The effectiveness of a social skills training workshop was assessed by comparing the rated competence of participants in an Interpersonal Skills Training Program (a 2-session, 12-hour workshop) to the rated competence of nonparticipants. This comparison was operationalized through a study design of the pre- and posttesting of 12 experimental and 22 control subjects. The assessment instruments used were Spitzberg's Conversational Skills Rating Scale (CSRS) and Curran's Simulated Social Interaction Test (SSIT). Two rating judges were utilized. Results, although modest, are in the expected direction. Measured competence on the CSRS failed to show significant improvement in the rated competence of the experimental group as compared to the rated competence of the control group. However, the SSIT did reveal significant improvement of the rated skill and anxiety of experimental subjects while the control group showed no significant improvement. In addition to assessing the effectiveness of the workshop, this study sought to find a positive correlation of the CSRS instrument to the SSIT instrument. As expected, the CSRS showed a positive correlation to the SSIT.

This study examined to what extent the biological sex of the nurse-physician interactants affects the interpersonal communication satisfaction experienced by the nurse. Hypotheses One and Two predicted that communication satisfaction would differ significantly across various combinations of sex of nurse and sex of physician dyads. Hypothesis Three predicted that male nurses would experience higher levels of communication satisfaction than would female nurses. Interpersonal communication satisfaction was operationalized by two self-report instruments. The sample included 153 male and female nurses. Results indicated that same-sex interactions were more satisfying for female nurses, while mixed-sex interactions were more satisfying for male nurses. Nurses reported greater communication satisfaction when interacting with female physicians. Hypothesis three was not supported.

by Victoria Po-tong Cheung. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1982 / Bibliography : leaves 158-162

Thesis (doctoral)--Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 271-302) and index.

Thesis (doctoral)--Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 271-302) and index.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 140-147).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 140-147). Also available in print.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of basic communication fidelity (BCF) upon the perceptions of national observers toward national and international communicators across a variety of group interaction variables. Research is presented which indicates that (1) international students are typically perceived less favorably than national students across a variety of interpersonal variables; (2) as BCF increases, more favorable ratings are attributed to communicators across interpersonal variables; and (3) increased BCF may be able to mitigate the less favorable impressions national observers attribute to international communicators.

The present study used a variety of procedures to investigate which selected communication factors interfered in the interpersonal communication process between hearing-impaired and hearing persons. Three hypotheses were tested and all of them were confirmed. The results of the analyses of responses to the variables revealed that hearing-impaired subjects had greater communication problems when interpersonally interacting with hearing targets than with deaf targets. The hearing subjects reported a higher level of state communication anxiety and an overall lower level of self-disclosure when interacting with deaf targets than with hearing targets.

This dissertation explores one family's experience of a son's disclosure of homosexuality, through the use of a second-order cybernetic epistemology, and social constructionist theory. Second-order cybernetics enables a description of patterns and themes that recursively connect the family's ideas and behaviour. Social constructionism enables the family's reaction to disclosure to be recursively linked to their fit with wider society. By using semantic and political frames of reference to describe the family's narratives around disclosure, this study indicates that disclosure is a relational metaphor, dependent on the family's locally co-constructed and transgenerational meanings. It also shows that although the family change with disclosure, stability is regained in a way consistent with the family's rules and norms. This study therefore demystifies viewing disclosure in one way only and creates alternative ways of conceptualising it. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)