Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Psych.Org.) - University of Queensland, 2007. / Includes bibliography.

Universiẗat, Diss., 2005--Mannheim. / Erscheinungsjahr an der Haupttitelstelle: 2004.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Bowling Green State University, 2007. / Document formatted into pages; contains x, 146 p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. A.)--Brock University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 95-103). Also available online (PDF file) by a subscription to the set or by purchasing the individual file.

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Magister Commercii (Industrial Psychology) - MCom(IPS) / Research suggests that a positive relationship exists between job satisfaction and organizational commitment and increasing the job satisfaction and commitment of employees impacts positively on their job performance and productivity. In addition to this, research also shows that these attitudes have implications for positive job related behaviours such as reduced turnover and intention to quit. The argument is that with the call centre industries ‘expansion and subsequent rising turnover, the necessity to ensure a high level of satisfaction and commitment amongst call centre agents as to reduce intention to quit and eventual turnover has become of paramount importance. This study therefore investigated the relationship between job satisfaction, organisational commitment and turnover intentions among call centre agents in a call centre in the Western Cape. The sample group consisted of one hundred and seventy two (n=172) call centre agents in a call centre in the Western Cape. A biographical questionnaire, Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ), Organisational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) and Intention to Quit Scale were administered to the respondents. Once the questionnaires were returned the raw data was captured into SPSS and statistically analysed. Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient was utilised to determine the relationships between job satisfaction, organisational commitment and turnover intentions amongst call centre agents. Furthermore multiple regression analyses was utilised to determine the variance between biographical variables (age, gender, tenure in a call centre and tenure in the organisation as a whole), job satisfaction and organisational commitment amongst call centre agents. The results indicate that there is a significant relationship between job satisfaction and organisational commitment amongst the sample of call centre agents. There was also a significant negative relationship between organisational commitment and intention to quit. In addition, there was a significant negative relationship between job satisfaction and intention to quit. Further findings of the current study point to a significant relationship in job satisfaction based on employees‘ age and tenure in the call centre. However, no significant relationship was found between all the biographical characteristics of gender, age, tenure in the call centre, tenure in the organisation as a whole and organisational commitment. Implications for the management of job satisfaction, organisational commitment and turnover intentions are provided based on the results which were obtained in the current study.

This study examined the effects of a novel treatment package consisting of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-based activities with and without contingent rewards on children's consumption of low-preferred healthy foods. Participants were 6, 3-5-year-old children who attended a local day care center. The effects of the two treatment packages on children's tasting, approach, and amount of food consumed were assessed using a multiple baseline design across food categories. During the ACT-based mindfulness condition, the experimenter led a set of four ACT activities prior to the presentation of food. This condition produced a mean increase in foods tasted of 7.4% for fruits but 0% for vegetables, and mean increases in the approach of 18.6% for fruits and 8.7% for vegetables. A second condition consisting of the same ACT activities plus rewards delivered contingent upon tasting the foods produced mean increases in foods tasted of 69.2% for vegetables, 25.3% fruits, and 43.2% for beans, and increases for foods approached of 54.7% for vegetables, 16.2% for fruits, and 44.6% for beans. Both intervention conditions resulted in low mean amounts of food consumed with 0% of vegetables and 17.4% of fruits consumed during the ACT condition, and 1.6%, 6.7%, and 2.6% consumed during the ACT plus rewards condition for vegetables, fruits, and beans respectively. Implications of the results are discussed in terms of their relevance to past and future research.

The current study examined the effectiveness of a computer-based cognitive defusion intervention on the degree of believability and discomfort of problematic thoughts in two adolescents and one young adult with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) using a multiple probe design across participants. Participants identified a problematic thought that they often had during social interactions with peers which was then targeted throughout the intervention. Primary measures included rating scales for thought believability and discomfort and criterion for therapeutic change was a 30-increment decrease in the mean average of rating scores from baseline levels for three consecutive intervention sessions. Results demonstrated a significant change in the believability of one participant's thought believability that met the therapeutic criterion. However, the remaining participants' rating scores following the intervention did not decrease below the criterion. Secondary measures for cognitive fusion, psychological inflexibility, and mindfulness included the AAQ-II, BAFT, CFQ, and CAMM pre and posttests. Results from these pre and posttest measures did not indicate a significant therapeutic change following treatment. More research is needed to examine the effectiveness of an automated defusion intervention with this population.

The current study evaluated the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help reduce anxiety experienced during an interview with three individuals with varying Developmental Disabilities (DD). A multiple baseline across participants with embedded probes was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. The intervention consisted of mindfulness and defusion exercises used directly before an interview was conducted. Data were collected during each interview using an interview checklist created specifically for this study. The checklist consisted of two parts: anxiety measures and an interview question portion. The checklist was used to help score the overall performance for each participant during an interview. A BST procedure was used for two of the three participants to help their skill acquisition of correctly answering interview questions. Secondary measures were taken for a pre and posttest that consisted of a modified state social anxiety scale. The results from the study indicated that the use of ACT helped decrease anxiety experienced during an interview and also helped increase their overall performance during an interview.