Thesis (MScPhysio (Interdisciplinary Health Sciences. Physiotherapy))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Background: Children who lack the motor coordination to perform the tasks that have usually been acquired at their age, given normal intellectual ability and the absence of other neurological disorders, are classified as having Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) according to DSMIV. Limited professional resources prohibit individual therapy and these children are being treated in “gross motor groups” regardless of the fact that this has limited proven efficacy. This study aims to investigate whether group exercise physiotherapy does improve the gross motor function of children with DCD aged six to ten years old. Methods: Thirty-nine children were assessed at pre and post intervention on the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC) as well as the Perceived Efficacy and Goal Setting (PEGS) questionnaire by a blinded research assistant. They were randomly allocated to either a control (N=19) or an intervention group (N=20). The intervention group was then further subdivided into groups of four to six per group to attend group exercise sessions of 30 – 45 minutes three times per week. Group exercises were aimed at improving manual dexterity, ball skills and balance by incorporating aerobic exercises, strengthening exercises, coordination as well as task specific activities. Results: There was a significant increase (p=.028) in the total scores tested by the experimental group on the M-ABC after the eight week intervention. Manual dexterity skills had improved significantly (p=.035). There was a trend for ball skills to improve (p=.088) but no improvement was recorded for static or dynamic balance post intervention. PEGS results indicated that subjects considered themselves as very competent regardless of their abilities. Conclusions: The results of this study support the hypothesis that an eight week group exercise program can improve the gross motor skills of children with DCD. It would seem that implementing such an intervention is a viable option, especially where resources limit the availability of one to one therapy. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Agtergrond: Kinders wat „n gebrek aan motoriese koördinasie het om ouderdoms verwante take te verrig, gegewe dat hulle normale intellektuele vermoëns het en die afwesigheid van ander neorologiese abnormaliteite, word geklassifiseer as “Developmental Coordination Disorder” (DCD) volgens die DSM IV. Beperkte professionele menslike hulpbronne voorkom individele terapie en hierdie kinders word gewoonlik behandel in grofmotoriese groepe, ongeag dat daar min bewyse is dat dit „n effektiewe behandelings metode is. Die doel van hierdie studie is om vas te stel of „n fisioterapie groepsoefenprogram „n effektiewe behandelingsvorm is om die grofmotoriese vaardighede in ses tot tienjarige primêre skool kinders, met „n diagnose van DCD, verbeter. Metodes: Nege-en-dertig kinders was geassesseer met die “Movement Assessment Battery for Children” (M-ABC) en die “Perceived Efficacy and Goal Setting” (PEGS) vraelys deur „n geblinde navorsingsassistent. Hulle is in twee groepe nl kontrole groep wat nie intervensie gekry het nie (N=19) en „n eksperimentele groep (N=20)verdeel deur eenvoudige ewekansige toewysing. Die eksperimentele groep was verder onderverdeel in groepe van vier tot ses om groepsoefeningsessies by te woon drie keer „n week vir 30 tot 45 minute. Die doel van die groepsoefeninge was om die volgende areas te verbeter: handvaardigheid, balvaardigheid en balans deur die inkorporasie van balansaktiwiteite, spierversterkingsoefeninge, koördinasie sowel as taak spesifieke aktiwiteite. Die deelnemers was weer geassesseer met die Movement-ABC en die PEGS na die agt weke lange intervensie program. Resultate: Daar was 'n beduidende toename (p=.028) in die algehele telling deur die eksperimentele groep op die M-ABC na die agt weke deelname. Handvaardigheid het beduidend verbeter (p=.035). Daar was „n tendens vir balvaardighede om te verbeter (p=0.88), maar geen verbetering was aangedui vir balans na die ingryping nie. Die PEGS resultate was moeilik om te interpreteer aangesien die deelnemers hulself as baie vaardig gesien het ten spyte van hulle vermoëns. Gevolgtrekking: Die resultate van hierdie studie ondersteun die hipotese dat 'n doelgerigte groepsoefeningsprogram wel die grofmotoriese vaardighede van kinders met „n diagnose van DCD verbeter. Fisioterapeute kan 'n groepsofeningsprogram met vertroue implementeer waar 'n tekort aan menslike hulpbronne een tot een terapie beperk.

Background: Palliative care is a support system to help people live actively until they die. Current policy aims to integrate rehabilitation and goal setting as mechanisms to help professionals to support patients to do this, but there is little agreement about what this means in practice. No theory based framework currently exists to help palliative care professionals consistently work with patients to identify and work towards goals. This thesis describes how a framework for goal setting and action planning in palliative care (G-AP PC) was developed and implemented systematically in one hospice. Research aims: 1. To synthesise published literature regarding goal setting in palliative care settings. 2. To investigate current goal setting practice in one hospice setting. 3. To develop and evaluate a theory and evidence-based goal setting intervention for palliative care settings. Study design This study is placed in the ‘development and feasibility’ phases of the Medical Research Council (MRC) framework for developing and evaluating complex interventions. The intervention (G-AP PC) was systematically developed. Firstly a rigorous investigation of current practice was conducted by synthesising the literature on the subject, and investigating current goal setting practice in one hospice setting. These findings informed the development of a theory-based Goal setting and Action Planning practice framework (G-AP PC) which was then implemented and evaluated in one hospice in-patient unit. Normalization Process Theory (NPT) was used to structure the development and evaluation of the intervention. Findings: Goal setting with patients is recognised as important within palliative care, but is poorly conceptualised and lacks a theory and evidence-base for its practice. G-AP PC was successfully developed, implemented and evaluated in one hospice setting. Findings demonstrate that G-AP PC is acceptable and feasible for use by professionals and patients alike. It helped professionals to work as a team; shift their attention from symptoms/problems/risk to patient’s goals; act on what patients wanted to achieve, within short timescales and document patients goals appropriately. Patients reported that use of G-AP PC allowed them to focus on goals that were important to them. There was also evidence that goal setting helped increase patients’ motivation and self-efficacy. Conclusions: G-AP PC is a feasible and acceptable intervention. The study has demonstrated that the interventions can increase patient centred goal setting and motivates both patients and staff to work towards and achieve patient goals that are not only about controlling symptoms but also about engaging in meaningful activities, enabling patients to live actively until they die.

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the differential effects of goal setting and value reappraisal on female students’ self-efficacy beliefs, value perceptions, exam performance and continued interest in statistics. It was hypothesized that the Enhanced Goal Setting Intervention (GS-E) would positively impact students’ self-efficacy beliefs and exam performance, whereas the Enhanced Value-Reappraisal (VR-E) was expected to positively affect students’ value perceptions and continued interest in learning statistics. A total of 88 female undergraduate students enrolled in two sections of an introductory statistics course completed the entire study. Students were primarily Caucasian, upper division, and traditionally aged. Students were stratified on course section and year in school and randomly assigned to one of three groups: Control Group (n=30); GS-E Group (n=27); and VR-E (n=31). GS-E asked students to both set and self-evaluate eight goals focused on reaching learning objectives for their upcoming statistics exam. VR-E presented students with messages about why learning statistics could be important for them and guided them in processing these messages. The Control Condition asked students to complete three Texas Information Literacy Tutorial modules and answer reflective questions. Findings from this dissertation partially supported the hypotheses related to VR-E, but no support was found for the hypotheses related to GS-E. The VR-E Intervention was found to positively impact measures of students’ value perceptions and continued interest. Immediate effects of VR-E were observed on: 1) the overall value students placed on learning statistics; 2) students’ interest and enjoyment of statistics; 3) the importance students placed on developing statistical knowledge and skills for the attainment of their future goals; and 4) students’ intentions to continue learning statistics on their own. However, relatively stronger and longer-lasting effects were observed on the later two variables. Also, students in the VR-E Group outperformed students in the GS-E Group on their post-intervention exam; however, neither group was significantly different from the Control Group. Findings from this research help to address the growing economic and social needs for the development and evaluation of theory-based educational interventions that target the improvement of college students’ achievement and continued interest in math and science education. / text

<p>Abstract</p><p>Background:</p><p>Goals and goal-setting are two aspects that occur everyday in business life however little is known about the effect of strategic goal-setting. To a cer-tain extent, this affects all of us either directly or indirectly, everyday through strategic decisions that are made by business managers all around the world. A company’s performance of a company can be measured in many ways. A firm’s performance can be financially successful if the com-pany’s strategy is well planned. Strategic planning consists of developing goal-strategies, which aim at contributing to the firm’s performance.</p><p>Problem:</p><p>A small business manager’s view on the goals-setting strategies is important since the manager in a small company can influence the business more than compared to a manager in a larger firm. As the personality differs among managers, the level of planning and proactiveness would differ as well. Sev-eral studies have focused on the relationship between goal-setting and per-formance but the level of proactiveness has not been has not been consid-ered to a larger extent.</p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate managers’ goal-setting strategies, focusing on goal-specificy, planning, proactiveness, and financial perform-ance in small businesses in the Jönköping region, Sweden.</p><p>Method:</p><p>To fulfill the purpose of this thesis both qualitative and quantitative re-search approaches have been used. As 173 interviews were already carried out in an earlier study, we created a strategy on how to use the collected in-terview data. Theories from different research areas were combined with hypotheses to create a framework for this paper. The theories and the hy-potheses were analyzed in light of the empirical evidence, the interview and we used the SPSS to test our hypotheses.</p><p>Result:</p><p>The results from the first three hypotheses were not found to be too unex-pected as we assumed that planning, the level of goal-specificy and proac-tiveness to a large extent, depend on a managers’ strategies and ambitions. The final two hypotheses have helped us discover new patterns and add to previous theories. We have made two main contributions by conducting this master thesis. The first one is that a high degree of planning does not imply a higher level of financial performance. The second one is that family businesses do not show a lesser degree of planning compared to non-family businesses.</p>

The purpose of the present investigation was to identify how knowledge about goal-setting is developed and applied in practice of male players in the Swedish national floorball team, by using a qualitative methodology. Participants were 6 players playing for the Swedish national team. They were asked to respond to the interview questions in relation to their perception of setting goals for a successful outcome in sports, how their goal- setting process has developed and how they deal with goal setbacks and goal attainment. Results revealed that Swedish national players in floorball employed goal setting often for both individual and team goals in practice and competition. In addition, many interesting findings regarding the process of goal setting emerged in the result. The players are aware of their goal-setting process as well the importance of using a combination of both long term and short term goals on a individual and team level. Most of the players do not write down their goals. Their goal commitments were mostly related to winning. The players also experienced that their goal-setting process was efficient but believed that the national team lacked in evaluation, feedback and a dialogue, especially on an individual level. The player’s perception was that they have the right skills to deal with setbacks. When the players reach a goal they are strict with taking the goal to the next level. These findings are discussed in relation to the empirical/ theoretical goal-setting literature and suggestions for best practice by goal setting research are offered.

Few studies in the sporting realm have been conducted to verify the findings from industrial or organizational settings regarding the strong positive motivational effects of goal setting (Locke et al., 1981). Therefore, the purpose of the present investigation was to determine the effects of three levels of goal difficulty and two levels of feedback on the performance of males undertaking an endurance task. Performance results were analyzed using a 2 x 3 x 2 (feedback x goal difficulty x trials) ANOVA with repeated measures on the last factor. Results indicated a significant goal by trials interaction with both specific difficult goal groups improving from trial one to trial two. The "do best" group showed no significant improvements. It was also found that only the difficult, but not the extremely difficult goal group performed significantly better than the "do best" goal group. No significant differences were found between the two feedback groups. The results are discussed in terms of Locke's (1968) original theory of goal setting.

Purpose: To assess a caregiver’s oral health attitudes, habits, and behaviors pre and post intervention, and to determine whether a particular delivery-style (verbal-only or with visual supplementation) of a motivational interviewing session is more effective in improving oral health behaviors as well as improving success of a chosen preventive goal. Methods: N=140 caregivers of pediatric dental patients were given questionnaires to assess readiness to change and current preventive oral health behaviors. Oral health education was communicated in a MI style (verbal-only or with visual supplementation). One preventive oral health goal was selected to focus on. The home preventive behavior survey was re-administered at follow-up. Results: Preventive home behaviors improved, with no significant difference between interventions. There was significance in the amount of change in items specified as a goal. Conclusions: Behaviors improved significantly after a MI educational intervention. Goal setting and providing oral health education in a MI style can improve home preventive behaviors.

Background: The majority of Americans - especially women - do not meet physical activity recommendations. Having physical activity goals has been associated with physical activity participation, and physical activity recommendations set by public health experts can be viewed as externally set goals. However, past research has shown that goals that are specific rather than ambiguous are more likely to be achieved, and variations in recommendations over time and across sources may have created perceived goal ambiguity.Objectives: This study aimed to (1) examine the extent of physical activity recommendation knowledge among adults in the United States, (2) quantify perceptions of the ambiguity of these recommendations, (3) determine whether knowledge of physical activity recommendations is associated with physical activity level, and (4) investigate whether perceived ambiguity of recommendations moderates the relationship between recommendation knowledge and activity. An additional objective was to explore demographic differences in any associations detected.Methods: SUDAAN was used to weight data from the 2005 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) (N=5,586) to represent the U.S. population. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and logistic regression was used to determine crude and adjusted odds ratios.Results: An estimated 31% of Americans had accurate knowledge of recommendations, and 35% reported engaging in physical activity at the recommended level. An estimated 75% perceived the recommendations as ambiguous. The odds of reporting accurate knowledge of recommendations were significantly higher among women than among men (OR 1.53,95% CI 1.22-1.93), but accurate knowledge of recommendations was associated with physical activity at the recommended level only among men (OR 1.67,95% CI 1.06-2.64). Perceived ambiguity did not moderate the association between knowledge and activity level in any analysis.Conclusions: These findings support disseminating updated physical activity recommendations as indicated by the scientific evidence base. Future research should explore: (1) how to boost knowledge of recommendations, particularly in men, (2) factors that would enable women to act on such knowledge, and (3) gender differences in other determinants of physical activity.

The purpose of the present study was to examine goal setting strategies, locus of control beliefs and personality characteristics of swimmers (108 males and 111 females) from top twenty 1999 NCAA Division IA programs. Three questionnaires were completed: (a) Goal Setting in Sport Questionnaire (GSISQ: Weinberg, Burton, Yukelson, & Weigand, 1993), (b) the Internal, Powerful Others, Chance Scale (IPC: Levenson, 1973), and (c) the compliance subscale and six conscientiousness subscales from the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO PI-R: Costa & McCrae, 1985). Descriptive statistics from the GSISQ indicated that most of the swimmers set goals to improve overall performance (51%) and set moderately difficult goals (58%). Results associated with the IPC scale revealed that most of the swimmers attributed their sport performance to internal factors. Results pertaining to the NEO-PI-R indicated that most swimmers were highly conscientious, disciplined, purposeful, and determined.

Twenty-five adolescents' ranking of a set of equally highly valued goals on a Paired-comparisons Survey was compared with what adolescents say they are doing to achieve those goals. Results of the Paired-comparisons Survey showed that adolescents ranked career, interpersonal, and educational goals rather high and reputation and self-presentation goals rather low. Results analyzed with a contingency coefficient and biserial correlation indicated that not all number one ranked goals had the same value for a particular adolescent, and that number one ranked goals were correlated with verbal reports of concrete actions directed at achieving those goals.