<p>Background: The global human resources for health crisis has affected Uganda deeply as is evidenced by grossly inadequate medical doctor to population ratios. Strategies to increase training and retention initiatives have been identified as the most promising ways to address the problem. In Uganda, the dual track tuition policy of higher education (called the Private Students Scheme or PSS) at the University of Makerere was initiated in the academic year 1993/94, to boost student intake and to supplement university revenue. However, the impact of this scheme on the enrolment and graduation of medical students at this University is unknown. Aim: This study aimed to assess the effect of the PSS on enrolment, time to completion, attrition and number of graduated medical students at Makerere University Medical School after (post-)&nbsp / the Private Students Scheme (PSS). Study design: A quantitative cross-sectional descriptive&nbsp / study based on a retrospective review of enrolment and graduation records of medical students was conducted comparing records of students enrolled five years before and after the&nbsp / privatisation scheme. Numbers enrolled, attrition rates, time to completion and graduation numbers were analysed. Results: There were 895 students enrolled in the study period, 612 (72.2%) males and 236 (27.6%) females. Pre- and post-PSS periods had 401 and 494 enrolments respectively (a net increase of 93 students). During the post-PSS period, 447 (90.5%) government&nbsp / sponsored students were enrolled - 351 (71.1%) males and 143 (28.9% females) / in the same period, 47 (9.5%) private students were enrolled, 30 (63.8%) male and 17 (36.2%) female.&nbsp / Graduation rates for the entire study period were 96% (859), which represented 44% (378) in the pre-PSS and 56% (481) in the post-PSS periods. Private students contributed 8.9% (43) of the graduates 9in the post-PSS period. The majority of students (90.4%) graduated in five years. Thirty four students (3.8%) dropped out in the entire period, constituting significantly more in the pre-PSS - 22 (5.5%) than in the&nbsp / post PSS-period - 12 (2.4%). Males were more likely to drop out: 31 males did so (4.4%) compared with 3 (1.2%) females. In the post-PSS period, males made up 83.3% (10/12) of the attrition&nbsp / rate. Nine of them were government sponsored while three were private students. Conclusions: The PSS resulted in a 10% increase in enrolments when compared to the pre-PSS period.&nbsp / Furthermore the number of private medical student enrolments contributed 8.9% of the total graduations indicating that PSS succeeded in increasing the number of medical doctors graduated at MUSM. More males than females enrolled across all the years which might indicate&nbsp / a tendency for females to pursue non-medical professions which should be discouraged. Attrition of students&nbsp / was low which is encouraging but the finding that males were more likely to drop out than females deserves attention.</p>

Many people in South Africa are aware of the need for intervention and rehabilitation of disabled children. The lack of resources in the state healthcare system has necessitated a move towards capacity building and empowerment of community members to reduce the burden of responsibility on the healthcare system. Such engagement of community members in healthcare initiatives also has the potential of re-integrating disabled people back into society. The implementation of these strategies is undertaken largely by non-governmental organisations. One such NGO, the Child Development and Resource Centre (CORC) provides a service to children with multiple disabilities and their caregivers for whom no other resources are available. In attempting to increase the range of its impact on disabled people in Kwazulu-Natal, a training programme was developed to deal with the needs of the caregivers. The purpose of this study is to describe, evaluate and recommend changes of this nine module training course facilitated by the CDRC. The target population was the primary caregivers of disabled children living in peri-urban and rural areas and educare workers from non-profit organisations who were involved in service delivery to such families. The purpose of the training programme was to raise community awareness around disability, to sensitise and educate individuals to the needs of the disabled, and to empower caregivers in caring for disabled children in their communities. The CDRC training programme was subjected to on-going evaluation and monitoring throughout the entire process. Based on an action research model, programme evaluation was implemented and data was gathered from three sources: observation notes on each of the nine modules, evaluation forms completed by the participants, and focus group discussions with the participants. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2001.

<p>Background: The global human resources for health crisis has affected Uganda deeply as is evidenced by grossly inadequate medical doctor to population ratios. Strategies to increase training and retention initiatives have been identified as the most promising ways to address the problem. In Uganda, the dual track tuition policy of higher education (called the Private Students Scheme or PSS) at the University of Makerere was initiated in the academic year 1993/94, to boost student intake and to supplement university revenue. However, the impact of this scheme on the enrolment and graduation of medical students at this University is unknown. Aim: This study aimed to assess the effect of the PSS on enrolment, time to completion, attrition and number of graduated medical students at Makerere University Medical School after (post-)&nbsp / the Private Students Scheme (PSS). Study design: A quantitative cross-sectional descriptive&nbsp / study based on a retrospective review of enrolment and graduation records of medical students was conducted comparing records of students enrolled five years before and after the&nbsp / privatisation scheme. Numbers enrolled, attrition rates, time to completion and graduation numbers were analysed. Results: There were 895 students enrolled in the study period, 612 (72.2%) males and 236 (27.6%) females. Pre- and post-PSS periods had 401 and 494 enrolments respectively (a net increase of 93 students). During the post-PSS period, 447 (90.5%) government&nbsp / sponsored students were enrolled - 351 (71.1%) males and 143 (28.9% females) / in the same period, 47 (9.5%) private students were enrolled, 30 (63.8%) male and 17 (36.2%) female.&nbsp / Graduation rates for the entire study period were 96% (859), which represented 44% (378) in the pre-PSS and 56% (481) in the post-PSS periods. Private students contributed 8.9% (43) of the graduates 9in the post-PSS period. The majority of students (90.4%) graduated in five years. Thirty four students (3.8%) dropped out in the entire period, constituting significantly more in the pre-PSS - 22 (5.5%) than in the&nbsp / post PSS-period - 12 (2.4%). Males were more likely to drop out: 31 males did so (4.4%) compared with 3 (1.2%) females. In the post-PSS period, males made up 83.3% (10/12) of the attrition&nbsp / rate. Nine of them were government sponsored while three were private students. Conclusions: The PSS resulted in a 10% increase in enrolments when compared to the pre-PSS period.&nbsp / Furthermore the number of private medical student enrolments contributed 8.9% of the total graduations indicating that PSS succeeded in increasing the number of medical doctors graduated at MUSM. More males than females enrolled across all the years which might indicate&nbsp / a tendency for females to pursue non-medical professions which should be discouraged. Attrition of students&nbsp / was low which is encouraging but the finding that males were more likely to drop out than females deserves attention.</p>

In einer quasiexperimentellen Längsschnittstudie mit 380 Lehramtsstudierenden wurde das Interventionsprogramm „Gestärkt für den Lehrerberuf“, welches Elemente eines Self-Assessments der berufsrelevanten Kompetenzen mit konkreten Beratungsmöglichkeiten und einem Zieleffektivitätstraining (Dargel, 2006) zur Entwicklung individueller berufsbezogener Kompetenzen verbindet, auf seine Wirksamkeit (Reflexionskompetenz, Lehrerselbstwirksamkeit, berufsbezogene Kompetenzen, Beanspruchungserleben, Widerstandsfähigkeit) und den Wirkungsprozess (Zielbindung, Zielrealisierbarkeit, Zieleffektivität) hin überprüft. In dem Prä-Post-Follow-up-Test-Vergleichsgruppen-Design wurden eine Interventionsgruppe, deren Treatment auf dem Stärkenansatz basiert (1), eine defizitorientierte Interventionsgruppe (2), sowie eine kombinierte Interventionsgruppe, bei der der Stärkenansatz durch den Defizitansatz ergänzt wird (3), einer unbehandelten Kontrollgruppe sowie einer alternativ behandelten Kontrollgruppe, die ausschließlich in ihren sozial-kommunikativer Kompetenzen geschult wurde, gegenübergestellt. Es gelang zum Post- und Follow-up-Test, sowohl die individuellen beruflichen Kompetenzen als auch die Reflexionskompetenz von Teilnehmern der Interventionsgruppen im Vergleich zur unbehandelten Kontrollgruppe zu fördern. Die Teilnehmer der kombinierten Intervention profitierten im Vergleich zu den Teilnehmern der anderen beiden Interventionsgruppen stärker im Bereich Lehrerselbstwirksamkeit, Widerstandsfähigkeit und Zieleffektivität. Gegenüber der alternativen Kontrollgruppe zeigten sie ebenfalls einen stärkeren Zuwachs in der Entwicklung ihrer berufsrelevanten Kompetenzen und in ihrer Widerstandsfähigkeit. Die Studie liefert erste Hinweise darauf, dass ein Ansatz, welcher Stärkenfokussierung und Defizitorientierung integriert, besonders effektiv wirkt. / In a sample of 380 student teachers this longitudinal study examined the effectiveness of a strengths-based intervention program that combined elements from a self-assessment of work related competencies with peer-coaching and a goal effectiveness training (Dargel, 2006). The intervention intended to improve work related competencies, reflectivity, teacher self-efficacy, strategies to cope with occupational stress, hardiness and the process of competence development (goal commitment, goal planning, goal accomplishment). The participants were assigned to three treatment conditions: (1) focus on their individual work related strengths, (2) focus on work related weaknesses or (3) integration of strengths and weaknesses and compared to a no-treatment control group and an alternative control group that focused on developing social-communicative competencies. Both at posttest and at follow-up-test the students in the three intervention conditions outperformed control students in measures of reflexivity and work related competencies. Relative to students, who focused on strengths or weaknesses only, students in the combined intervention were better able to maintain training induced teacher self-efficacy, hardiness and goal attainment. Compared to the alternative control group they showed a greater increase of work related competencies and hardiness. The study provides preliminary results that a combined treatment that integrated the training of work related strengths and weaknesses is more effective than a training that focuses either on strengths or relative weaknesses.

97f. / Submitted by Hozana Azevedo (hazevedo@ufba.br) on 2013-06-13T18:14:34Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao+Martha+revisada+pos+Banca.pdf: 1506873 bytes, checksum: 86d53cd42acf3148b688b6427a0f34fb (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Portela(anapoli@ufba.br) on 2013-06-27T15:51:08Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao+Martha+revisada+pos+Banca.pdf: 1506873 bytes, checksum: 86d53cd42acf3148b688b6427a0f34fb (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-06-27T15:51:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao+Martha+revisada+pos+Banca.pdf: 1506873 bytes, checksum: 86d53cd42acf3148b688b6427a0f34fb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Esta pesquisa teve o objetivo de avaliar o curso Qualidade no Atendimento, primeira ação instrucional à distância da Rede de Colaboração e Aprendizagem das Instituições Federais de Ensino. O estudo foi conduzido com base em um delineamento metodológico quantitativo. Analisou-se descritivamente o perfil dos técnico-administrativos que participaram do curso e foram realizadas comparações das expectativas em relação ao curso, instrumentalidade e percepção de importância e domínio, antes e depois da realização do curso. As variáveis independentes foram sexo, idade, escolaridade, cargo, instituição de origem do servidor, tempo de serviço, tempo de serviço na função, familiaridade com tecnologias de informação e com tecnologias de EaD, frequência de uso da internet no trabalho e em casa. Os instrumentos foram aplicados em dois momentos. Antes do curso, coletaram-se informações sobre as expectativas e perfil dos participantes. Após o curso, os instrumentos buscaram medir o atendimento das expectativas prévias e a importância e domínio de competências adquiridas. Os instrumentos foram respondidos com escalas de concordância Likert, variando de 1 a 5. A coleta de dados foi realizada online, valendo-se do ambiente virtual do curso. Os participantes do estudo foram os alunos da segunda turma do curso Qualidade no Atendimento da RCI (n= 1.008 no momento pré-curso; n= 1.047 no pós-curso). Na análise dos dados, foram utilizadas estatísticas descritivas e inferenciais, univariadas e multivariadas, buscando relações de dependência e de interdependência. Como etapa preliminar, foram realizadas Análises Fatoriais Exploratórias (AFE) no processo de investigação da qualidade psicométrica das escalas e, em seguida, adotou-se o método de extração PAF (pricipal axis factoring) e rotação oblíqua direct oblimin. Também se verificou a confiabilidade das medidas através do Alpha de Cronbach. Em relação ao perfil dos participantes, observou-se o predomínio de mulheres (62,8%), de servidores com nível superior (61,2%), e 20,5% com pós-graduação completa. A população tinha idade média de 39 anos (M = 38,92; dp: 11,068). O tempo médio de serviço foi de 120 meses (M = 119,09; dp: 4,357; Md = 48). Com relação às expectativas pré e pós-treinamento, a semântica dos itens agrupados por fator justificava a criação de dois fatores, que foram denominados, Efetividade no Exercício Profissional (EEP) e Autoaperfeiçoamento (APF). Observou-se que o primeiro fator (EEP) obteve médias mais baixas do que as do segundo fator (APF) em todas as IFEs participantes nos dois momentos do estudo (pré e pós). Notaram-se diferenças significativas por escolaridade no pré-curso para o fator EEP [F(3,1004)=5,514;p<.001], em que menor escolaridade correspondeu a maior expectativa por aspectos relacionados à efetividade do exercício profissional, ao passo que as médias de APF são equivalentes. Também houve diferença significativa por tempo de serviço [F(5,967)=2,382;p=.032] com correlação negativa (r = - 0,275; p <.01) entre o tempo de serviço e escolaridade. Dentre os servidores com até cinco anos de instituição, 92% têm, pelo menos, ensino superior completo, ao passo que entre os servidores com mais de 25 anos de trabalho nas IFEs a porcentagem é de 66,7%. Quanto ao tempo de serviço na função – no pré-curso – [F(5,972)=2,382;p=.037], ao maior tempo de serviço na função correspondeu maior expectativa por efetividade no exercício profissional. A análise da escala de Instrumentalidade revelou um decréscimo nas médias no pós-curso. Com relação às escalas de Importância e Domínio, as análises apontaram a existência de dois fatores denominados Recursos de comunicação com o usuário e Conhecimento institucional e atendimento das demandas do usuário. Todas as escalas utilizadas apresentaram boa qualidade psicométrica (α entre 0.80 e 0.94). This research aims to evaluate the Attendance Quality course, the first distance instructional action of the Collaboration and Learning Network of the Federal Education Institutes (called RCI). The study was conducted grounded in a quantitative methodological design. It was analyzed descriptively the profile of administrative staff who attended the course and comparisons were made of the expectations about the course, instrumentality and perceived importance and area before and after the completion of the course. The independent variables was gender, age, education, post, origin institute, service time, post time, familiarity with information technologies and Distance Learning technologies, frequency of internet using at home and work. The instruments were applied in two stages. Before the course, we collected information on the profile and expectations of participants. After the course, measuring instruments sought the assistance of prior expectations and the importance and mastery of skills acquired. The instruments were answered with Likert scales of agreement ranging from 1 to 5. The data collection was on line, using the course virtual environment. The study participants were students of the second group of the Attendance Quality course of RCI (n=1008 before the course; n=1047 after the course). In the data analysis, it was used descriptive and inferential statistics, univariated and multivariated, searching relations of dependence and independence. As a preliminary stage, it was realized Factorial Exploratory Analysis (FEA) in the investigation process of psychometric quality of the scales and, after, it was adopted the PAF (principal axis factoring) extraction method and direct oblimin oblique rotation. It was also verified the data reliability by the Cronbach’s Alpha. About the participants profile, was noted the dominance of women (62,8%), graduated public servants (61,2%), 20,5% with completed post-graduation. The population had a mean age of 39 years (M = 38,92, SD: 11.068). The average service was 120 months (M = 119.09, sd: 4,657: Md = 48). With regard to the expectations before and after training, the semantics of the items grouped by factor justified the creation of two factors, which were called, Effectiveness in Professional Practice (EP) and Self-improvement (SI). It was observed that the first factor (EP) had a lower average than the second factor (SI), IFES on all participants in the two study time points (pre and post). They noted significant differences by education in the pre course for the EP factor [F(3.104) = 5.514, p<.001], which participants with lower educational showed expectations for greater effectiveness of aspects related to professional practice, while SI of the averages were equivalent. There was also significant differences by service time [F (597) = 2.382, p = .032] with a negative correlation (r = - 0.275, p <.01) between the time of service and education. Among the servers with up to 5 years of institution, 92% have at least university degree, where as among the servers with more than 25 years working in the IFE, the percentage is 66.7%. As for length of service in the role – in the pre-course – [F(5,972)=2,382,0=.37], the longest service in the function corresponded to the highest expectations for effectiveness professional practice. The analysis of the instrumentality scale revealed a decrease in the average post course. Regarding the Importance and Mastery scales, the analysis indicated the existence of two factors called Communication Resources and User Services Knowledge and Institutional Demands of the User. All used scales showed good psychometric quality (α between 0.80 and 0.94). / Salvador

As ações educacionais ofertadas em ambientes de trabalho buscam suprir uma demanda crescente para atender novas exigências de desenvolvimento de competências individuais e organizacionais em contextos de diferente natureza. A análise dos resultados produzidos e da eficácia desses eventos instrucionais é de fundamental importância para verificar se os trabalhadores alcançaram aprendizagem satisfatória e se estão conseguindo aplicar o que aprenderam nos locais de trabalho. Nesse sentido, a identificação e a avaliação de resultados produzidos por meio de relatos empíricos trariam contribuições significativas para suprir lacunas de pesquisa. Dessa forma, a presente pesquisa objetivou avaliar uma ação educacional ofertadas a distância, visando relacionar a transferência dos conhecimentos, habilidade e atitudes (CHAs) aprendidos para o ambiente de trabalho com as características da clientela (dados sociodemográficos, e Estratégias de aprendizagem) e às Reações ao curso. A organização parceira oferece um curso a distância para funcionários de bibliotecas públicas do estado de São Paulo. Para a coleta dos dados, foram aplicados virtualmente os questionários de Estratégias de aprendizagem, Reação aos procedimentos instrucionais, Reação ao desempenho do tutor, os quais, anteriormente à coleta de dados, sofreram modificações para se adequarem às especificidades do contexto no qual ele foi aplicado. Também foi feita a aplicação do instrumento Transferência de treinamento, que foi construído de acordo com os objetivos instrucionais do curso. Para constatar as evidências de validade do instrumento, foram realizadas análises exploratórias fatoriais (Principal Components e Principal Axis Factoring) e de consistência interna (Alfa de Cronbach). Todas as escalas são estaticamente válidas e confiáveis. Os resultados encontrados mostraram que os participantes, durante o curso, fizeram uso principalmente das estratégias de aprendizagem Busca de ajuda ao material didático, Controle da emoção e Controle da compreensão. Os participantes apresentaram, em sua maioria, reações positivas ao curso e foram capazes de transferir a maioria do conteúdo aprendido para o ambiente de trabalho. Análises complementares, realizadas por meio de Teste T e ANOVA, não apresentaram resultados significativas. Em contrapartida, as análises de correlação mostraram uma correlação positiva entre a Reação aos procedimentos instrucionais e a Transferência de treinamento. Tais achados mostram a importância das Estratégias de aprendizagem para cursos dessa natureza. E apontam a Reação aos procedimentos instrucionais como variável relevante para a ocorrência da Transferência de treinamento. Mais estudos são necessários para sistematizar conhecimentos sobre Transferência de treinamento em organizações públicas e ampliar as discussões acerca da eficácia e aplicabilidade da modalidade EAD. / The educational actions offered in work environments seek to fulfill a growing demand for development of new individual and organizational skills in distinct contexts. The analysis of results and effectiveness of instructional events is relevant in order to verify how much the workers learned and if they are able to apply the acquired knowledge at the workplace. Respecting this, the evaluation and identification of the results obtained by research reports yielded relevant contributions to fill the research gaps. Thus, the present research aimed to evaluate distance educational actions, seeking to link the transfer of acquired knowledge, skills and attitudes to the workplace with the characteristics of the clients (sociodemographic data and Learning Strategies) and Reactions to the course. The partner organization offers a distance course to employees of public libraries of the state of São Paulo. The data was collect through Learning Strategies, Reaction to the instructional procedures and Reaction to the tutor performance forms applied virtually and adapted to the context of this research. The Transfer of Training instrument was also applied and built according to the instructional objectives of the course. In order to find the evidences to validate the instrument, factorial exploratory (Principal Components and Principal Axis Factoring) and intern consistency (Cronbachs Alpha) analysis were made. All the scales are statically valid and reliable. The results showed that the Learning Strategies mainly used by the students during the course was Help search to the courseware, Emotional control and Understanding control. The participants presented mostly positive reactions to the course and were able to transfer most of the content to the workplace. Complementary analysis made with Students T-Test and ANOVA did not show relevant results. Correlation analysis was positive in relating Reaction to the instructional procedures and Transfer of training. This findings show the relevance of the Learning Strategies to this type of course and point the Reaction to the instructional procedures as a relevant variable to Transfer of training. Further studies are needed to systematize the knowledge about Transfer of Training and public organizations and extend the discussion about effectiveness and applicability of Distance Education (DE).

South Africa has witnessed radical policy reforms since the advent of the new democratic dispensation in 1994. As provincial, district and local practitioners developed responses to those new national education policies, implementation issues were revealed in all their complexity. Policy implementation became one of the most difficult challenges South Africa had to contend with. It necessitated the development of the capacity of the state and its people to implement policy. The complexities of the people development environment in South Africa create a range of challenges for development. The lack of multi-level empirical data on training effects continues to exacerbate this state of affairs. This context requires that comprehensive assessment mechanisms be put in place for training programmes aimed at the realisation of policy goals. The broad purpose of this inquiry, therefore, is to determine the impact of an education management development training intervention as it passes through different levels of the education system in South Africa - national, provincial, district and local. The following key questions guided this investigation. Firstly, how do stakeholder understandings of “education management development” transfer from one level to another in a cascade model of training? And secondly, what is the operational impact of an education management development-training programme at the different levels (i.e., province, district and school) of the education system? Questionnaires, free attitude interviews and observations were used as key data collection instruments. Data was analysed using a combination of quantitative and qualitative strategies for making sense of the training information. Data was interpreted against the backdrop of the literature on the “transfer of training”, and these findings are represented in the last three chapters of this thesis. This research generated four major findings, with a variety of subsidiary findings, which deepen our insights into policy implementation as it relates to education management development in South Africa. Some of the major findings of this study are that: a) The organisers did not in the first place conduct the baseline study on training needs and secondly, they did not take into consideration the organisational requirements of the anticipated training. This anomaly could ultimately compromise the outcomes of this intervention. b) The policy deployment processes of the North West Department of Education (of ensuring that the governmental policies for quality, cost and service delivery are understood from the highest to the lowest level of the organisation) are fraught with problems that undermined basic understandings of the Education Management Development training programme which was conducted between 1998 – 2000. c) Successful policy implementation depends crucially on resource allocation and, in the case of the Education Management Development Training Programme, the nature and magnitude of allocated resources e.g., transport provision could not guarantee positive training results; and d) The overly rationalistic view adopted by the trainers of the Education Management development-training programme did not take into account the complex contexts within which change unfolds. Resultantly, the changing of the roles of facilitators could not be planned-for in advance. The significance of this study is that it identifies the barriers to learning in training events, and sheds new light on the transfer of training problem that continues to undermine organisational change and human resource development. Some of the unique findings of the study can be found in the fact that the Expert Trainers could only recall a few intentions of the EMD modular training. The District Facilitators displayed limited knowledge of the disciplinary procedures in their areas of operation and there was limited conceptualisation of the EMD by the principals of schools. / Thesis (PhD (Education Policy Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

Individuals and organisations need to do much more if sustainable development is to be achieved. Appropriate environmental vocational education and training (EVET) is essential for current decision makers. Crucial decisions need to be made before the present generation of school and college students achieve significant positions of authority. An increasing range of EVET courses and course providers are available within the UK. However, availability is not synonymous with suitability for either the attendee and/or his/her (future) employer. Previous research indicates that, as a component of lifelong learning, EVET courses should and the methods used to evaluate them should be student-centred. This thesis describes the development and validation of a new studentcentred evaluation framework. Preliminary literature reviews identified six fundamental issues which needed to be addressed. Existing academically productive evaluation models were examined and critically appraised in the context of these problems. The output from this process was used to develop a bespoke research methodology. Empirical research on four commercial EVET programmes revealed distinct personal, teaching and work-based presage factors which influenced course attendance, individual learning and subsequent organisational learning. Modified versions of Biggs' 3P model and Kirkpatrick's Four level Evaluation Model were shown to provide an effective student-centred evaluation framework for EVET courses. Additional critical elements pertaining course utility and the student's long(er) term ii retention of knowledge/skill were derived from previous research by Alliger et al (1997). Work-based presage factors and the student¿s return on expectation were added as a direct consequence of this research. The resultant new framework, the Presage-Product Evaluation Framework, was positively received during an independent validation. This confirmed inter alia that the framework should also be capable of adaption for use with other VET courses. Recommendations for additional research focus on the need to demonstrate this through further empirical studies.

Golembiewski, Billingsly, and Yeager (1976) conceptualized three distinct types of change that might result from development interventions, called alpha, beta, and gamma change. Recent research has found that beta and gamma change do occur as hypothesized, but the phenomena are somewhat infrequent and the precise conditions under which they occur have not been established. This study used confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory to identify gamma and beta change on a multidimensional, multisource managerial performance appraisal instrument and to examine relations among the change types, training program content, and raters' implicit theories of performance. Results suggested that coverage in training was a necessary but not sufficient condition for beta and gamma change to occur. Further, although gamma change was detected only in the trainee group, beta change was detected in self-ratings from trainees and in ratings collected from their superiors. Because trainees' superiors were involved in post-training follow-up, this finding was interpreted as a possible diffusion of treatments effect (Campbell & Stanley, 1963). Contrary to expectations, there were no interpretable relations between raters' implicit theories of performance and either of the change types. Perhaps relatedly, more implicit theory change was detected among individuals providing observer ratings than in the trainees themselves. The implications of these findings for future research on plural change were discussed. / Ph. D.

Devido ao constante aumento na prevalência de obesidade e doenças relacionadas é sugerido que indivíduos obesos sejam submetidos a programas educativos para redução da massa corporal. Objetivos: avaliar os efeitos de um programa de Educação em Saúde (Educação nutricional e Educação física) voltado a um grupo de mulheres obesas. Métodos: 50 mulheres obesas foram submetidas a um programa de quatro meses envolvendo educação nutricional (1 vez/semana) e exercício físico (aeróbio e contra-resistência - 3 vezes/semana). Foram avaliadas variáveis antropométricas, metabólicas e alimentares: peso, estatura, circunferência da cintura e do quadril, composição corporal por raios X de dupla energia (DEXA), teste ergoespirométrico e gasto energético de repouso (VO2000-Imbrasport&#174;), hemograma, leucograma, perfil lipídico, glicemia, leptina, IGF-1 (Fator de crescimento semelhante à insulina-1, TSH (Hormônio estimulante da tireóide), albumina e pré albumina, 3 diários alimentares e de atividade física. Para análise dos resultados, as participantes foram distribuídas em G1 (IMC inicial < IMC final) e G2 (IMC inicial &#8805; IMC final). Resultados: No G1 houve redução de: massa corporal, IMC, CC, CQ, RCQ, gordura corporal (kg), massa corporal magra (kg) e glicemia. No G2 não foram encontradas alterações significativas nestas variáveis. Não foram encontradas diferenças significativas no GER e ambos os grupos apresentaram aumento do VO2 pico, redução da leptina plasmática e da albumina sérica. Conclusões: O programa de perda de peso realizado neste estudo foi eficiente para resultar em redução da massa corporal em 50% das participantes, apresentando também melhoras em fatores de risco para doenças cardiovasculares. Independentemente da redução da massa corporal e na massa corporal magra, programas de exercício físico sem o controle individualizado da ingestão alimentar, principalmente de proteínas, pode resultar em prejuízos para o estado nutricional de mulheres obesas. / Because of the high prevalence of obesity and its associated comorbities all over the world, it is suggested to submmit obese people to edicational weight reduction programs. Objectives: to evaluate the effects of an educational program (nutrition and physical education) in obese women. Methods: 50 obese women were submitted to a four months program of nutritional education (once a week) and exercise training (aerobic and resistance -3 times/week). They were evaluated variables related to anthropometry, metabolic and eating behavior: weight, height, waist and hip circumferences, body composition by dual X-ray energy (DEXA), aerobic power and resting energy expenditure (VO2000-lmbrasport&#174;); hemogram, leucogram, lipid profile, glucose level, leptin, IGF-1 (Insulin like growth factor-1), TSH (Tireoid stimulating hormone), albumin and pré-albumin, 3 days of food and physical activity records. The participants were distributed into the follow groups for the analysis: G1 (initial BMI < final BMI) and G2 (initial BMI &#8805; final BMI). Results: In G1 they were reduced: body mass, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, hip circumference, waist/hip relation, fat mass (kg), lean body mass (kg) and glucose. No statistical differences were found in these parameters in G2. No statistical differences were found in resting energy expenditure in both groups and there was an increase in VO2peak, decrease in leptin and albumin concentration in both groups. Conclusions: The weight reduction program realized in this study was efficient to result weight loss in 50% of the participants, with improvements in cardiovascular risk factors. Independent of reductions on body mass and lean body mass, exercise training programs without individualized control of protein intake, especially of proteins, can jeopardize nutritional status of obese women.