No description available.

The purpose of the current study was to measure the effects of a sexual issues discussion group on the sexual attitudes and behaviors of physically disabled college students. A review of the literature on sexual rehabilitation counseling shows that many programs have been designed to help the disabled. However, it was discovered that most of these programs were developed for the traumatically disabled and did not include the congenitally disabled or those afflicted with debilitating diseases. Furthermore, few reports described the sexual adjustment counseling programs and even fewer reported data on the effectiveness of these programs. Research indicated that the disabled have more difficulty adjusting to college than do able-bodied students. Since sexual adjustment is an important component of total adjustment, it was hypothesized that this might be an important function of a college counselor working with disabled students. The lack of reviews of sexual adjustment programs, the scarcity of reports on the effectiveness of these programs and the rarity of information on sexual adjustment counseling with disabled college students were the impetus for this study. The specific questions which this study was designed to answer were: (1) Does participation in a sexual issues discussion group affect the sexual attitudes of physically disabled college students? (2) Does participation in a sexual issues discussion group affect the sexual activity of physically disabled college students? and (3) Does participation in a sexual issues discussion group help physically disabled college students reach specific attitudinal and behavioral goals which they have identified prior to beginning the group? The population included all the physically handicapped students at Arizona State University identified as disabled by the Disabled Students Office. The population was contacted by mail. From the resulting volunteers, individuals were randomly selected, placed in two categories (congenital and acquired disablements), and then randomly assigned to two groups of six, creating a stratified random sample. Each group had four members who had congenital defects and two members with acquired disabilities. The experimental treatment consisted of an eight-week program, conducted in the University Counseling Center, of two-hour sessions which focused on sexual issues. A waiting list control group took the pre and post tests as did the experimental group. The experimental group also drew up individual contracts which they hoped to accomplish as a result of participating in the treatment. Analysis of Variance was used to test the hypotheses related to Questions 1 and 2. Results indicated that there was no statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups which could be attributed to the treatment. Evaluation of the individual contracts indicated, however, that experimental subjects did move toward the goals which they had set for themselves. Analysis of graphs of the data suggested that change was made in the experimental group toward more liberal sexual attitudes and behaviors. From the evidence gathered in the study, it was concluded that the treatment did not have a statistically significant effect on the sexual attitudes and behaviors of physically disabled college students as measured by the test instruments. However, the self-ratings suggested that participants in the experimental group did move toward goals which they had set for themselves prior to treatment. The major conclusion was that the size of the N (12) was a contributing factor in the failure to denote a statistically significant difference between the two groups. Recommendations included further investigation of the experimental treatment procedures, separation of the congenitally disabled from those with acquired disabilities, revision of the test instruments and offering similar treatment as a credit course.

In this study, an Implicit Association Test (IAT) was created to measure individuals attitudes towards seeking psychological help. The IAT was administered prior to the Beliefs About Psychological Services scale (BAPS; Ægisdóttir & Gerstein, 2009) to examine the relationship between the implicit and explicit measures of attitudes toward seeking psychological help. It was theorized that the implicit measure would be less affected by social desirability and unconscious attitudes than the explicit measure. Standardizing revealed that IAT scores reflected less belief in the expertness of psychology professionals than did BAPS scores. However, participants reported greater intent to seek psychological help on the BAPS compared to the IAT. BAPS scores reflected higher stigma towards psychological services compared to the IAT. Correlations between the implicit and explicit measure were moderate for stigma and perceived expertness of psychology professionals but low for intent to seek psychological help. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

Information technology (IT) has become pervasive in the healthcare industry. Many view the Internet as a strategic healthcare tool. The Medical Records Institute suggests that Internet-based health applications (IHA), for example, electronic health records, e-prescribing, and mobile health are the goals of most healthcare organizations (2002). The use of the Internet for electronic medical records, e-billing and patient scheduling can enable the health care industry to reduce its inefficiencies and errors in care delivery (HlMSS/IBM Leadership Survey, 2000). While the use of IT in healthcare has increased tremendously, key players, specifically physicians still have not fully embraced the valuable resource of the Internet. Despite the purported advantages of lT investments in healthcare many doctors do not widely use Internet-based health applications in their clinical practices. Physicians often misunderstand the functions and full potential of the Internet (Wang & Song, 1997). Health & Health Care 20 I0 report that less than 5% of physicians use computers to record all clinical information for an average patient. The present study examined physicians' intentions to adopt Internet-based health applications for use in their clinical practices. This research reports on the test-retest reliability of the extended Technology Acceptance Model-TAM2 (Venkatesh & Davis, 2000). Data were collected from a survey of pediatricians to evaluate the effectiveness and appropriateness of the model in the medical environment. Results from the study indicate that TAM2 is appropriate but not completely applicable to the unique characteristic of physicians. The test-retest indicated reliable results with the exception of the result demonstrability construct. The results of multiple regression analyses indicated that perceived ease of use was not significant in predicting physicians' behavioral intentions in this study. As theorized the primary predictor variable perceived usefulness was a strong determinant of intention to use. Results indicate that physicians tend to be pragmatic in their IT acceptance decisions. Physicians focus more on the technology's usefulness rather than its ease of use. This dissertation discusses the implications, limitations and presents possible explanations for the inconsistencies within the extended technology acceptance model when it is applied to a professional group not commonly examined in IS research. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 168-180). / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Also available by subscription via World Wide Web / xv, 180 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm

No description available.

This study attempted to obtain evidence on the construct validity of the Women Workers Scale (WWS), an attitude scale developed to measure male supervisors' attitudes toward women workers. As women enter the work world in increasing numbers, they are usually supervised by men. However, few studies have examined the attitudes of male supervisors toward women workers. At least one author (Bass, 1972) reported that there were significant differences among male managers in their attitudes toward women. Specifically, those male managers who had not worked with women held more favorable attitudes than male managers who had worked with women.

The Virginia Division of Litter Control's education package entitled Operation Waste Watch (OWW) was evaluated at the first, fourth, and sixth grade level in 19 elementary schools in two southwestern counties in Virginia. Evaluation was provided for the standard curriculum program and for a specially modified behavioral version of the original material. Program evaluation for both curriculum packages was provided immediately before, after, and three months after the implementation of the program and consisted of student achievement testing in terms of knowledge about solid waste management and the assessment of actual student behavior. Specifically, the data was analyzed according to the factorial design: 3 Grade (First, Fourth, Sixth) x 3 Curriculum Condition (Standard, Modified, Control) x 3 Phase (Pre, Post, Follow-up). Significant improvements following the implementation of the educational curriculum occurred only for the student achievement tests. Both programs were found to significantly raise student test performance immediately following presentation of the curriculum materials. The level of student knowledge three months later was also found to statistically surpass baseline performance. However, there was little or no evidence, during Posttesting or Followup, of superior performance by students receiving the modified curriculum program. Supplemental information from the teachers concerning the overall effectiveness of the different curriculum components indicated that while the materials of OWW were needed and generally well constructed, there were severe problems concerning the amount of time needed to adequately teach the different student activities. / Ph. D.

Abstract not available. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1962.

The purpose of this study was to: (a) develop a comprehensive plan consisting of a series of logical steps based upon recommendations derived from psychometric, measurement, and research literature and utilize the plan to develop a Likert-type scale to provide valid and reliable measures of the attitude of preservice and inservice elementary school teachers toward computers; (b) administer the developed scale to selected preservice elementary school teachers; and (c) investigate relationships between attitude toward computers and selected teacher variables. The comprehensive plan consisted of the following steps: (a) develop theory of construction, (b) establish conceptual framework, (c) create item pool, (d) develop trial scale, (e) administer trial scale, (1) conduct item analysis, (g) select items, (h) construct final scale, (i) test for homogeneity, (j) determine reliability, (k) test for unidimensionality, (l) administer final scale, and (m) infer validity. The plan was utilized to develop the Evans Scale for Computer Attitude (ESCA). Validity was inferred utilizing construct-related evidence, which included the manner in which the scale was developed, studies of scale internal structure, prediction and conformation of a general factor, replication of factor structure, relationship of scale scores to nontest variables, relationship of scale scores to similar and dissimilar constructs, comparison of scores with experimental intervention, comparison of known-group responses. An alpha reliability coefficient was found to be 0.96 on two occasions. It was concluded that: (a) the ESCA provided valid and reliable measures of the computer attitude of preservice and inservice teachers at the elementary school level, (b) the comprehensive plan was effective for the development of a Likert-type scale for measuring the attitude toward computers of preservice and inservice teachers at the elementary school level, (c) preservice teachers in the Masters of Arts in Teaching Program (MAT) in Elementary Education at Oregon State University as a group had positive attitude toward computers, and (c) computer attitude of elementary MAT preservice teachers was significantly related in a positive direction with computer experience and in a negative direction with age. / Graduation date: 1995

The purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable scale to measure attitudes toward teenage parents. The instrument, called the Attitude Toward Teen Parent Scale (ATTPS), was based on Robinson's (1988a) suggested myths about teenage fathers. The ATTPS consisted of 20, Likerttype items and was administered to 133 volunteer undergraduate students attending Ball State University. A series of exploratory principal component factor analyses were conducted to identify independent factors represented by the ATTPS. A four-factor solution, accounting for 54% of the variance on the ATTPS was retained . The internal consistency reliability for the ATTPS was .67. Two factors were interpreted as "psychological deviance" (alpha = .77) and "supportive involvement" (alpha = .66). The other two factors were not interpretable. These findings suggested that the ATTPS measured two independent constructs. It was suggested that future research should further test the validity and reliability of the ATTPS by focusing on the two interpretable factors identified in this study, and by increasing the items on the scale as well as the number of subjects tested. Further studies should also examine attitudes among different populations (e.g., varying by race, sex, age, profession) toward teenage parents. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services