As we move further and further into the digital age, interventions that make use of advances in technology will become increasingly relevant. One example of the application of technology is Video Based Interventions (VBI). VBIs include interventions that utilize pre-recorded video footage to assist acquisition of functional life skills, social and play skills, and adaptive behaviors, among others (Rayner, Denholm, & Sigafoos, 2009). Due to the breadth of the term, there are many different types of VBIs that have been examined in research and practice. This study examined one type of VBI, video prompting, and its effectiveness when combined with backward chaining. Prior research suggested that both VBIs (Bellini & Akullian, 2007; Rayner et al., 2009), backward chaining (Batra & Batra, 2005; Walls & Zane, 1981), and their combination (Moore, Anderson, Deppeler, & Furlonger, 2013), are effective intervention methods for skill acquisition. Using a single-subject multiple baseline design, this experiment expands the current literature by examining backward chaining and a VBI for the acquisition of the shoe tying behavior in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The results obtained from this study support prior research that VBIs are effective and their effectiveness is influenced by a number of factors. We also found that majority of the participants were able to retain their newly acquired behaviors one week after achieving mastery.

This thesis investigates the role that specific cultural dimensions – such as individualism and masculinity - play in shaping the extended identity of global F&B brands. It explores the link between individualism and brand identity in nations that differ based on their position on the individualism spectrum. It further analyzes the relation between a global brand’s identity in a specific country and that country’s position on the masculinity spectrum. Coca-Cola and McDonald’s Italian, British, Thai and Portuguese website homepages were used as units of analysis for extended brand identities. Conclusions suggested that the more individualistic the target market, the greater the emphasis on individualistic values in branding content. Similarly, the more collectivistic the target market, the greater the emphasis on collectivistic values. This thesis examines the reasons for these findings. Similar links were not observed between the position of a country on the masculinity dimension and a brand’s identity. It is possible this is to gradual shifts of traditionally masculine societies toward feminist ideals.

<p> Learning deficits and disabilities affect many students in mathematics. On average, seven percent of students in schools are identified as a having mathematics learning disability (MLD), while an additional 10% have been identified as low achievers in mathematics (Geary, 2011). A common skill deficit found in students struggling in mathematics lies in the development of computational fluency skills, which lay the foundation for understanding higher order mathematical concepts in school (Gersten, Jordan, &amp; Flojo, 2005). Furthermore, mathematics skill acquisition and application facilitates individual success beyond school years (Geary, 2013). </p><p> Since the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 2004, an emphasis has been placed on implementing early identification and intervention services for students struggling to advance their academic knowledge and skills (U.S. Department of Education, 2004). To help bridge the gap between identifying effective interventions and individual student needs, Brief Experimental Analysis (BEA) has been employed. The goal of BEA is to quickly assess a student&rsquo;s response to multiple interventions to determine which is most successful in addressing the target need. Beyond the benefits experienced on the individual student level, the use of BEA to guide intervention has resulted in time-efficient and cost-effective intervention selection procedures (Mong &amp; Mong, 2012). Past researchers have supported the effectiveness of BEA predicted interventions by conducting extended analyses, where the BEA predicted intervention is evaluated for its effectiveness long term (Codding et al., 2009; Mong &amp; Mong, 2012). Math to Mastery (MTM) is a newly emerging intervention that has been found to be effective in increasing computational fluency (Mong &amp; Mong, 2010; Mong &amp; Mong, 2012). MTM is comprised of five components, including problem previewing, repeated practice, corrective feedback, performance feedback, and charting (Mong &amp; Mong, 2010). When compared to other computational fluency interventions with well-established research bases, MTM has been found superior in increasing fluency; however, MTM has not been supported as a time-efficient intervention (Mong &amp; Mong, 2010; Mong &amp; Mong, 2012). This study will extend the work of Everett, Swift, McKenney and Jewell (2016) by conducting a BEA of the successive components of the MTM intervention to determine which components of MTM are most effective and efficient in increasing individual computational fluency skills. To address the limitations of Everett et al. (2016), multiple intervention phases will be included in the extended analysis to further evaluate the predictive validity of BEA methodology in MTM intervention.</p>

This study tested the general hypothesis that a client's compliance or defiance of a therapeutic directive could be accurately predicted by manipulating the variables of incongruence and dependency within the client-counselor relationship. An attempt to control the relationship variables was made by using a no-choice, paradoxical directive to increase levels of relationship incongruence. The manipulation of the client's perception of their counselor's level of experience and expertness was aimed at controlling the dependency variables. The hypothesis that clients would report improvement of their symptom, following the delivery of a paradoxical directive, was also investigated. The subjects of the study were 30 undergraduate students at Virginia Commonwealth University. All of the subjects reported to experiencing problems with Procrastination and wished to change this behavior. Subjects were randomly assigned to two treatment groups and a no-treatment control condition. In the treatment conditions, students received two interviews with counselors who were reported as being either expert or inexperienced. Each subject was given exactly the same paradoxical directive regardless of the experience level of the counselor. During the second interview, subjects were asked by their counselors and a confederate peer if they had completed the paradoxical assignment. Subjects responses were recorded and coded. All 30 subjects completed a weekly procrastination measure. In addition, treatment group subjects completed questionnaires regarding their perception of their counselors. All subjects completed inventories measuring their orientation to the change process. Subjects of all three conditions reported to significantly decreasing (p<.001) their levels of procrastination over time. There was no significant difference reported between the three groups. Statistical analysis revealed that subjects' response types could not be accurately predicted at the p<.05 level. An analysis of the available data suggests that the subjects did not differentially perceive the counselors as expert or inexperienced, therefore, one of the experimental variables may not have been successfully manipulated. Further, the data indicates that the current primary hypotheses need to be revised and reevaluated.

Current research suggests that there is some relationship between developmental variables, levels of career maturity and career decisions. In this study, the relationships between certain developmental factors and the degree of certainty expressed by college students about their decision to major in a field of study were explored. The variables included the student's decision making stage, decision making styles, levels of autonomy and interpersonal relationships, and degree of career maturity. The relationships between students' status as decided or undecided about a choice of major and the variables were also investigated. The participants of this study were 104 men (n=47) and women (n=57) who were enrolled as degree seeking students at Virginia Commonwealth University during the 1981 academic year. It was found that the student's scores on developmental measures did interact with levels of certainty of the decision making outcomes. Significant positive relationships were found to exist between decision making stage, decision making style, level of autonomy, career maturity, and the expressed level of certainty of the decision. Also, it was found that students who had decided upon a major field of study scored significantly higher on the measure of career maturity than did the undecided students. It was suggested that these results be applied to the career/academic counseling setting. Counselors could better help students to plot a course towards effective decision making by considering informational and developmental factors as components of the career decision making process.

<p> The effect of workplace stressors on physical health has been well documented (Ganster &amp; Rosen, 2013; Nixon, Mazzola, Bauer, Krueger, &amp; Spector, 2011). However, gaps in the research led to two main goals of the study: (1) understanding in a fuller range of reactions through the study of justice adherence and rule infraction and (2) exploring an explanation for the justice-health effects. This multilevel, daily diary study was designed to measure participants&rsquo; perceptions of organizational fairness and physical health. After that participants responded to daily surveys on the perceived supervisor interactions, emotions, rumination, and sleep quality over the course of five days. A total of 157 participants were included, which provided 618 daily surveys. Results provide evidence for a relationship between person-level perceptions of distributive justice and procedural justice and injustice with daily sleep quality. Further, person-level distributive and procedural justice predicted daily fluctuations of happiness. Finally, indicators of rumination, measured daily, also predicted daily sleep quality. These findings suggest a need to continue exploring the full spectrum of fairness as the relationships across dimensions were different across health outcomes. Results from this study also point to a need for better measures of emotions that are more closely directed at agents of organizational experiences.</p>

The consideration of parents acceptance of child discipline methods is important when developing culturally sensitive parent training programs, as treatment acceptability has been associated with treatment adherence and effectiveness. Past parent training research has primarily been conducted with middle-income, Caucasian mothers. The purpose of this study is to examine parents acceptance of five common discipline methods often used by or recommended to parents. To address the lack of research considering parental factors, this study examines the influence of gender, race, and income on parents acceptability ratings. Participants were 106 mothers from heterogeneous backgrounds. Acceptability ratings were measured using the Treatment Evaluation Inventory, Short Form (Kelley, Heffer, Gresham, & Elliott, 1989). Results indicated that parents from different racial and income backgrounds differed in their ratings of treatment acceptability, particularly in terms of medication and corporal punishment. These findings are relatively consistent with past studies, but suggest an increased acceptance of corporal punishment among some parent groups. This study supports the importance of considering parents acceptance of varying discipline methods when recommending and adapting parent-training programs.

There has been in recent years a marked decline in college entrance examination test scores. Declines have been documented both on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the American College Testing Program (ACT). In turn there has been an increasing interest concerning the test score declines as well as possible sources of influence on test scores. These sources or factors seem to be functions of three main "contexts." These contexts are: (a) school-related factors, (b) student-related factors and (c) family-structure related factors. It was of interest to attempt to explain the relative association of each variable to composite ACT scores and of each "context" to composite ACT scores. In turn, it was of interest to attempt to assess the extent to which combinations of two, or all three sets of variables aid in explaining the variance on composite ACT scores. The sample population consisted of entering college freshmen at Utah State University for the fall quarter of 1976. All S's were from one of the six major feeder high schools to Utah State University. Information was gathered through the use of a questionnaire distributed at freshmen registration and by mail. Other sources of information included school principals and official student ACT transcripts and school records. Using composite ACT scores as the dependent variable both stepwise and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were done. As a result of stepwise multiple regression using all ten factors, it was found that academic course taking had the greatest partial regression coefficient. Next in predictive power was the level of educational aspiration of the student. Size of school entered the prediction equation on Step 3 and was negatively associated with composite ACT scores. Student-related factors helped to explain 38 percent of the total variance on composite ACT scores and as such comprises the most significant "context" of association. More modest support has been demonstrated for school-related factors. Family-structure factors do not appear significantly related to composite ACT scores. Recommendations were made for a larger sample size from a more diverse geographic region.

The objective of this study was to determine the predictors of risky sexual behavior by an integrated approach using proximate determinants (intentions index, skills index and situational factors index), intermediate variables (perceived benefits and perceived barriers index, perceived norms index and perceived self efficacy index) and wider background factors (gender, relationship status, access to information and supplies index and actual knowledge about health behavior index). The indices evolved from behavioral theories addressing social, psychological and cultural factors that influenced Ghanaian youth. Two hundred and ninety (290) respondents were recruited from high schools, youth clubs, youth workshops and marketplaces from six regions in Ghana using randomization techniques. The responses were examined employing hierarchical logistic regression modeling. All of the ten indices had significant association with the sexual behavior index, the outcome variable, thus making the case that risky sexual behavior was influenced by a wide spectrum of variables including both personal and environmental factors. The bivariate analysis showed eight of the thirteen hypotheses were supported when individual indices were examined. To accomplish the ultimate objective of changing behavior in order to decrease risky sexual behavior, the integrated model as a whole was highly significant. Therefore, if there were resources to make global changes in relation to all of the factors, one would expect high success, but if resources were limited and one had to prioritize, then one would have to focus on the three determinants which emerged as significant. The intervention should target (a) access to information and contraceptive supplies, (b) relationship status and (c) greater female function in the relationship. The relationship status should encourage steady relationships and discourage casual relationships.

The correlation coefficient be can interpreted as the cosine of the angle between centered or standardized variable vectors in subject space. Using this interpretation of the correlation, the space occupied by 3x3 correlation matrices first demonstrated by Rousseeuw and Molenberghs (1994) can be re-portrayed. Once the cosine transformation is imposed on the space, the space occupied by 3x3 correlation matrices becomes a regular tetrahedron. Extensions of this space in higher dimensions are discussed and explored. Uniform sampling from the regular tetrahedron produces non-uniform sampling from the 3x3 correlation space, such that correlation matrices with more extreme elements are sampled more frequently. Simulations demonstrating this phenomenon are presented and compared to established generation methods.