The purpose of this study was to determine, under experimental conditions, which of two treatments (overt or covert rehearsal in conjunction with instruction, live modeling and reinforcement) would help chronic schizophrenic undifferentiated type inpatients learn new assertive behaviors (volume of speech and gaze) and transfer them to unfamiliar situations in the laboratory.The research was conducted at Dayton Mental Health Center, Dayton, Ohio. The sample population consisted of 30 subjects who were randomly divided into three groups of 10 subjects each. The groups were Treatment I (overt rehearsal), Treatment II (covert rehearsal) and No-Treatment (control). All subjects volunteered for the study. They were screened with the Wolpe-Lazarus Assertiveness Training Questionnaire; however, the results were discarded because many scored lower than the desired range. Subjects were videotaped at the end of the study.The two treatment groups were conducted twice weekly for a total of eight sessions in one month. Each session lasted about 45 minutes. Positive reinforcers such as cookies and cigarettes were provided to encourage attendance. The group leaders were two pairs of male and female psychology assistants and trainees. All were qualified for their randomly selected tasks. The treatment consisted of eight behavior situations designed by the writer based on the Behavior Assertiveness Test - Revised (BAT-R). Attendance was imperfect during the sessions as some subjects occasionally resisted groups. Following completion of the treatment, only 27 subjects accepted to be videotaped for testing; three refused to be taped.A posttest-only design was used in this study. Posttesting consisted of videotaped responses to a confederate who presented four trained and four untrained situations. Two qualified psychologists collected data by rating the subjects' behaviors on the video tape. The specific behaviors, volume of speech and gaze, were rated on the Qualitative Rating Scale for both the trained and untrained situations across all three groups. The effects of treatment were analyzed through several statistical steps:1. Three t-tests on pairs were used to analyze means between trained and untrained situations for both treatment groups and the No-Treatment group.2. Two separate one-way analyses of variance were computed on volume of speech and on gaze across all three groups. Scores of trained and untrained situations were summed for each variable.3. Four separate one-way analyses of variance were computed for volume of speech and gaze in each of the trained and untrained situations across all three groups.The results were not statistically significant at the .05 level. Thus, there were no differences between the treatment groups and the No-Treatment group with respect to untrained situations. Also, there were no differences between treatment groups and the No-Treatment group in the learning of new behaviors. These findings did not lend efficacy to the treatments or instruments used in this study. It is possible that those treatments may not succeed with lower functioning subjects such as those used in this sample.Recommendations for future research were to include longer treatment conditions and to use more sensitive training and testing instruments. Other suggestions included familiarization of subjects with videotaping prior to posttesting, inclusion of more variables and the use of pre-post measures as well as follow up measures.

The objective of this research was to investigate the relationship between self-concept and goal attainment for assertive training groups. To determine if self-concept is related to the extent to which one's goals are attained was of major interest. Another purpose was to determine if self-concept measures increase as a result of participation in group assertive training. Subjects were 67 volunteers, students from Utah State University, and Cache Valley, Utah, community members. Subjects were administered as pretests and posttests the Tennessee Self Concept Scale and the Goal Attainment Scaling procedures including the Behavioral Monitoring Progress Record. Three groups were formed: 1) AT I, a self-directed assertive training group, 2) AT II, a directed, goal-oriented assertive training group, and 3) a no-treatment control group. Four assertive training sessions were conducted and posttesting was completed. Two correlations were computed: 1) the pretest TSCS scores were correlated with the GAS scores, and 2) the posttest TSCS scores were correlated with the GAS scores. A test of significance between correlation coefficients was applied to the two correlation coefficients obtained. The two correlations were not significantly different at the .05 significance level suggesting that the extent to which goals are attained is not related to self-concept for the two assertive training groups. Increases from the TSCS pretest to posttest for each assertive training group were significant as indicated by the analysis of variance for repeated measures. The experience of participating in both assertive training groups was suggested as effecting positive changes in self-concept.

The assertive training literature has documented the effectiveness of both behavioral and cognitive methods to increase individual's assertiveness. However, the ability for such methods to enhance the generalization of treatment effects to untrained assertive response classes and the natural environment has been poor. In addition, little notice has been paid to the durability of these changes. Although the past several years have witnessed more intensive efforts by investigators to program generalization as part of their interventions, results have continued to be disappointing. A specific generalization-enhancing treatment strategy, self-directed practice, has been utilized with much success in phobic populations. This strategy, and the theoretical orientation it reflects, has been proposed for use in assertive training. The present study sought to examine the effectiveness of this method as compared to the traditional assertive training procedures and investigate the role of self-efficacy expectations in mediating initial behavior change and its subsequent generalization.