Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Counseling Psychology, 2007. / Title from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 25, 2008). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-02, Section: A, page: 0519. Adviser: Michael L. Tracy.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: . Adviser: Thomas A. Schwandt. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 129-135) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Lehigh University, 2009. / Adviser: Arnold Spokane.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: B, page: 3822. Adviser: James Rounds. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-98) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

<p> This investigation examines the effect of a peer mentoring service-learning program established by the University of Maine on empathy and moral reasoning. The methodology is qualitative in nature, using a semi-structured interview protocol and a conceptual framework based on the review of the literature. Mentoring, empathy and moral reasoning were the focus of the literature review, which revealed these two key components of social and emotional learning are associated with academic performance and pro-social behaviors in adolescence, and mentoring is a service learning modality associated with similar benefits. </p><p> Two rural high schools were recruited to participate in an innovative collaborative effort with the University of Maine. Volunteer mentors, screened by local guidance staff, were trained in peer mentoring theory, skills, and techniques in three all day workshops. Ongoing onsite guidance was provided by a University of Maine graduate school intern and on site counseling staff. Each mentor was assigned a mentee, whom they met with regularly throughout the school year. In the spring, twelve mentors, representing approximately half of the mentor population, was interviewed about their experiences and perceptions.</p><p> A conceptual framework was developed based on a detailed review of relevant literature. A semi-structured interview was based on this framework, which was then utilized to guide data collection in the interviews. The interview transcripts were coded and analyzed to detect the emergence of themes with high frequency and prevalence. Mentor profiles were also developed for each of the twelve mentors who participated.</p><p> The mentor profiles and findings from the interview thematic analysis were then compared and contrasted with the review of the literature, and the conceptual framework was refined into the final concept map. The findings support a strong conceptual connection between moral reasoning and empathy, mediated through the empathic connections of the mentors including family, friends, and mentees, as well as the various moral dilemmas that they encountered in their high school experience. The implications for conceptual development through research with adolescents is reviewed, as well as opportunities for future research to increase the effectiveness of service learning programs that develop social and emotional capacities in youth.</p>

This study researched the impact of parental shiftwork schedules on the performance, behavior, and development of middle-school students as seen through the eyes of their teachers. Located in a company-owned town in southeastern Arizona, the study focused on the experiences of middle-school teachers by asking them to consider and reflect on their observations of middle-school students in terms of the shiftwork schedule their parents worked. The teachers were also asked to respond to questions regarding what they had done in their own classrooms and what school leaders could do to lessen these impacts. By analyzing their responses, conclusions may be drawn as to the extent of these impacts, their variability and scope, and their implications for school leaders.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the hypothesis, can academic advising, based on the adult learning characteristics of andragogy, be an effective advising approach in assisting undergraduate students in their developmental learning, decision making strategies, and transition and adaptation into a university. This study examined two groups, each with ten graduating seniors, who were advised in the advising center of a large public institution of higher education in the Southwest. One student group was advised in the university's conventional advising manner; the second group was advised using the Advising Learning Method of Andragogy or ALMA. The methodology used to examine the hypothesis was done in the following manner: The quantitative stage, consisting of the ALMA Likert student survey and ALMA and Non-ALMA student group grade point average chart. These findings demonstrated an initial grade point average difference between the ALMA and Non-ALMA groups favoring the Non-ALMA group. While both groups improved their mean grade point average, the ALMA group's grade point average improved at a consistent pace as these students transitioned into the university, with both groups' mean grade point average reaching near convergence after five years. The qualitative stage, the survey and interview findings revealed that the ALMA and Non-ALMA groups were similar in their views that the university's large size, bureaucratic complexity, and limited advising resources had adverse effects on their success and sense of participation within the university community. The ALMA and Non-ALMA groups differed in several respects. The Non-ALMA group frequently mentioned the importance of outside support of family, friends, high school advisors, the use and retrieval of prior learned skills, and peer competition, while the ALMA group did not. The ALMA group frequently mentioned the importance of university OAS advising, technology, and study skills acquired at the university, while the Non-ALMA group did not. ALMA advising is not merely a change in the perspective method undergraduates use to access advising. ALMA represents a shift in the paradigm and approach taken in advising, which focuses on facilitating the development of the student's problem-solving skills and decision-making strategies.

The purpose of this research was to examine the decisions made by school leaders in the aftermath of a student suicide in the context of the four frames of organizational leadership as described by Bolman and Deal (1989). The four frames were: structural, human resource, political, and symbolic. The researcher obtained an understanding of the leadership behaviors through the use of two qualitative research methods: interview and document analysis. This study utilized a case study of one middle school located in southern Arizona and a second case study of one high school from the same school district. Both schools experienced a student suicide one to two years prior to the data collection for this study. The case studies examined the leadership decisions and strategies implemented by the principal and others in relationship to the suicidal death of the student. Some of the implications for educators were staff training, crisis response handbook, printed guidelines discouraging student memorials, district crisis team, staff training, assessing the impact of the student death, unwillingness of suicide victims' parents to accept their son's death as a suicide, assisting the parents in planning the memorial service, and consistently implemented crisis response activities. The two schools provided very different looks at how school leaders responded and the myriad of decisions that were made in the aftermath of a student suicide. The four frames of organizational leadership provided a powerful lens from which to view those leadership decisions.

To date no systematic empirical study has been published that examines the association between the demographic and professional characteristics of school psychologists and their ethical beliefs concerning school psychology practice. In the present study a representative sample of 345 NASP members rated various behavior descriptions of possible school psychology practices with regard to their ethical beliefs of the appropriateness of such practices and their perceptions as to the frequency of occurrence of such practices. The differences between respondents' gender, age, type of work setting, theoretical orientation, educational level, type of certification, type of ethics training, year highest degree was obtained and years in practice on three dependent measures (i.e., total ethical behavior rating score, dual relationship domain score and competency domain score) were examined. The results showed that there was a high linear association between respondents' ethical ratings of selected behaviors and their respective ratings of the observed frequency of occurrence of such behaviors in practice. In addition, the findings between the demographic and professional characteristics indicated that: (1) female respondents scored significantly higher (i.e., more conservative/less permissive) than male respondents on the three dependent measures, (2) respondents who practiced less than 16 years or graduated after 1981 scored significantly higher (i.e., more conservative/less permissive) on the three dependent measures than those respondents who had worked either more than 16 years or graduated before 1981, (3) Master's and Ed.S. level respondents who had obtained their highest degree after 1981 scored significantly higher (i.e., more conservative/less permissive) than did those Master's and Ed.S. respondents who obtained their degree before 1981, and (4) Doctoral level respondents who received their degree before 1981 scored significantly higher (i.e., more conservative/less permissive) than those Master's degree respondents who received their degree before 1981. The present study's findings were discussed in relation to existing literature on psychology and ethics. In addition, limitations of the present study and suggestions for future research were also addressed.

The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the disclosure process for university students with learning disabilities. The study used qualitative and quantitative research methods to gather data and to measure the psychosocial development. A telephone survey, personal interviews, and The Student Developmental Task and Lifestyle Inventory (SDTLI) were used. The participants included 148 university students with learning disabilities who were enrolled in a learning disabilities fee-based support program at a Research I University. The study found that the psychosocial development of students with learning disabilities did not differ significantly from the norming sample on the SDTLI, nor were there any significant differences between cohort status or gender of students with learning disabilities. The majority of students disclosed their learning disabilities to their instructors in order to use accommodations. Students with learning disabilities considered classroom climate, instructor characteristics, and peers in their decision making about disclosure. The results have implications for faculty, staff, and administrators because successful students seem to reframe their learning disability challenges into positive outcomes. Even students who tended to doubt their successes used reframing. Personnel and faculty members who have contact with students with learning disabilities need to understand that the students are capable and have typical psychosocial development.