the estate of poets and philosophers becomes steadily more understood, it will bear fruit by answering questions which can then be profitably applied in many couplecounselling situations. The concepts of mate selection, marriage and familial stability are at the heart of societal functioning. There are a myriad of variables that impact on these constructs, as is evident from Surra's (1990) decade review. Recent research has shed some light, albeit theoretical, on the reasons why two people form a marital dyad. Social scientists are thus slowly building a solid mass of knowledge relating to the entire process of how and why a couple eventually exist. This goes hand in hand with contemporary urgency, for the accelerating forces of career, sociological, psychological and economic pressures play havoc with older traditional values of stability and permanence in all these domains. Soaring divorce rates are only one symptom of couples and individuals buckling under these tremendous pressures. Clearly, whatever can be done to better understand the choices individuals make in forming marital dyads, can only be regarded as useful information. In the South African context, this type of research is similarly required. With the wealth of family and marriage research being done abroad, it is important to know if this information applies to South African couples. Thus the primary motivation for the study is to better understand the way South Africans love. Lee's (1976) treatise is widely accepted as a valuable model of love. To date no work appears to have been done using this model in South Africa. The aims of this study thus are: To determine if there is any relationship between the various lovestyles and marital satisfaction for a South African sample. To examine several contemporary models of love.

The aim of the diploma thesis is to explore the influence that smartphones have on personal (romantic) relationships. The thesis examines the influence of smartphones on private lives of partners. The first part of the thesis focuses on literature review presenting key studies that pursued similar topics as the research project. The research as such is described in the following chapters. The methodological basis of the project are in-depth interviews accompanied by questionnaire. The main part of the thesis is description of the research questions, the research sample, the process of analysis, and the interpretation of results of in-depth interviews and questionnaire. The achieved results were interpreted in the context of selected theoretical concepts. Mainly the concepts of Liquid modernity / Liquid love by Zygmunt Bauman and iDisorder by Larry Rosen were used. The aim of the thesis was to find out what kind of influence smartphones have on meeting a potential partner, on a consequent relationship, and also on a possible separation.

Speech perception plays an important role in how infants begin to produce speech. This study aims to understand how changes in infant selective attention to various parts of talking faces guides their understanding of speech and subsequent production. In this study, we tracked infant (4-12 months of age) and adult gaze patterns to determine where on a face they attend, when hearing and seeing the face speak in either their native (English) or a non-native language (Spanish). We also tracked infant selective attention to moving-silent and silent-static faces, to determine if this would result in different patterns of attention. The findings suggest that there are two shifts in infant attention. The first shift occurs between four and eight months of age, with infants shifting their eyes to the mouth of the talking face. The second shift occurs around twelve months of age, when infants begin to return their gaze back to the eye region when hearing and seeing their native language, but continue to attend to the mouth region when hearing and seeing the non-native language. Overall, the results of this study suggest that changes in selective attention to talking faces guides the development of speech production and is dependent on early language experience. / by Amy H. Tift. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

This research addresses the question of whether individuals or groups induce deeper message processing of persuasive messages. An interaction between group entitativity and whether the group is an ingroup or an outgroup is predicted, where ingroups low on entitativity and outgroups high on entitativity are expected to induce deeper message processing. Entitativity measures the extent an aggregate of people is seen as a group (D. T. Campbell, 1958). Previous research shows contradictory results. S. G. Harkins and R. E. Petty (1987) have shown that high entitativity causes more message focus than low entitativity. R. J. Rydell and A. R. McConnell (2005) have shown that low entitativity causes more message focus than high entitativity. Hypotheses were not supported by the data. Post hoc analyses suggest that motivation to process persons and messages was greatest in the high entitativity ingroup condition. Predictions were revised by adding motivation as a variable. / by Karoly I. Balazs. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the hypothesis that a cognitivebehavioral based psycho-educational group counseling program would increase at-risk female adolescent emotional intelligence (EI). The EI research reviewed and discussed entailed a competency building program composed of affirmations, meditation guided imagery, individual therapy sessions, group therapy, psychodrama, journaling, and parent handouts. The study was based upon theories related to the development of EI in at-risk youth, and the outcome research related to the effectiveness of emotional interventions for enhancing positive social-emotional development of at-risk adolescents. ...T his study investigated whether a group therapy process that encompasses programmatic components fostering self-regulation, self-awareness, empathy, and positive social skills, could effectively increase the EI and social adjustment of a target group of at-risk female adolescents. / by Monica Nicoll. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

The focus of this study was to determine if university student leaders’ cognitive and behavioral agility is related to organizational member commitment and if this relationship is moderated by alterable and non-alterable variables. The empirical results from this study are based on the responses of 37 student leaders who occupy leadership positions in organizations and clubs in their respective university. Cognitive agility was measured by the student leader’s use of systems thinking, reframing, and reflection. Student leader behavioral agility was assessed by a minimum of three organizational members rating the student leader’s use of leader influence actions (transforming, managing, bonding, bridging, and bartering) in carrying out their functions. Organizational member commitment was measured by organization member’s level of commitment with the goals and values of the organization using the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ). / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Previous studies have found that bilingual children’s vocabulary development benefits more from child-directed speech from native speakers than child-directed speech from nonnative speakers. The current study compared the native English child-directed speech of 20 English monolingual mothers, the nonnative English child-directed speech of 20 Spanish-English bilingual mothers, and the native Spanish child-directed speech of the same bilingual mothers in terms of three aspects of input previously associated with children’s language development: data-providing properties, topic contingency, and speech function. There were significant differences between native English and nonnative English child-directed speech, and between nonnative English and native Spanish. The results suggest two sources of influence shaping child-directed speech: quality differences related to native speaker status and cultural factors primed by the language being spoken. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

This study investigates affect coding within the therapeutic relationship, by exploring the client's and therapist's perception of the relationship and the facial and vocal affect expressed by both parties. A sample of 14 therapy sessions each having 1800 data points was collected. The Working Alliance Inventory Short Form (WAI-S) and Real Relationship Inventory (RRI) were completed after each recorded session. The participants were therapists and clients at a university counseling center in South Florida. Data were analyzed using one-tailed t tests, descriptive statistics, scores from RRI and the WAI-S and percentages of negative, neutral and positive affect. Statistically significant relationships were found between seconds of therapist negative affect (t(13)= -2.065, p. <.05) and seconds of therapist neutral affect (t(13)= -1.959, p. <.05) for clients who dropped out of therapy. The seconds of negative affect coded for clients (t(13) = -1.396, p. >.05) was approaching statistical significance for clients who drop out of therapy. This study provides theoretical and empirical support for linking the presence of facial affect in the first session and its effects on the therapeutic relationship and thus client retention or drop out. The clinical implications of these findings are also discussed. / by Ashley J. Luedke. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

This study explored the types and uses of informal, on-the-job learning occurring among American Speech-Language-Hearing (ASHA)-certified Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) working in medical settings as part of a rehabilitation team. In addressing this purpose, a qualitative, phenomenological approach to research methodology was used. Participants were selected through a process of purposeful sampling, each meeting the criteria of having earned the Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology from ASHA and working in a medical setting as part of a rehabilitation team. Twenty-four SLPs from varying demographic profiles took part in one of three online data collection methods. Nine participants completed a computer-mediated interview, 11 participants completed an online journal entry and 4 participants completed a virtual focus group method. All data collection methods were accomplished via internet technologies. Data analysis was performed through a process of thematic analysis and resulted in four significant findings. First, both internal and external forces triggered SLPs to learn informally in the medical workplace. Also, SLPs went through an individually-determined, goal-directed process when learning informally in the medical workplace. SLPs used a combination of collaboration, workplace experience and research to learn informally in the medical workplace. And finally, SLPs employed informal learning activities for the purpose of meeting personal, patient and organizational needs. / It was recommended that (a) the American Speech- Language-Hearing Association review its professional development policy and consider implementation of a process whereby clinicians can document their goal-directed workplace learning and receive professional development credit for these activities; (b) healthcare organizations recognize, support and reward the informal learning in which their SLPs are already engaging; and (c) SLPs enhance their informal learning in the medical workplace through proactivity, critical reflectivity (of their own and others' learning), and creativity. The significance of this research included the use and support of existing theory in both Adult Education and Human Resource Development. Further, this research represents the first of its kind in investigating informal learning in rehabilitative therapies, specifically Speech-Language Pathology. Peer professions such as Physical and Occupational Therapy may also benefit from this study's conclusions and recommendations, as these professionals work in similar medical contexts. / by Patrick Roy Walden. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2008. Mode of access: World Wide Web.