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Recent advances in microcomputers allowed for the development of a Computer Assisted Assessment (CAA) device which provided a higher degree of feedback and interaction for subjects than had previously been possible. This enhanced human/machine interactive capability was found to increase the comparability between a CAA device and a traditional test instrument. A counter-balanced, pre-post test comparison between the manual and CAA Raven Standard Progressive Matrices (RSPM) indicated no difference between test mediums, with the exception of the CAA pre-test requiring significantly longer for students to complete than the manual pre-test version. A reliability study of the CAA RSPM indicated this version of the RSPM produced a test-retest r = 88 with a two-week interval (N = 21). In addition to examining the comparability between test mediums, five CAA derived measures were developed to determine their efficacy as psychometric measures. Three measures of response time and two measures of 'motoric efficiency' or purposefulness were developed. Each measure provided a means of fractionating subjects' responses and recording these responses in milliseconds and measuring motoric output with a resolution of 1/80th of an inch. Eighty-five CAA administrations of the RSPM were obtained using 4th, 5th and 6th grade public school students. Discriminate analysis revealed 3 of the CAA derived psychometric measures produced significant results at the p < .10 level. A final post hoc comparison between previously administered WISC-R scores and the CAA RSPM was made with 20 students. Multiple regression and correlation analyses indicated significant relationships with the CAA RSPM and the WISC-R verbal and full scale IQ scales. In addition several CAA derived measures demonstrated significant relationships with the WISC-R verbal, performance and full scale IQ scores.

Limited research exists on the impact of racial attitudes upon varying age groups of African American women in the workplace. The factors of conformity, dissonance, resistance, and internalization among African American women of accumulated negative experiences may affect their performance in the workplace. The purpose of this comparative descriptive quantitative study was to use the PRIAS and OCB scales to examine the impact of generational status and racial attitudes on organizational citizenship behavior in a sample of African American women. The study was guided by the theoretical framework of Ajzen's theory of planned behavior. Participants in the study consisted of individuals in Generation Y (aged 21-34), Generation X (aged 35-49), and the Baby Boomer generation (aged 50-64). Two survey instruments guided this study: the People of Color Racial Identity Attitude Scale (PRIAS) and the Organizational Citizenship Behavior Checklist (OCB-C). MANOVA and multiple regression were the statistical data analysis procedures that provided results for the 2 research questions guiding this study. The results showed statistically significant differences in racial attitudes among varying age groups of African American women in the workplace; Baby Boomers scored highest across the measures and Generation X scored lowest. Key themes related to this study were racial attitudes, self-identity, self-efficacy, racial bias, and stress-related issues. Organizations that have a limited minority workplace population will benefit from this study because workplace productivity can increase through positive interventions, awareness, and advocacy for positive change.

Due to the deinstitutionalization movement, many mentally ill individuals have left asylum treatment centers and have had no safe housing. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to explore the attitudes and opinions of homeless, mentally ill people regarding the community resources they consume and how they perceive and navigate those resources. The research questions focused on homeless, mentally ill individuals' shared experiences accessing health care, psychiatric care, and housing services as well as, barriers that impacted homeless, mentally ill individuals' use of these services, and their needs to address these barriers. Data were collected using face to face, semi structured interviews with 12 homeless individuals. The thematic analysis consisted of open and axial coding. Axial coding was used to assign and like categories and subcategories of codes according to their properties and dimensions. Emergent patterns were identified from the data to explain the lived experiences of mentally ill homeless people and their opinion and attitudes towards navigating of mentally ill homeless programs. The responses expressed the needs that were unmet: lack of mental health assistance, food needs, hygiene needs, safety concerns and survival needs. In order to make positive social change outreach predicated on increasing clear communication between outreach workers and the homeless mentally ill allows for developing a trusting relationship necessary in establishing contact and credibility in providing on going impactful treatment for the homeless mentally ill population.

Parental functioning and behaviors in the family impact the outcomes of adolescents; however, few researchers have identified how age-specific parental behaviors and parental stressors impact young children's social-emotional problems in low socioeconomic Hispanic families with children ages 6-11. Based on the family stress model, the purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationship between parental behaviors (parental support, involvement, communication, and limit setting) and parental stress on children's social-emotional problems (internalizing and externalizing behavior problems), and the mediating effect of parental behaviors in low socioeconomic Hispanic families with children ages 6-11. A sample of 63 low socioeconomic, Hispanic mothers self-reported their perceived stress, parent-child relationship, and child's behavioral and emotional problems. The data were coded and grouped into 4 path analysis models based on the Pearson r correlation analysis, which indicated a significant relationship between parental behaviors and parental stress on children's externalizing behavior problems. The path analysis indicated that parental behaviors did not mediate the relationship between parental stress and children's externalizing behavior problems. The findings from this study have the potential to benefit low socioeconomic Hispanic families and their young children by improving the quality of parenting and developing and/or improving more targeted and relevant interventions for parent support, potentially leading to an overall community improvement of parent-child relationship and child outcomes.

Research correlates adolescent drug use and dropout rates, and the National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows 31.4% of those who dropped out of high school had used an illicit substance recently. The purpose of this study was to examine adolescents' perceptions of the influence of family, peers, and community, on recovery and academic achievement as a result of participation in a school-referred drug education program. To inspect the study purpose, Henggeler's multisystemic therapy was used to guide the study. Data collection used a researcher-designed, open-ended survey to collect responses from 14 individuals involved in a school-referred substance education program. Findings from a hand-coded, predetermined, color-based, schematic data analysis made it possible to use a thematic approach by 'chunking' the data accordingly for comparison and analysis. The results indicated that more education is needed on the topic of drug use and the community programs available to help with the recovery process, there was a lack of perceived peer pressure to use substances, and the importance of family communication and positive community connections to prevent recidivism. Findings may be used to improve treatment programs by promoting relationships, shortening lessons, and including popular teaching techniques in an attempt to engage those who are involved in the programs. Higher engagement and taking the needs and limitations of the clientele into consideration when designing treatment or education programs will help those in the program retain knowledge of resources and supports available to them thus helping to educate others while decreasing recidivism rates while promoting positive social change.

Although there has been a decline in heterosexual marriages, marriage is still an expectation for adults in the United States. Consequently, unmarried women feel pressured to explain their single marital status. Black women are the least likely to marry, compared to non-Black women and Black men, yet there is limited research addressing the experiences of unmarried Black women. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of unmarried, college-educated Black women and the effects of cultural and social expectations of marriage. Face-to-face, in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 women. The intersectionality theory was used as the theoretical framework to guide the data interpretation. By employing the Moustakas data analysis method for inductive data analysis, 6 themes emerged from the data: Me versus Them: Marital expectations, Marriage in the Black Community, Outsider Looking In, Single and Not So Happy, Single and Happy, and Perception of Marriage. The most significant emergent theme was Single and Happy because it depicted singlehood for this group and provided better understanding of the phenomenon in study. The participants pointed out various factors (see subthemes) that could cause insecurities and maladaptive symptoms but also indicated that unmarried degreed Black women are living satisfactorily while awaiting their marital opportunity, devoid of pressure from others to marry. The results of the study may promote positive social change by helping clinicians and society to understand this marginalized group of women. As such, more understanding and sensitivity will be rendered to these women as their lived experiences are reported, aiding in cultivating a society that is more accepting of single marital status for college-educated Black women.

Individuals with intellectual disabilities often require additional support in performing daily activities as compared to individuals without intellectual disabilities. New York's Office for Developmental Disabilities developed the eight hallmarks of person centered planning to help individuals with intellectual disabilities understand the options available to them regarding care and support and to advocate for themselves and their rights. Researchers have yet to articulate how guardians and professional care providers of individuals with intellectual disabilities experience person centered planning in day habilitation. Thus, using a qualitative phenomenological approach, 5 direct care staff and 5 guardians of individuals with intellectual disabilities were interviewed to understand their perspectives on the 8 hallmarks of person centered planning. The conceptual framework of this study was Piaget's theory of constructivism and Bandura's theory of social learning. I used the Colaizzi method for phenomenological analysis. Following that I used the NVivo 11 qualitative data analysis software package for finding common themes. The results of this study showed that guardians and professional care providers desired more communication and training about the 8 hallmarks of person centered planning to provide the greatest benefit to individuals with intellectual disabilities. Implications for further training of staff and families, and tracking the outcomes of the eight hallmarks of person centered planning for quality of life in clients could result in policy changes for the frame of care offered to people with intellectual disability.

Researchers have begun to focus on how traumatic experiences, such as breast cancer, can lead to positive psychological outcomes or posttraumatic growth. However, the positive dimensions in Omani breast cancer survivors were not known because most research on posttraumatic growth has been conducted mainly in Western countries. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of Omani women diagnosed and treated with breast cancer to understand posttraumatic growth in this population. Posttraumatic growth served as the theoretical foundation for the study and referred to positive experiences stemming from traumatic situations. The study included a convenience sample of 8 adult Omani women with histories of breast cancer. Data were collected through semi structured, in-depth interviews and was analyzed by thematic analysis technique. Color coding was done to point out the identified initial codes (35) and the codes were organized into 33 subthemes. Qualitative analysis of the data indicated 5 main themes of positive changes: greater appreciation of life, spiritual prosperity, improved interpersonal relations, empowerment and change in philosophy of life. Information from this study may contribute to Arab psychological literature on the personal growth of Arab women with breast cancer. In addition, the findings may lead to social change by helping practitioners diminish psychological debilities in Arab breast cancer survivors and inform interventions for Arab breast cancer survivors to develop coping skills to address future traumatic stress.

Intimate partner violence is negatively impacting the military community. This social issue is not understood well enough to create effective prevention programs or improve intervention programs. Missing from the literature is research investigating the complex nature of intimate partner violence using attachment as the framework. The purpose behind this quantitative, cross-sectional study was to understand the relationships between attachment styles, posttraumatic stress disorder, and intimate partner violence. Whether traumatic brain injury mediates these relationships was considered. There were 228 surveys collected from military couples, using the Adult Attachment Scale, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Military Version, and Intimate Justice Scale. Traumatic brain injury diagnoses were self-reported. These data were analyzed using a factorial analysis of variance to understand the relationships between and among the variables. The main effect for attachment and interaction effects for attachment and posttraumatic stress disorder were statistically significant. The way in which attachment styles and posttraumatic stress symptoms interact, together and separately, were significant influences on violence risk. A linear regression using the mediator function was conducted to determine the impact of traumatic brain injury on any significant relationships. The significant relationships found within the factorial analysis were not influenced by traumatic brain injury. Positive social change implications include improving practitioners' knowledge base on violence within military couples by focusing on altering attachment styles, possibly lowering intimate partner violence rates. The military could be strengthened by creating more resilient soldiers with healthier families