Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (MSc (Agricultural Extension))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / unrestricted

The purpose of this study was to determine what job responsibilities Extension 4-H youth development professionals (n = 241) chose to spend their work time doing and how the workload related to their job satisfaction and burnout. They were asked to rank order seven common, predetermined job responsibilities, based on the 4-H Professional, Research, Knowledge, and Competencies ( 4-H PRKC), and to identify their level of job satisfaction and burnout. The study utilized quantitative methods for gathering data from 4-H youth development Extension professionals from 6 land-grant universities. Over the past 25 years, there has been an increase in research investigating burnout and job satisfaction. Burnout is a serious issue that can lead to decreased productivity for the employee and increased costs for the employer. Finding the connections among burnout, job satisfaction, and work environment is important to help reduce problems, including work overload. Based on the previous research on workload, burnout, and job satisfaction, 4-H youth development professionals are prime candidates for experiencing low job satisfaction and increased burnout, which may lead to professionals leaving the organization early. To determine the workload, 4-H youth development professionals were asked to rank seven job responsibilities for each of the domains that are common to the youth development profession. The job responsibility that had the lowest mean of any from the six domains was #1 "using volunteer committees" in the volunteerism domain, with 71.9% of the respondents ranking it as one of the top two job responsibilities within the domain. Determining job satisfaction related to the individual job responsibilities was the first measurement used in identifying the level of job satisfaction in the survey. The youth development domain's job responsibility #6 "develop programs to practice life skills" provided the respondents the greatest degree of job satisfaction (M = 1.93, SD= 0.72) of any of the responsibilities with the six 4-H PRKC domains. The second instrument used to assess job satisfaction for 4-H youth development professionals was the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS), in which the mean score was 3.72 (SD= 0. 79). The third and final measurement used to determine job satisfaction was the self-reported overall level of job satisfaction. The mean for the self-reported overall job satisfaction was 2.20 (SD= 0.83). The greatest degree of burnout (M = 3 .21, SD= 1.26) within any of the domains was in the youth development domain with job responsibility #7 "dealing with conflict management." This job responsibility also indicated a negative relationship between the workload rank score and job responsibility burnout (r = -0.250). The overall mean for the Burnout survey was 3.84 (SD= 0.86). The greatest burnout came from the work within the youth development domain. The 4-H youth development professionals reported feeling very little overall burnout related to their job. The overall self-reported mean for burnout was 2.75 (SD=1.17). They also reported being satisfied with their current job (M= 2.20, SD= 0.83).

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The problem of this research study was to identify the status of home visitations as a part of Vocational Homemaking Education in Texas as perceived by useful homemaking teachers. The study had a twofold purpose. The first was to develop and validate a survey instrument which would address specific concerns related to home visitations and which may be used as a model for future research studies in Vocational Education. The second was to survey a random sample of useful homemaking teachers in Texas to identify the perceived status of home visitations. Findings indicated that useful homemaking teachers believe home visitations should continue to be a part of homemaking programs, although they are not satisfied with the current status of home visits. The teachers did not perceive home visits as they now exist to be important to the total homemaking program and believed the program would be effective without home visits. Nevertheless, a majority of the homemaking teachers indicated that they would make home visits even if no conference period were provided for the purpose of visits and that they currently make home visits at times other than the designated visitation period. Approximately 40 per cent of the teachers reported they expected to visit only 25 per cent or less of their students by the end of the school year. Scheduling home visits was identified as the major difficulty by a very high percentage of the homemaking teachers.

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This developmental dissertation focuses on the creation of an interactive multimedia presentation for use in a public delivery setting. Interactive multimedia appears to have outstanding potential for information dissemination. However, this technology is not commonly used by organizations which lack resources or skills to support total in-house development, and do not have funds to contract outside development at commercial rates. This dissertation addresses these concerns in three ways: 1) It presents a comprehensive model, called ADOBE, to organize the steps of interactive multimedia design and implementation. 2) It outlines, in detail, the development and implementation of a fully functional interactive multimedia presentation, The Natural Resource Extravaganza, to demonstrate interactive multimedia development based on the ADOBE model. 3) It presents (a) design templates, supporting original but parallel development, and (b) program templates, supporting adaptive development through modification of program elements. A video tape demonstrating The Natural Resource Extravaganza, is available from the Reserved Materials section of the Virginia Tech Newman Library. The tape and information about the computer code also are available from NMSU Agricultural Information, Box 30003, Dept. 3AI, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88003. The Natural Resource Extravaganza presentation, graphics, video tape, and program code are copyrighted by New Mexico State University. / Ed. D.

In January, 1966, six counties in New-York State reorganized their respective Cooperative Extension Service organizations. The Cooperative Extension Association of Jefferson County, one of the six, was chosen for this study. Objectives of the study were to determine (1) levels of knowledge and attitude held by lay leaders and members of the Extension reorganization, (2) the relationships between the levels of knowledge and attitude of the leaders and members, and (3) the relationships of the levels of knowledge and attitude held by leaders and members when compared with certain variables. The two groups studied consisted of all 36 leaders and a five percent sample of the Extension membership or 116 members. The instrument of observation was an interview-schedule. Data were obtained through personal interviews. Chi-square tests for significance were accepted at the .05 percent level. Findings included: (1) Leaders had a significantly higher level of knowledge and a more favorable attitude of the Extension reorganization than members. (2) Extension participation was significantly higher in the leader group than the member group. (3) Attitude and knowledge were not significantly related to each other in either the member or leader groups. (4) Knowledge of the Extension reorganization was not significantly related to the variables of age, education, sex, occupation, income, residence, tenure and Extension participation in either study group. (5) In the member group, women had a significantly more favorable attitude toward the Extension reorganization. Sex was not significantly related to attitude in the leader group. (6) None of the remaining variables of age, education, occupation, income, residence, tenure, and Extension participation were significantly related to attitude in the member or leader groups. / M.S.

The success of cooperative extension depends on the knowledge of how to apply the principles of extension education to situations where the activities are to be performed. The cooperative extension services dynamic localized approach to the solution of the common persons problem has stood the test of time. It is not necessary to establish a new system, but what is needed is to increase accountability and efficiency in the way programs are planned and developed. The overall purpose of this study was to develop criteria for assessing the local cooperative extension program planning process in Virginia. Specific objectives that served as a basis for accomplishing the overall purpose of the study were: 1. To identify principles that are basic for planning an effective local extension program. 2. To verify these principles with a panel of experts. 3. To formulate criteria, based on the verified principles, to assess if on-going local extension programs were developed following the accepted programming principles. 4. To field test the criteria to determine the degree to which the criteria are used as guides during the local extension program planning process. This study was a qualitative study. The principles identified and the criteria developed were reviewed by a panel of eight experts, then field tested in randomly selected extension units in the West Central Extension District of Virginia. Using personal interview methodology, unit directors of the randomly selected units were used for the field testing stage of this study. Six of the seven principles identified as basic for planning/developing effective local extension programs were accepted by the panel of experts. Eighteen criteria were formulated based on the accepted principles. Criteria as used in this study implies an overall description of a set of related actions and/or operations which will be called standards of the planning process. It was found that most of the unit directors in the West-Central Extension District of Virginia interviewed for this study use the criteria as guides during their respective programming process. The panel of experts and unit directors agreed that the criteria were important as guides for local extension programming processes. Based on the findings the author concluded that: (a) there are six essential principles for planning effective social extension programs; (b) that there are 18 criteria that can be used as guides for assessing if local extension programs are planned/developed using the essential extension program planning principles; and (c) that it is possible to assess local program planning activities in extension. A recommendation made from the study that the process of assessing local program planning activities be tested statewide to increase the usability potential of the criteria and give possible directions for statewide in-service needs of unit directors and extension agents. / Ed. D. / incomplete_metadata

A new, standardized food label developed by the Food and Drug Administration is appearing on products this year. Extensive research on consumer use suggests that approximately 20 % of the U.S. population, composed mainly of elderly and minorities, cannot correctly interpret the nutrition information on the label. This research explored the specific knowledge required for correct interpretation based on a model in which nutrition knowledge was organized in hierarchical levels: food groups, macronutrients and micronutrients in foods, with each level including dimensions of nutrition terminology, health relationships and related mathematics skills. An instrument was developed and pilot tested to measure knowledge at each level, as well as to measure accuracy in food label interpretation. Test items were revised based on peer input, correlational data, item analysis, and reliability. The revised instrument was then administered to purposive samples of adults (250 subjects) representing the range of nutrition knowledge measured by the test. Scores were re-analyzed to establish the validity and reliability of the new instrument. Factor analysis was used to explore the value of the original hierarchical model and to posit an additional model based on conceptual complexity. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to predict accuracy of food label interpretation based on factors depicted by both models. Findings indicated that the structures outlined in each model are useful predictors of food label interpretation, accounting for over 52 percent of the variance. Suggestions are made for further development of the test instrument and on how to incorporate learner pre-assessment in designing nutrition education interventions. / Ed. D.