In this study, I explore the ideas of doctoral level counselor education students on spirituality using a postmodern feminist research paradigm. I have found spirituality to be vital aspect of my own life and have been pleased to see its importance recognized within the counseling field. I analyzed the data through an intra case analysis and a cross case analysis. Within the intra case analysis, several findings were described including: definitions of spirituality, religion, spiritual experiences, counseling clients, counselor education, ethics, and more. From the cross case analysis, I perceived two themes. The first theme included questioning important aspects of life. The second theme was related to the ethical concerns surrounding spirituality in the education of counselors and in the counseling of clients. The participants seemed concerned about a counselor or professor imposing her/his beliefs on clients or students. Several mentioned they preferred to wait for clients to bring up spiritual issues rather than bring these issues up themselves. Suggestions for future research are given. / Graduation date: 2001

The field of gender bias indicates that teachers are a significant source of gender-role socialization for students. This study focuses on post hoc recollections of college students' perceptions of gender bias exhibited by their high school teachers. Specifically, this study asks students to define sex discrimination, as well as describe instances of sex discrimination they experienced or observed exhibited by their high school teachers. Several unanswered questions emerged from a review of the literature: (1) students' reports of the extent to which they experience sex discrimination exhibited by their teachers; (2) students' observations of sex discrimination exhibited toward students of the same sex, as well as toward students of the opposite sex; (3) students' reports of the sex of teacher involved in the sexually discriminative instances they describe; (4) students' definitions of sex discrimination; and (5) students' descriptions of their own experiences of sex discrimination. Consequently, one hypothesis and five research questions are posed to investigate these unanswered questions in the literature. A survey instrument incorporating both closed and open-ended questions explores the hypothesis and research questions. Participants for this study include 149 undergraduate students (63 females, 86 males) in introductory communication and psychology courses at a western university. Results of the survey are analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The closed-ended questions reveal that male and female students experienced and observed sex discrimination exhibited by their teachers with similar frequency (in this case 'Very Rarely'). The open-ended questions indicate that males and females experienced and observed their teachers exhibiting different types of sexually discriminative behaviors toward male and female students (e.g., females described being treated as if they were unintelligent; males described being disciplined more strictly than females). Both male and female students' definitions of sex discrimination are very similar. In addition, the sex of the teacher described exhibiting sex discrimination appears to make a difference. Although previous research seems to suggest that male and female teachers are equally biased in their display of sexually discriminative behavior toward male and female students, this study's results show that both male and female students perceived male teachers to be more biased toward female students than female teachers. / Graduation date: 1995

This study focused on the worldminded attitudes of Japanese college students in Japan and in the United States. The effects of studying abroad and the change in attitudes between Japanese college male students and female students were examined in terms of worldmindedness, which is defined as a frame of reference, or value orientation, favoring a worldview of the problems of humanity, with mankind rather than nationals of a particular country as the primary reference group. In this study worldminded attitudes are defined as attitudes about religion, immigration, government, economics, patriotism, race, education and war. This study tested the hypotheses that worldmindedness scores would increase as a result of the study program in the United States, and that Japanese women would score higher worldmindedness scores than would Japanese men. The data were collected from Japanese students who studied at Oregon State University for five months, and those who had not studied abroad before. The results revealed that woridmindedness scores increased as a result of the study in the United States, supporting the first hypothesis. While female students began their foreign study significantly more worldminded than their male counterparts, only the males changed significantly. Paradoxically, the females who did not study abroad scored more worilmindedness than the females who did. However, the sample size for females was very small (N=18). Generalizations drawn from the experimental group data are limited by the low completion rate: the data were collected during the last two weeks of a five-month period at Oregon State University, and only 40 percent of the questionnaire were completed. Therefore, those who had adopted more worldminded position might have been over represented. A replication of the study could insure against partial data. Also, it would be important to know if Japanese students revert back to their less worldminded views after returning to Japan. Longitudinal studies could resolve this issue. / Graduation date: 1991

No description available.

The purpose of the study was to interpret and compare the meanings attributed to furisode by selected female Japanese college students living in Japan and living in the U.S.A. The furisode is a type of kimono worn on formal occasions by young Japanese women. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in this exploratory study to further understand meanings attributed to the furisode by Japanese college students. A symbolic interactionist perspective was employed to understand the meanings which participants attached to the furisode. A purposive sample of two groups of Japanese college students were investigated: seven female Japanese college students living in Japan and seven female Japanese college students living abroad. The college students were recruited at a university in eastern Japan and at a university in western U.S.A. The semi-structured questions asked during the interviews captured participants' experiences and memories related to the furisode, its meanings, and participants' demographic characteristics. The findings revealed that there were no particular differences in the meanings attached to the furisode by the college students in this sample living in Japan and living abroad. Emergent themes were classified into three groups: 1) symbolic themes related to culture: formal wear, age or youth, marital status, entrance into adulthood, national costume of Japan, a costume or kimono related to culture and tradition, a traditional costume, a dress that represents conformity to other girls, a dress that represents ideal cultural images of a wearer; 2) themes related to individual perceptions: a dress that enhances the spiritual and mental state of the mind of a wearer, a dress that makes a wearer feel pleased or happy, a dress that represents a valuable experience, a dress that reflects feelings or moods of perceivers, a dress or kimono which is valuable, a dress or kimono seen as an heirloom, a dress or kimono that represents the individuality or personality of a wearer, a dress regarded as a memento ; and 3) themes associated with the furisode itself: A dress or kimono with increased costs for preservation and maintenance, a dress or kimono that restricts the movement or activity of a wearer, a dress or kimono that takes time and labor in preparing for wear, and a dress or kimono that is rarely worn in everyday life. The study also found the sources of information for participants in both countries were a mother, a grandmother, the mass media such as TV, magazines, and a book, leaflets to promote the sale of the furisode, clerks at a kimono shop, staff at a beauty salon who had a participant put on the furisode, friends at school, friends outside the university, and neighbors. Further, the themes that emerged from the interviews also illustrated that symbolic meanings attached to the furisode were communicated meaningfully between a wearer and a perceiver in Japan. Based on the results from this study, the furisode appears to be a cultural symbol for which shared meanings are attributed. Future research may analyze the relationships among meanings, demographic variables such as age, and other variables that influence the attitudes toward or perceptions of the furisode, such as practicing Japanese traditional arts and the wearing of other Japanese traditional costumes. / Graduation date: 1999

The purpose of this exploratory case study was to describe the culture of clinical teaching through a symbolic interactionist framework, by identifying the rituals, faculty behaviors, and student behaviors and characteristics valued by faculty instructing in clinical settings, using content analysis, interviews and observation. Five faculty, one from each clinical specialty, were chosen using specific criteria. College of Nursing archives were content analyzed to ascertain written valued student behaviors and characteristics and faculty were interviewed to learn their stated beliefs. Faculty/student clinical interactions were observed to assess if faculty written and verbalized beliefs were enacted, and twelve students were interviewed for verification of transmission of the values. Peer debriefing, member checking and an audit trail ensured trustworthiness of the data. Faculty used eight rituals: Preparation, Tracking, Discourse, Closet, Repast, Selection, Maneuver, and Documentation, and three types of actions: Teaching, Role Modeling, and Caretaking to transmit their values. Teaching was utilized 55 percent of the time and involved questioning, instructing, guiding, correcting and observing. Role Modeling, used 22 percent, embodied promoting independence, helping, intervening, kidding and admitting fallibility. Caretaking was evidenced 23 percent of the instructor's time and included caring, praising, diffusing anger, allowing mistakes and sharing self. Over one hundred student behaviors and characteristics that faculty valued were identified and collapsed into six descriptors, listed in descending order: assertive, therapeutic, compliant, knowledgeable, disciplined, and skillful. Faculty placed emphasis on human, interactive skills versus knowledge and psychomotor skills, and responded to students with very caring behaviors. They utilized compassion as a way of effecting conformity, and their use of caring behaviors for the exercise of their power was evident.

No description available.

This is a study of selected adjustment problems among Chinese students from Hong Kong and Taiwan attending two Oregon universities, Portland State University and University of Oregon,with data gathered by questionnaire, in the school year 1973-1974.

This study examined the heuristic value of applying the organizational model of Jablin, Putnam, Roberts, and Porter (1987), who studied newcoming employees assimilating into an organization, to the study of newcoming students integrating into an educational institution. Three hundred and fifty-five college students were surveyed. I used an adapted version of Mowday, Porter, and Steer's (1982) Organizational Commitment Questionnaire. Two hypotheses were tested. Hypothesis One states: The higher the level of expressed commitment the more likely it is that the student will express the intention to remain. Hypothesis Two states: Within Terms One, Two, and Three, the higher the level of expressed commitment, the more likely it is that the student will express an intention to remain. A Pearson Correlation test revealed no significant correlation between commitment and intent to remain for either hypotheses. The high percentage of the subjects who reported that they were 80 to 100 percent certain that they intended to remain and receive their degree yet whose commitment levels were low, suggest that personal goal commitment to receiving their degree is stronger than commitment to the institution. Commitment to the institution was not supported. Therefore, it was determined that the organizational model had little heuristic value in leading to a clearer understanding of the integration process of college students. However, the survey was distributed to students attending an urban university. This element alone may be a mitigating factor in students' institutional commitment.

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