Objective: To identify the significant predictors associated with Army Dental Corps Junior Officers' intent to leave the military. Methods: A secondary data analysis was conducted utilizing the responses from the 2009 Army Dental Officer Retention Survey. The 92 item questionnaire consisted of questions addressing retention issues. Although the survey was distributed to all Army dental officers, only results from junior officers were considered for this study. Results: Forty-six percent of junior officers completed the survey (N=577; n=267).Fifty-eight percent of respondents reported an intent to leave the military prior to retirement. In the final regression model, six variables were significantly (p < .05) associated with an officer's intent to leave: unit of assignment (p<.009, Beta=.144); specialty training status or area of concentration (AOC) (p< .047, Beta=.098) ; age (p<.002, Beta= -.133); military lifestyle (p<.001, Beta=.236); benefits (p<.000, Beta= -.408) and professional development (p<.023, Beta=.194). The model accounted for 45.7% of the total variance. Conclusion: Variables other than pay, bonuses, deployments, frequent moves and student debt were significantly associated with intent to leave. Future studies should be conducted to more fully understand how the identified significant predictor variables impact intent to leave so that policies can be developed to help reduce turn-over among junior dental officers.

The rate of participants leaving organized sport has increased. Does sport participation provide youth with positive experiences or negative ones? Burnout in sport occurs frequently and most coaches and players experience difficulty in diagnosing, preventing, and treating this problem. / Once the causes of burnout are found, interventions to decrease its effects should be more successful. Additional research should determine how and when to intervene. Sport offers a unique context for the study of social processes and relationships. I used a case study approach and incorporated focused interviews. / The subjects for this study were ten gymnasts ranging in age from 10 to 16. Subjects were initially and informally interviewed by a panel of experts who used their own line of questioning. In addition, the investigator conducted an extensive interview with all subjects. / Also included as subjects were the mothers and coaches (or ex-coaches) of the gymnasts. Subjects were observed for eight weeks, 1 to 2 hours per week. / The data was analyzed from a multi-disciplinary perspective. Triangulation prevented the investigator from accepting too readily the validity of initial impressions and provided a means of more directly assessing the reliability and validity of the data collection. The goal of this type of analysis was to arrive at an integrated understanding of the processes being studied. / Socially learned blocks can cause early termination, therefore a positive experience can make that difference in the quality of the aport experience. Broader perspectives in psychology and sociology will increase the understanding as to why some children experience sport burnout and others incorporate it into their lifestyle. / Burnout was determined to be a multidimensional response requiring consideration from both psychological and sociological perspectives. In the case of the subjects used in this study regular participation in sport comprises a process replete with varied social interactions, acquired deterrents as well as enhancers of personal development. These were revealed during the indepth interviews with subjects. The ways in which the gymnasts integrated environmental stimuli, and dealt with differential social experiences interacted with their personal past experiences, needs and interests, and determined the meaningfulness of gymnastic participation. Certain of these dynamics and mechanics appeared to have generated stress responses which eventually led to burnout. / Future research into causes and treatment can resolve the incidence of attrition. Preventive measures should be addressed rather than attending to the aftermath of burnout with various treatment modalities. Many areas need to be examined, enhanced, and restructured to decrease burnout and to increase the athlete and the environment. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-10, Section: B, page: 5568. / Major Professor: David Pargman. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate an evaluation instrument that would provide information to sites and schools about the costs and consequences of participating in a pharmacy clerkship program. The evaluation instrument for estimating the learning opportunities at the sites was based on Kolb's theory of experience as a source for learning and development and Bandura's social cognitive theory of thought and action. The evaluation instrument for estimating impact of student training on practice sites was based on the Nonemployee and Employee Models of the student-preceptor relationship and was adapted from an earlier study. Instrument development was an iterative process involving theoretical and empirical components resulting in algorithms, guidelines, and worksheets. Student activities were the unit of analysis for all instruments. Learning opportunity was characterized by level of learning cycle completeness, ranging from no opportunity to completion of all four steps. Student activities were defined by characteristics that were under the control of the site or school and independent of the individual student, thereby removing confounding factors in the estimation process. The impact sustained by a practice site and the student learning opportunities present at the site could be estimated and compared to negotiate a placement that would minimize potential negative impact and maximize the learning opportunities for the clerkship student.

The use of an Interactive Computer Classroom (ICC) as compared to a traditional lecture format (LEC) for a nursing management course taught during the fall semester 1996 was examined in this study. The ICC was structured around Group Systems Support software, a tool previously used in business settings for group decision-making activities. The outcomes included critical thinking, measured by written responses completed at the end of each class and by scores from the California Critical Thinking Skills Test; academic performance, measured by the management course's midterm grades; and student satisfaction, measured by attendance and course evaluations. To consider generalizability of performance, the midterm examination scores of a concurrent nursing course were also measured. The management course midterm scores of the ICC group were significantly higher than those of the LEC group. The response to the open-ended-questions of the student evaluations indicated strong support of the participation made available by the computer activities but frustration with the computer hardware and software. Further evidence supporting student satisfaction was that six students requested to be transferred to the ICC group when the study was completed at mid-semester, while no students chose to move to the LEC group. There were no significant differences in scores for the California Critical Thinking Skills Test, the midterms grades for a concurrent nursing course, and class attendance.

Traditional information-processing accounts of the reasoning process in radiology assume that humans process the details of the input image in order to compute judgments. In these accounts, the development of expertise involves the acquisition of increasingly precise and complex internal problem representations that are based on a normal anatomy prototype. Fuzzy-trace theory predicts that accurate judgments rely on the reasoners ability to ignore irrelevant detail, to retrieve relevant gist memories and to accurately instantiate the image information with respect to the internal representation. Fuzzy-trace theory predicts that the development of expertise involves the ability to access and process less precise and complex internal representations (i.e., gist). The purpose of this study was to examine the internal representations used to make judgments in radiology and to quantify the changes in complexity of the internal representations, as well as the differences in time, accuracy and confidence that might be associated with experience. Thirty-five subjects from general and specialized expertise samples participated. Each subject was presented with 32 chest films including normal films, films with precise disease patterns (mass category) and diffuse disease patterns (interstitial and airspace category). For each film, the participant made a series of judgments (normal/abnormal; category; specific diagnosis) and then sketched the features that were essential to the judgments. The information content and complexity of the representations were calculated using an approach that considered the underlying meaning of the sketches rather than the surface form. The sketches were converted to propositions and the information in the propositions was evaluated in terms of possible world semantics. Time, accuracy, confidence and content measures supported the prediction of fuzzy-trace theory that the internal representations are abnormality-based. Consistent with predictions regarding the acquisition and use of gist representations expertise was associated with greater improvements in accuracy for interstitial (as opposed to mass) films; accuracy was higher with interstitial films when judgments were less reliant on surface detail (normal/abnormal); and accuracy was higher for mass films when judgments were more reliant on surface detail (specific diagnosis). Complexity measures showed that the overall representations did not get more complex with the development of expertise.

This paper investigates the multiskilled health practitioner (i.e., imaging specialist) how they are trained for what they do and the way their traditional role as a generalist in radiologic technology has been impacted by advancing technologies. This dissertation consists of multiple case studies, which is primarily qualitative and exploratory in nature. It does not test a hypothesis in a strict sense and is grounded in analytical categories and theories derived from the literature on technology, work, occupations, and organizations. The data analysis section consists of four sections: perceptions of the MSHPs' work, the impact of technology (i.e., incentive structures, wages, issues of autonomy/authority, task difficulty/responsibility and patterns of interaction), the enskilling/deskilling findings for all MSHPs in general and each hospital subgroup, and the MSHPs perceptions about the effectiveness of their formal education programs. With regards to a cultural examination of the workplace, the most significant sociological perspective identified were in the patterns of interaction. Specifically, three primary stylistic differences are noted. In relation to the effects of technology, an institutionalized practice of the incentive structure and the homogeneity of three broad skills were noted among our cohort. Additionally, three contextual factors that condition social action and thereby affect a technology's tendency to enskill or deskill are revealed. In light of the attributes and deficiencies noted by the interviewees regarding their formal educational programs and skills required for their new roles, the researcher provides five recommendations for strengthening technology transfer programs in which to better prepare the MSHP.

The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship exists between the knowledge and application of a writing scoring rubric to writing performance. Participants in a Minority Medical Education Program were given intense instruction in the use of the Medical Colleges Admissions Test Writing Sample scoring rubric. Scores from the participants' pretest and posttest were compared.

Despite a 70-year long call for reform of the structure of medical education, the process by which one becomes a physician has remained remarkedly unchanged since the early 1900s. This case study was undertaken to identify the factors the facilitated and inhibited attempts at curricular reform in a state College of Medicine at a Research I institution in the southwest. The theoretical lenses of resource dependency, academic capitalism, professionalism/jurisdiction, power, and leadership were used to identify and understand the interrelatedness of the internal and external factors influencing change in medical education. Based on the theoretical constructs underlying the study, several propositions were outlined a priori. The findings indicated support for the propositions: the dean's support of reform initiatives was a key factor in the success of the initiatives; and conversely, those initiatives that were not actively and verbally supported by the dean did not tend to be approved; the dean influenced the agenda by taking key proposals for reform off the agenda; faculty were most resistant to those proposals that would have required them to relinquish their curricular jurisdiction to a central curriculum authority; faculty further maintained jurisdiction over their courses by simply choosing not to use materials made available to them through educational grants; the tenuous financial situation of the institution at the time affected the dean's and the faculty members' willingness to be involved in and support curricular reform efforts as they were under increasing pressure to increase their income-generating activities; and furthermore, the resource allocation patterns of the institution did not support reform initiatives. The findings highlighted two themes that were not accounted for in the propositions. The first indicated that the quality of the working relationship transcended jurisdictional boundaries that would have been expected from the professionalism/jurisdiction framework underlying the study. The second indicated that the efforts of a single individual could transcend all of the theoretical constructs underlying the study. Lastly, based on the findings of the study, several strategies were developed that may be useful to consider when attempting curricular reform.

The main objective of this dissertation was to analyze the role of psychosocial variables, especially positive affect, on health outcomes and health care services utilization (HCSU) in arthritis. The identification of additional psychological variables as predictive or mediating factors is critical for gaining a better understanding of the dynamics of treatment response, especially in the setting of interventions that focus on behavioral changes, and health care seeking behavior. The analyses performed were based on a theoretical model that assumed affective status as a direct effector on the use of specific coping strategies and patients' perception of control over their health, which would, in turn, influence health outcomes and health resources utilization. Using random effects modeling, we found positive affect (PA) to have a negative (β = -4.27; p < 0.001) and negative affect (NA) a positive (β = 5.33; p < 0.001) longitudinal association with levels of perceived pain, adjusted for other covariates. The final, most parsimonious, model explained 22% of the overall variance and 28% of the between-subjects variance of the level of pain perceived by subjects with osteoarthritis. Subjects with high PA levels were more likely to achieve minimal clinically important differences in pain (OR = 7.1; 95% CI, 1.4 to 36.2), global assessment of disease activity (OR = 6.1; 95% CI, 1.7 to 21.8), and physical function (OR = 13.27; 95% CI, 1.7 to 102.1) than subjects with low PA. Finally, in a multivariate stepwise linear regression model, higher levels of positive affect significantly predicted less HCSU (B = -0.29; p = 0.04). The final model also included social support and anxiety and explained slightly over 17% of the variance of long term HCSU (R = 0.51; Adjusted R-square = 0.217).

A sensitive method measuring indium levels >1 ppb (ng/ml) in biological tissues was developed using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Single oral and pulmonary exposure of uniformly sized indium phosphide particles (mean count diameter = 1.73 ± 0.85 μm) to rats at three dose levels. Indium was deposited throughout tissues after 4 days. Bone, hair, skin, liver and kidney contained the largest indium concentrations (ng Indium/gram tissue) in both studies. Total percent dose found in tissues by either route resulted in an estimated absorption of <0.5% (not including lung for pulmonary study) except in the oral low dose group. Here the percent dose found in tissues was about 5.0% of the administered dose. The lung retained >50% of the administered dose four days following intratracheal instillation. The major route of indium elimination for both oral and pulmonary studies was in the feces; >78% of the administered dose by two days following oral gavage and >26% of the administered dose following intratracheal instillation.