The present study was designed to compare the relative effectiveness of two methods of presenting suicide intervention training to college students. Three experimental conditions were: (1) Modeling and Role Play, (2) Lecture and Handouts, (3) Control. The primary dependent measure was a Simulated Suicidal Interaction in which students interacted for 15 minutes with a confederate who was acting suicidal. Dependent measures also included two paper and pencil tests: (1) the Knowledge of Suicide Test (KOST)--a 30 item, multiple choice test and (2) Suicide-Related Vignettes--five essay questions. It was predicted that those in the Role Play group would score significantly higher on the Simulated Suicidal Interactions--a prediction which was supported. It was also expected the Lecture group would score significantly higher on the paper and pencil measures. This was partially supported. On the KOST, the Lecture group scored significantly higher than the Role Play group, but on the Vignettes, the two experimental groups were not significantly different. The experimental groups scored significantly higher than the Control group on all dependent measures. Results suggest that the Role Play method of training may be superior to the Lecture method in teaching students to (1) recognize potentially-suicidal individuals, (2) ask that individual if they are feeling suicidal, and (3) act appropriately by referring the individual to a professional. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-02, Section: B, page: 0974. / Major Professor: Charles H. Madsen, Jr. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.

This study sought to determine the effects of a systematic application of motivational principles to the design of printed instruction on the motivation and achievement of rural high school students. Procedures were developed to operationalize a systematic approach to motivational design. / This study took place in three phases: analysis, development of materials, and implementation. During the analysis phase (1) a lesson was selected and analyzed; (2) nine teachers were interviewed concerning motivation strategies that would be effective with those students; and (3) a student motivational profile was derived. During the development phase, a criterion-referenced test and a redesigned lesson were developed. / During the implementation phase, the students were randomly assigned to experimental or control groups. All students read the assigned lesson, completed a motivation survey, and took the criterion-referenced achievement test. / The data were analyzed using analysis of covariance. The students who received the redesigned, motivationally enhanced version of the lesson achieved more and were more motivated than students who received the original lesson. / The results obtained were not conclusive, but they suggest that the systematic application of motivational principles to the design of printed instruction can improve student achievement and motivation. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-08, Section: A, page: 2366. / Major Professor: John Keller. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.

This study was designed to examine the impact of the Raise Achievement in Secondary Education (RAISE) Bill of 1983 on the role of secondary school guidance counselors as perceived by secondary school (grades 9-12 or 10-12) counselors who began counseling in the State of Florida prior to 1983 and who are currently working in public schools in selected counties of Florida. / The target population for this study was all secondary counselors who are currently working in public schools in Hillsborough, Manatee, Pinellas, and Polk Counties and who began counseling in the State of Florida prior to 1983. / Two methods were used to collect data for this study: (a) a survey questionnaire, developed by the researcher, and (b) a structured interview. / The findings in this study revealed that: (1) The RAISE Bill did not increase secondary school guidance counselor perceptions of their effectiveness. (2) The secondary school counselors perceived changes in their actual role. Moreover, the roles are the same as before but the methodologies and the techniques were altered in some respects. (3) The RAISE Bill changed the way the secondary school guidance counselors perceive their role but the degree of receptivity was not positive. (4) Overwhelmingly, the secondary school guidance counselor's perception of the negative effects of the RAISE Bill was confined to three elements. The effects perceived and expressed were: increased numbers of drop-outs, longer school days, and increases in the credit requirements for graduation. / These findings led to several recommendations, which included: (1) Additional studies of the post-RAISE Bill graduates comparing their achievement with pre-RAISE Bill graduates be commissioned; (2) An investigation into the feasibility of a dual diploma program and its possible effect on the educational career opportunities of the students who are nonacademically oriented as well as those who are to be addressed; (3) Policymakers should draft legislation and appropriate funds to support the implementation of counselor-to-student ratios at the local district level. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-09, Section: A, page: 2946. / Major Professor: Willie H. Hinely. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

This was a study of the effect of contact with persons with disabilities on attitudes toward persons with disabilities by persons without disabilities. The study was based on Allport's (1954) contact theory for reducing tensions between races. The investigator examined equal-status contact between an individual with a disability and subjects without disabilities over a two-hour time period. / Subjects for the study were 102 students enrolled in the F.S.U. College of Education's undergraduate Communication and Human Relations classes. Subjects were assigned to one of four treatment groups or a comparison group. In two of the treatment groups, subjects and the confederate with a disability were given a task to perform; in two of the treatment groups the confederate with a disability volunteered information about her disability and invited disability-related questions. The comparison group had neither a confederate with a disability nor a task to perform. / All subjects completed the Issues in Disability attitudinal assessment (Makas, Finnerty-Fried, Sigafoos and Reiss, 1986) and a demographic questionnaire which included information about their age, gender, academic major and previous contact with individuals with disabilities. / No significant difference was found in attitude scale scores either between subjects in treatment groups and the comparison group or between task and information groups. Overall scores on the attitudinal instrument were higher than expected, and there was a wide range of scores by academic majors. Also, only 11 of the 102 subjects reported no previous contact with persons with disabilities. Most of the subjects (64) had had previous contact on a medium or high level, possibly explaining the lack of effect of the experimental procedure on the attitudinal measure. Scores by subjects who reported high previous contact level were higher than those of subjects who reported no previous contact. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-01, Section: A, page: 0081. / Major Professor: E. Jane Burkhead. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

This was a correlational study which examined the interrelationships between self-handicapping, gender, adult child of alcoholic (ACOA) status, and self-esteem. Self-handicapping was the criterion variable, operationalized by the Self-Handicapping Scale (Strube, 1986). Gender, ACOA status (ACOA or non-ACOA) and self-esteem were the predictor variables. ACOA status was determined by self-report on a demographic survey constructed by the researcher. Self-esteem was operationalized by the revised Janis-Field Feelings of Inadequacy Scale (Eagly, 1967). / Subjects were 81 clients at a university student counseling center. The total sample included 24 males and 57 females; 43 ACOAs (53%) and 38 non-ACOAs (47%). / Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test statistical significance of the main effects and interaction of ACOA status and gender with respect to self-handicapping, not adjusting and adjusting for self-esteem (ANCOVA). Findings included the following: (1) the main effects and interaction between ACOA status groups and gender groups on the self-handicapping variable were not significant. (2) The ANCOVA adjusting for self-esteem failed to confirm a significant difference between ACOA status groups, or between gender groups, but some effect of ACOA status on self-handicapping was noted. (3) Self-esteem was significantly associated with self-handicapping, accounting for 29.6% of the variance. The correlation between high self-esteem and high self-handicapping was found to be $-$.54, higher than previously reported. / The findings and their implications for therapy and future research were discussed. Recommendations included a need to examine the social desirability response biases in the selected instruments, a need to refine the ACOA construct, and the need for ACOA service provision in university counseling centers. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-02, Section: B, page: 1123. / Major Professor: James P. Sampson, Jr. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

The purpose of this population study was the determination of the vocational preparation needs of the students from the three high schools of the Antilles Consolidated School System (ACSS) in Puerto Rico. An additional purpose was to determine if other related data corroborated or refuted whether a significant deficit existed in the scope of the academic program at ACSS. / Two measuring instruments, the Vocational Interest Survey (VIS), for students; and the Vocational Interest Survey - Adult Version (VIS-A), for adults, namely the parents, faculty and administrators, were developed for this needs assessment guided by the discrepancy model. / The first part of the study was aimed at analyzing the responses from the surveys. Questions were answered regarding the availability and desirability of vocational counseling, vocational training, basic skills instruction, and students' educational and employment plans for after graduation from high school. The second part of the study consisted of the analysis of pertinent documents such as master schedules, findings from the last North Central Association evaluation, minutes from curriculum committee meetings, standardized achievement tests scores, and each school's Mission Statement and Objectives, the individual transcripts of the twelfth graders, and labor market trends. / The first part of the study indicated that even though there was no vocational preparation per se at ACSS schools, neither students nor parents felt that it was necessary, but that the faculty and administrators did, by overwhelmingly supporting vocational preparation for ACSS. The second part of the study corroborated the need for vocational preparation at ACSS. Thus, the conclusion was made that vocational counseling, vocational training, basic skills instruction, and improved assistance to the students in making plans for after graduation, were indeed needed at ACSS. The lack of those services represented educational needs of the students in the school system. As such, recommendations were made for planning purposes. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-11, Section: A, page: 3563. / Major Professor: Hollie B. Thomas. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.

The problem of increasing dropout rates in the nation's public school system has attracted the attention of almost every segment of our society. Government agencies have documented the extent of the dropout problem on both national and state levels. In response, the Florida Legislature mandated a series of statutes designed to remedy the problem. Many schools and communities responded and involved vocational education programs to provide high-risk students with concrete reasons for remaining in school. / The purpose of this state-wide study was to survey selected populations to ascertain their opinions as to which of the literature-based, dropout prevention variables were considered to be most effective in retaining high-risk students in the school system. / Two juries of "experts" were invited to participate. Jury A consisted of vocational education directors while Jury B was selected from the school district's dropout prevention persons. A third population of interest was a stratified sample of high-risk students. A modified form of the Delphi technique was employed as the data collection procedure. / The principal findings included: (1) the most successful dropout prevention variables selected by the juries were almost identical to those found in the literature, (2) there was little evidence to support the existence of any positive and helpful relationships between teachers, staff, and high-risk students from participating school districts, (3) there was no evidence of any close linkages existing between academic and vocational education programs in the participating school districts and, (4) a wide range of new teaching and learning strategies are needed to increase student interest and to better reflect the relevancy of school to the workplace. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-03, Section: A, page: 0892. / Major Professor: W. Hugh Hinely. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

A review of literature on the socialization of graduate students in higher education was conducted and eleven elements of socialization were identified. Most of the research/writing on these eleven elements was found to have been evaluated and discussed with respect to how the findings could be generalized across disciplines. However, Biglan's findings suggest that differences inherent to certain disciplines will occasion differences in socialization processes and structures. Biglan identified three dimensions into which different disciplines fall. He labelled these dimensions "hard/soft," "pure/applied," and "life/non-life." / Biglan's work indicates that inherent characteristics of academic discipline affect differences in the socialization of faculty and of departmental chairpersons. No studies were found which investigated if this dynamic is also applicable to graduate students. The current study was an attempt to determine if the socialization processes and structures differ from discipline to discipline in a manner consistent with Biglan's predictions. / Socialization can be affected by pre-existing characteristics of individuals who enter a socializing environment, the processes and structures established to affect socialization, and the product resulting from the interaction effect of the first two. This study was limited to the study of the second characteristic. / The processes and structures related to four of the eleven elements of socialization were statistically compared across the disciplines. The elements utilized for study were sequestration, paradigm, apprenticeship, and sanctioning and the disciplines used were chemistry and educational administration. / The resultant profiles of student responses from each discipline were compared via t-tests. These tests indicated that significant differences in the intensity of socialization processes and structures by element do exist between the two disciplines. The survey items representing each element were also tested individually to determine which items produced statistically significant results. Statistical tests were also conducted to determine the effects of selected control variables. It was determined that the differences between the disciplines is predominantly an effect of discipline. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-03, Section: A, page: 0817. / Major Professor: David W. Leslie. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

Divorce causes personal and cultural distress and to date there have been no cultural rituals to ease this transition. This study examined the effect of a therapeutic ritual with separated or divorced persons in therapy at FSU Marital and Family Therapy Center. The subjects included on separated family in which the parents wished reconciliation (A), one divorced individual (B), one separated individual (C), and one separated individual wishing reconciliation (D). / The hypothesis stated that a therapeutic ritual with a clinical separated or divorced couple or individual would have positive impact on specified measures of personal and interpersonal functioning. The ritual was designed by therapist and client(s) based on clinical assessment, presenting problem, client's goal, and abstract symbols presented by the client. / The research utilized single system design (AB) and after a stable baseline was established using self-report measures, a ritual was prescribed and performed at an appropriate time. Weekly tests were continued at least five weeks post-ritual, with a two week follow-up testing. For each subject, some of the following measures were selected: Attachment Scale, Divorce Reaction Inventory, Index of Clinical Stress, Index of Marital Satisfaction, Index of Family Relations, Index of Self Esteem, Clinical Anxiety Scale, Generalized Contentment Scale, Index of Sexual Satisfaction, Child's Attitude Toward Father, Child's Attitude Toward Mother, Index of Parental Attitude and an idiosyncratic measurement. Analysis was by visual inspection of the graphs of weekly scores. Individuals C showed improvement in all measures, B showed improvement in most measures, and D showed improvement in half of the measurements. Family A scores did not show improvement in the self-report tests but did improve their scores on idiosyncratic measurement and reconciled after the ritual. The hypothesis supporting the effectiveness of ritual was demonstrated in three and possibly four of the cases. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-03, Section: A, page: 0630. / Major Professor: Craig A. Everett. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 26-08, page: 4440. / Thesis (Educat.D.)--The Florida State University, 1965.