This thesis seeks to define liberation theology, its evolution and its relevance in economically advanced and poor or emerging societies The focus is on Paulo Freire, the lay theologian, whose Pedagogy of the Oppressed, outlines the quest for conscienticao or critical consciousness through transformational education Freire, once considered a radical, developed a rapid method of teaching both literary and critical thinking skills to the poor and oppressed people of his native Brazil. His dialogical method, called co-intentional education, provides the skills needed for participation in destiny and in the democratic process unlike banking education that indoctrinates to continue the 'culture of silence' thus avoiding change, power sharing or threats to the prevailing cultural elite Also discussed are the anti-dialogic actions Freire warns about that prevent conscientization or transformation and are prevalent in developed and modern societies as well as poor and emerging ones / acase@tulane.edu

A critical issue associated with assessing training needs concerns who within an organization is in a position to assess those needs most objectively. Of particular concern is the relative utility of assessments by job incumbents and their supervisors (McEnery & McEnery, 1987). A possible alternative to self- or supervisory assessment of training needs is an 'Us' assessment, an assessment by job incumbents of the training needs of their entire work group. A second primary purpose of this study was to test a proposed model of training needs assessment Subjects were 121 entry level police patrol officers and their supervising sergeants. Patrol officers completed self and Us assessment questionnaires designed to measure attitudes concerning job area difficulty, performance, cause of performance, effectiveness of training, supervisor/subordinate communication, and training needs for eight job areas. Sergeants completed a similar supervisory assessment questionnaire, and a second normative questionnaire rating difficulty, performance necessary at entry, importance, time spent, opportunity to observe, and degree to which job area performance distinguishes overall levels of job performance. Data relating to demographic variables, such as sex, race, and age of respondents was also collected Results indicated moderate agreement between self and 'Us' ratings, but very little agreement between supervisory ratings and the two other types. Self-ratings tended to be the most lenient, followed by Us ratings. Neither supervisor/subordinate communication, nor degree of supervisor opportunity to observe appeared to moderate interrater agreement to any significant degree. Less halo was found for Us ratings than for either supervisory or self-ratings. Although all three rater groups tended to attribute performance level to causes internal to job incumbents, Us ratings tended to be more external than either supervisory or self-ratings. Performance and difficulty to learn ratings were most predictive of need for training, but each of the five hypothesized predictors explained a significant portion of need for training variance in at least two of the eight job areas. Partial support was found for hypothesized moderating effects of perceptions of training efficacy and level of job performance necessary at job entry / acase@tulane.edu

The study conducted by a mailed questionnaire assessed the training needs and surveyed the problems faced by 50 volunteer administrators in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas. The section on training needs was a replication of the 1987 Appel study and data on both studies were compared The study developed two scales. The Competency scale had twelve subscales: Advertising and promotion, Program planning, Volunteer training, Rewarding and recognizing, Group or process, Site planning and maintenance, Motivation, Recruiting and screening, Supervision, Money management, Interpersonal skill and Legal issues. The Problem scale had six subscales: Colleague, Job, Staff, Funding and resources, Training for volunteer administrators and Profession. Both scales reported a alpha reliability of.08 or larger The data revealed substantial differences in training needs of volunteer administrators based on age (p $<$.00) and tenure (p $<$.03). These findings differ from the Appel study. Entire sample reported a training need in the area of legal issues. The perceived lack of professionalism for the field of volunteer administration was most frequently experienced problem. Volunteer administrators who supervised less than 450 volunteers perceived problems to a greater degree than those who supervised more than 450 volunteers. Volunteer administrators who had less than 20% volunteer turnover perceived the need for training more than those who had greater than 20% of volunteer turnover / acase@tulane.edu

The study examined and described Gardner's theory of training and development and its application. The theory brings to the public sector new ideas which challenge the traditional training and development approaches. Gardner believed in the use of training and development as an important public management resource and strategy for improving and upgrading managerial capabilities and workers' productivity. / Gardner theorized that it was possible to create an organizational setting which produced continuous training and learning. The establishment of this setting required three ingredients: a climate allowing what was learned to be utilized; a small, effective and professional training staff to establish and maintain the appropriate training system; and a managerial philosophy accepting training as part of the management process. / The process of creating these ingredients required the acceptance within an organization of the notion that everyone in the organization is a trainer and that every transaction is a training event, the acceptance of the action training and research methodology for solving organizational problems, and the recognition that the real trainers in an organization are its managers. For integrating and teaching managers and training professionals in the application of these concepts, Gardner adopted the "Training of Trainers" strategy. This strategy involved first training key organizational personnel who then would impart their learned skills to the remainder of the organization. / There is evidence that Gardner's theory offers a successful strategy for organizational change. His theory provides an alternative to the traditional management approach which seems to be ineffective in the contemporary environment. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-03, Section: A, page: 0946. / Major Professor: Frank P. Sherwood. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

A growing number of police and correctional agencies are utilizing psychologists and objective personality assessment in the evaluation of officer candidates (Behrens, 1985). Although most professionals in the field regard the addition of psychological assessment favorably, validation efforts have yielded mixed results. Excellent reviews may be found in other sources (Spielberger, 1979; Burbeck & Furnham, 1985); these reviews generally conclude that most inventories (i.e., MMPI, CPI, 16PF, and others) fail to indicate a significant relationship between objective personality assessment and job performance. / The Inwald Personality Inventory (IPI, 1980) is a relatively new instrument, designed specifically to aid in the selection of police and correctional officers, and has shown promise in early validation efforts (e.g., Inwald & Shusman, 1984a, 1984b). However, little independent validation research has focused on long-term comparisons of the MMPI (the most widely used instrument) and IFS using objective job performance measures. / In the current study, 590 road patrol and correctional candidates completed both the MMPI and IPI prior to their beginning employment. Subsequent performance measures of employment status and disciplinary infractions were gathered from official end-of-the-year evaluations. The length of employment varied for each officer; ranging from one (1) to 52 months. Based on the performance evaluations, each officer was assigned to one of four performance groups for analyses. / Results of the analyses indicated that the MMPI was not significantly related to subsequent job performance of either the road patrol or the correctional officer samples. The IPI was not found to be significantly related to performance for the road patrol sample, although it was found to be significant in predicting performance for the correctional officers. / Ten IPI scales were significantly different between the correctional officer groups. Stepwise Discriminant Analysis revealed that seven of the IPI scales were able to correctly classify 53 percent of the correctional officers. Implications for further research are discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-05, Section: A, page: 1690. / Major Professor: Harman Burck. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: . Adviser: Donald G. Hackmann. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 159-164) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

In recent years, much has been learned about the beneficial role of psychological skills (e.g., goal setting, stress management) in rehabilitation from injury. Several authors (e.g., Cramer Roh & Perna, 2000; Misasi, Richmond, & Kemler, 1998) suggest that athletic trainers are ideal to teach athletes psychological skills. The most effective way to integrate psychological skills in rehabilitation may be to have athletic trainers work with athletes on both the physical and psychological recovery from injury. Previous research by Roepke (1993) suggested that when athletic trainers are educated about sport psychology rehabilitation interventions, they tend to become proficient in the use of such interventions, and they consider the interventions effective. The primary goal of this study was to determine whether athletic trainers incorporate psychological skills in their work with injured athletes after receiving training in using such skills. Another goal was to assess changes in athletic trainers' attitudes (e.g., importance) with regard to incorporating psychological skills in rehabilitation. A third goal was to determine whether a brief intervention program training athletic trainers in the delivery of sport psychology rehabilitation interventions increases trainers' confidence in using such skills. Other goals related to athletes' perceptions were unable to be tested due to insufficient data. Due to low enrollment and completion rates for the study (N = 8), an additional purpose became soliciting athletic trainers to find out why they did not participate. Responses to this survey by athletic trainers and athletic training students ( N = 25) indicated that time constraints were a primary reason for non-participation. Those who did complete the study reported an increase in perceived skill level relative to using psychological techniques with injured athletes, and also reported that they thought, overall, that they used the techniques more. This latter statement was not corroborated with the data from daily reports, but does demonstrate a perceived shift in behavior. There was no change in athletic trainers' perception of the importance of psychological skills following the educational program. Low enrollment and limited compliance with the research protocol weakened the findings of this study. Implications for further work, including several alternate designs, are discussed.

This research describes the development and the content validation of the Counselor's Theoretical Orientation Inventory (CTOI). The purpose for developing the CTOI is to: (1) stimulate the critical thinking skills that drive academia and counseling therapy, (2) help rehabilitation counseling students to assess their theoretical orientation, (3) use as an educational instrument for teaching counseling theories, (4) use as an appropriate instrument for practica and internship placement, and (5) use as an ongoing self-evaluation to enhance continuing education. Ten hypothetical case scenarios about individuals with differing disabilities were written by the researcher. Seven expert professional counselors, each representing seven different counseling theoretical orientations, provided rejoinders for each case scenario. The counseling theories represented in the CTOI are: Adlerian, behavioral, cognitive-behavioral, existential, gestalt, person-centered, and reality. Seven rehabilitation counselor educators assessed the CTOI for content validity. Of the theories, the rehabilitation counselor educators identified the person-centered rejoinders at the rate of 97%. The rehabilitation counselor educators identified the remaining theories above the acceptable 70% criterion except for existential theory which received only 69% correct identification. The CTOI was found to have content validity as the overall theory recognition score was 79%. Recognition of counseling theoretical orientations can help rehabilitation counselors to recognize incongruencies between personal and theory-driven beliefs and values and enable them to articulate a personal theoretical approach.

<p>The purpose of this descriptive study was to investigate the adjunct faculty's perception of professional development and support services offered and needed at Tidewater Community College, a multicampus community college. This study involved adjunct faculty only. A survey was created and contained 58 survey questions. The majority of these were Likert-like items based on a scale from <i>Strongly Agree</i>, indicating a very important need or value for the adjunct, to <i>Strongly Disagree</i>, indicating a not important at all level of perceived value. In order to determine if other factors influenced the perception of professional development or support services, other questions asked for demographic information, such as education level, age, number of years in the professional field, and discipline/department. Except for education level, each of the independent variables accepted the null hypothesis that there is no statistically significant difference between adjunct faculty perception of institutional supports and the professional development and support services offered in terms of the independent variables. Findings from this study indicated that adjunct faculty perceived that professional development and support services are significant in improving their teaching and important to their role and success. Adjuncts want to better serve students and connect with the institution. Orientation and mentoring are highly regarded and requested to help integrate adjunct faculty into the college. The data indicated that adjunct faculty members want professional development that meets their specific instructional and student-centered needs that is offered during more accommodating times. The current professional development offerings are not well-attended and do not seem to meet the specific needs of this adjunct population. It behooves the administration to further investigate what is currently being done to support adjuncts and to address a means to improve the delivery and execution of all institutional supports. While this study provides useful information related to one community college, it is important that each community college examine closely its personal investment relative to the institutional support it provides to adjunct faculty members. </p>

<p> Disparities exist in healthcare related to language barriers and lack of cultural understanding between caregivers and recipients. Increasing the linguistic and cultural diversity of caregivers may decrease the healthcare disparities observed. The research study described in this manuscript was conducted to explore the undergraduate student experiences of nurses representing multiple cultural groups, speaking multiple languages, and representing a cross section of the population of interest. The challenge of speaking English as an additional language (EAL) and belonging to differing cultural groups presents difficulties while successfully completing a baccalaureate nursing program of study. The Theory of Margin was the theoretical framework utilized for the study conducted to achieve an understanding of the educational experience from the student perspective. A qualitative methodology of conversational interviews was utilized to explore the experiences of successful senior nursing students and recent graduates with EAL. Six different languages were spoken by study participants with EAL. Findings of the study revealed participants did not perceive having EAL to be an obstacle to learning. Language challenges resulted from the use of colloquialisms in presentations, handouts, and test materials. Study participants expressed a preference for solitary study practices and a dislike for random assignment to group projects. Support from others was reported to enhance the participants' ability to succeed. Participants expressed feelings of empathy for the patients who were also from diverse backgrounds. Implications of the findings would suggest the need for careful review of course materials to remove colloquialisms and identification of improved and supportive teaching strategies such as purposeful group assignments for nursing education faculty with similar student populations. Future research investigation may explore the perceptions of nurses with EAL who have completed their baccalaureate with more diverse patient populations and examination of the effect of simulation scenarios to improving communication skills of students with EAL.</p>