The purpose of this study was to determine whether techniques used in bibliotherapy through listening would be effective in reducing the fears manifested by young children three to five years of age.The following two hypotheses were tested:Hypothesis 1. There is no significant difference between the mean adjusted posttest scores on the Link Children's Fear Scale of a group of young children experiencing bibliotherapy through listening to reduce expressed fears and a group of young children experiencing neutral stories.Hypothesis 2. There is no significant difference between the mean adjusted posttest scores on the Link Children's Fear Scale of a group of young children experiencing bibliotherapy through listening to reduce expressed fears and a non-treatment group of young children.Three groups of children were involved in the study. The experimental bibliotherapy through listening group (N=28) listened to stories related to fears which young children experience. Following each story there was time for discussion concerning feelings and reactions to the story. The neutral story group (N=28) listened to stories of general content not stressing fear and participated in follow-up discussion. The non-treatment group (N=25) were involved only in pretesting and posttesting. Changes in responses by members of the three groups were compared using a pretest/ posttest statistical design.All eighty-one children in the study attended a Day Care Center and were randomly assigned to one of three groups for this investigation. The population contained a varied intellectual racial and socio-economic blend of students. The story reading and discussion sessions met biweekly for eight weeks with the treatment groups sharing a total of sixteen books. Pupils'in each age level were read to separately in order for small numbers to be maintained for story reading and discussion.The Link Children's Fear Scale, designed to measure fears common to kindergarten children, was administered individually as a pretest and posttest. The instrument contains twenty-four questions requiring a positive or negative response. The questions relate to fear of the dark, fear of death, fear of animals and fear of being left alone. The instrument has a maximum score of twenty-four points. Higher scores are interpreted as indicative of a greater number of fears. Link's instrument was judged to have face validity by authorities and personnel in the field of early childhood education. Construct validity was established by factor analysis with a reliability coefficient of .70.Analysis of covariance was the statistical treatments applied to the data collected. In order to determine whether the hypotheses as stated should be accepted or rejected an a priori comparison was applied. The Bonferroni t statistic (as reported in Roger E. Kirk in Experimental Design: Procedures for the Behavioral Sciences) was utilized.The results of the analysis indicated there was a significant difference in the adjusted mean posttest score of a group of young children experiencing bibliotherapy through listening and the adjusted mean posttest score of a group of young children experiencing neutral stories. There was also a significant difference in the adjusted mean posttest score of a group of young children experiencing bibliotherapy through listening and the adjusted mean posttest score of a non-treatment group of children.

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis--University of Wisconsin--Madison. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 161-178).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Regis University, Denver, Colo., 2007. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Oct. 29, 2007). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-117).

Thesis (M. Div. in Christian Care and Counseling)--Emmanuel School of Religion, Johnson City, Tenn., 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 218-220).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, 2002. / Co-Chairpersons: Jerome Harste, Sharon Lynn Pugh. Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this study was to compare two bibliotherapeutic strategies (audio-only and audio-visual) as a means of reducing the reported fears of young children. Books and audio-visual materials selected for use were based on content related to young children's fears.The following null hypothesis was tested:There is no significant difference between the mean posttest scores on the Children's Fear Survey Schedule for:1. A group of children 3, 4, and 5 years of age in a selected child care center who have received 4 weeks of biweekly sessions of bibliotherapeutic intervention to reduce fears through hearing selected stories read aloud.2. A group of children 3, 4, and 5 years of age in a selected child care center who have received 4 weeks of biweekly sessions of bibliotherapeutic intervention to reduce fears through an audio-visual mode.3. A comparison group of children 3, 4, and 5 years of age in a selected child care received no intervention.The sample numbered 65 children who completed both significantly different, thus a one-way analysis of variance was used to test the hypothesis.Findings1. Results of the posttest (Children's Fear Survey Schedule) indicated a reduction in fear level by children in both bibliotherapeutic intervention strategies.2. The reduction was most notable in the group receiving bibliotherapy through the audio-only mode.3. Differences between the audio-only group and the comparison group were statistically significant at the .05 level of confidence.Children who participated in bibliotherapy through an audio-visual mode also showed a reduction in fear level but not to a significant degree. Children in the comparison group who received no intervention showed an increase in reported fears.Conclusions and RecommendationsIt would appear that there are beneficial effects of reading aloud to children to reduce children's fears. Further study was recommended in the following areas:Development of a more precise instrument, application of the strategies to different age groups, and analysis of results to identify possible differences between gender of subjects.

The purpose of the study was to determine if the perceptions which children have of physically disabled individuals can be altered through the use of a bibliotherapeutic intervention program. More specifically, the procedure employed was the oral reading of selected fiction books to fourth and fifth grade students by their classroom teacher.The experimental design of the study compared six groups (a total of sixteen classrooms) using pretest/posttest measures:Experimental Group I and Control Group I each consisted of three intact classrooms in which there were no physically disabled students.Experimental Group II and Control Group II each consisted of three intact classrooms into which one physically disabled student had been integrated.Experimental Group III and Control Group III each consisted of two intact classrooms in schools which contained a large proportion of physically disabled students.Bibliotherapeutic procedures were implemented in experimental classrooms. No treatment was implemented in control classrooms. Pretest and posttest measures were administered to all classrooms.The Perceptions of Disabled Persons Scale (Form A and Form B) was administered as the pretest and posttest. The instrument attempts to measure perceptions which children hold of physically disabled individuals. Each form contains thirty items, each requiring a true or false response. The span of scores on the scale ranged from 0 (extremely negative perceptions) to 180 (extremely positive perceptions).The procedures followed by the classroom teachers using the experimental program were explicitly described in a handbook provided for each of them. This information was reinforced by several personal meetings and discussions between the teachers and the experimenter. The experimental treatment was conducted during a five month period.The data gathered on Form A of the PDP were analyzed with a one-way analysis of variance to determine if there were initial differences among groups. Differences were found, and an analysis of covariance was used on the Form B data, adjusting scores on the basis of Form A scores, to identify any differences between groups receiving the treatment and those not receiving the treatment.A questionnaire was provided for all teachers using the bibliotherapy program. The responses on the questionnaire were informally analyzed in order to gain further information on the effects of the program.The two hypotheses tested by the study were:Hypothesis 1. There is no significant difference between the mean posttest scores of fourth and fifth grade students experiencing an experimental bibliotherapy intervention program and groups of fourth and fifth grade students not experiencing the experimental intervention.Hypothesis 2. There are no significant differences among the mean posttest scores taken from the Perceptions of Disabled Persons, scale for the three groupings of fourth and fifth grade students: classrooms having no physically disabled students, classrooms with one physically disabled student, classrooms in schools with a large proportion of physically disabled students.Subject to the limitations of the study, the following conclusions were reached:1. Based only on statistical findings, bibliotherapy, as defined in the study, did not alter the perceptions which nondisabled children have of physically disabled individuals. Although the statistical analysis did not find a significant difference between groups, all of the teachers involved in the bibliotherapy program felt that the program was useful, enjoyable, and had positive effects on the attitudes of their students.2. Differences do exist among the perceptions which children manifest of physically disabled individuals when the extent of exposure to individuals with physical disabilities varies within educational environments. Nondisabled children who had been exposed to many physically disabled students throughout their school years had significantly more positive perceptions of the disabled than did those students who had no disabled children in their school environments.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.