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This study deals with the description and analysis of patterns of verbal interaction in an interdisciplinary team in a special school, the aim being to discover the ongoing processes that occur in the work of the team. The research examines the team members' perceptions of their role and of the pupils and explores key concepts that are specific to the various experts in relating to the pupils and to the roles in an interdisciplinary team. Characteristic patterns of communication in meetings of the Individual Education Plan team and the administrative team are investigated. This research is the first of its kind in investigating interactions in an interdisciplinary team in the Israeli educational system. The research was conducted as a case study in a special school during the years 1997-1998. The research population comprised 65 members of the interdisciplinary team, consisting of educators, doctors and para-medical professionals. The research tools employed Included observations, Interviews and collection of documents. Using the interpretive method, meaningful processes in the everyday life of the team and its functioning vis-a-vis the pupils are revealed and analysed. The work of an interdisciplinary team in the school requires considerable attention in terms of organisation, since the mere fact of bringing diverse professionals to work together does not guarantee effective collaboration, and the question arises as to how the joint work of the experts is performed in practice, and what are its results and meanings for the participants. The aims of the research are to reveal knowledge and arrive at a thorough description of the organisational culture of an interdisciplinary team. The knowledge revealed can serve as the basis for construction of a cognitive framework for the development of an explanatory theory, the construction of practical tools for the work of an interdisciplinary team in the field and the formulation of questions for future research. The main findings are that the members of the interdisciplinary team working from various areas of specialisation, such as education, therapy and medicine, differ in their role perceptions, definitions of situation and perceptions of the pupils. Moreover, the concepts used by the team members indicate the existence in the interdisciplinary team of three worlds of semantic content, between which there is transferability. Collaboration and communication in the interdisciplinary team is complex and takes place on several levels, reflecting the professional knowledge basis of the team members. The collaboration revolves around the special knowledge of the different experts. The research identified various categories of knowledge that serve in the interdisciplinary discourse; for instance, knowledge from personal experience and knowledge based on professional experience. In the interaction verbal two levels operate concurrently: the overt organisational level, and the hidden social level. Work in a special school is rife with potential crisis situations which may lead to feelings of discontent that are liable to overshadow the work of the professionals in the school. The findings in this work demonstrate the complexity of the working relations among various professionals working together as a team. The main conclusions of the research are that work in an interdisciplinary team demands a wide range of skills, broad knowledge and extensive resources. Therefore it is important that the team members receive training for interdisciplinary team work, as well as ongoing in-service training of professionals in the skills of professional teamwork.

Existing research into the relationship between alcohol consumption and smoking is confounded by many methodological limitations. Experimental research has often been conducted with all male samples, suffering from alcoholism or drug abuse, and is often conducted in the laboratory or on medical research wards. It frequently fails to account for confounding factors such as the presence of other people who may also be drinking and smoking. This research aims to overcome some of these limitations, and to extend understanding of the drinking-smoking relationship by examining the influence of social context and social interaction. Moderating effects of personality, alcohol expectancies, and smoking motivations on these relationships are also explored. Effects of alcohol consumption, social interaction and social context on mood are examined and relationships between personality, alcohol expectancies and smoking motivations are explored. The thesis is comprised of five studies, the first of which describes the development of a modified measure of sensation seeking. This was followed by an experiment that examined the effects of social context and social interaction on the alcohol-smoking relationship. The two subsequent experiments examined effects of social context and Social interaction separately. The final questionnaire study focussed on relationships between self-reported drinking and smoking, and relationships with personality, alcohol expectancies and smoking motivations. Support was found for the alcohol-smoking relationship, providing evidence for the following theories: conditioning, where alcohol may act as a conditioned stimulus and initiate smoking; cue exposure where smoking related cues such as alcohol, social context or the presence of others may initiate smoking; and pharmacological where the pharmacological effects of alcohol and nicotine may interact. Social context also had an effect on the subjective experience of alcohol consumption, providing support for a drug compensatory response as greater feelings of intoxication were experienced in the laboratory than the bar. Evidence for an interaction effect between social Context and alcohol consumption on mood was observed where more positive mood Was observed in the bar when alcohol had been consumed. Social interaction exerted an effect on smoking where evidence for modelling was observed. The smoking motivation restful and relaxing situations and the personality trait intensity also appeared to moderate the relationship between social context and smoking. The final questionnaire study confirmed that smokers consumed more alcohol than non-smokers, and displayed higher levels of extraversion, psychoticism, novelty and intensity. Extraversion, psychoticism, novelty and intensity were positively related to alcohol consumption, and social desirability was negatively related to consumption. This study also identified the smoking motivations and alcohol expectancies most strongly related to smoking and drinking respectively. Evidence for under-reporting alcohol consumption was established in the final study, and highlights improvements to be gained through using a seven day diary recall method for recording self-reported weekly alcohol consumption. Further research could explore the effects of stronger doses of alcohol on smoking across more diverse contexts and social situations. Further research could also focus on the effects of more specific cues on smoking, and explore modelling effects on smoking following alcohol consumption in greater depth.

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No description available.