This study investigated the effects of a short-term in-service training program for rehabilitation practitioners. Specifically, cognitive, attitudinal, and behavioral changes were measured. Also examined with respect to the observed changes were the effects of age, sex, education and other variables. Significant information gain was made by the participants of the training program in comparison with the control group. When the program participants reported their attitudes, no significant difference was found between them and the control group. Judging from the supervisors' ratings, the participants of the program seemed to benefit significantly in terms of information gained, attitudes changed, and placement behaviors exhibited. There was a significant positive correlation between the age of an individual and his or her positive attitude change. The higher the level of education of an individual, the more positive the attitude change that occurred, and the less the amount of dogmatism that was measured. Persons who had been trained in the nonhelping professions showed more positive attitude change than those who had been trained in the helping professions. The questionnaire, answered anonymously by the trainees, indicated that virtually all of them found the training program very worthwhile. When the trainees rated their own perceived change after the training program (on a scale of "none," "slight," "moderate," "much," or "great") the group averaged "moderate" or more change in information, attitude, and behavior, and "much" change in motivation. It was concluded that the training program was effective in advancing the academic achievement of the participants. Judging from the supervisors' ratings, participants benefited significantly in terms of professional growth. The participants were supportive to the training program and expressed the belief that it was of value.

The problem of this study was to investigate the comparative effects of two in-service training programs on the attitudes of rehabilitation practitioners. There were two experimental groups, the consecutive three-day program and the two-week program, and one control group in the study. The two-week program was staggered, having training for five days, a three-week interval, and the remaining five days of training. The two programs were compared to determine which was more effective in altering rehabilitation practitioner attitudes. Conclusions were drawn from the experimental study and related literature review. They were that in-service training programs of two days and less will probably not produce significant attitude changes; in-service programs of three days to five days have a higher probability of producing significant attitude changes; in-service programs of two weeks to six weeks will probably produce less of a positive change than a program of less than two weeks but longer than two days; an in-service program of ten weeks to one year will probably produce less significant changes in attitudes than a shorter program; the shorter the in-service program (i.e., less than ten weeks and more than two days) the greater the probability of gaining significant attitude changes; the critical hour of significant attitude change appears to be around the twenty-fourth hour; and, in attitude change research, instead of measuring training by days across weeks or months, the variable to examine is the total number of hours of training.