abstract: The goals of this dissertation were to develop a measurement called the Empathetic Expressions Scale (EES) for Negative and Positive Events, to evaluate expressions of empathy from the receiver perspective, and to provide initial evidence for empathetic expressions as a separate construct from the empathy experience. A series of studies were conducted using three separately collected sets of data. Through the use of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), the EES for Negative Events and the EES for Positive Events were created from the emerged factors. A five-factor structure emerged for the EES for Negative Events, which include Verbal Affirmation, Experience Sharing, Empathetic Voice, Emotional Reactivity, and Empathetic Touch. This scale was found to have good convergent and discriminant validity through the process of construct validation and good local and model fit through Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). A four-factor structure and two-factor structure emerged for the EES for Positive Events. The four factors include Verbal Affirmation, Experience Sharing, Empathetic Voice, and Emotional Reactivity. The two factors in the second structure include Celebratory Touch and Hugs.The final study focused on evaluating different empathetic expressions from the receiver perspective. From the receiver perspective, the participants rated five types of empathetic expressions in response to negative or positive events disclosure. According to the findings, Emotional Reactivity was rated as the most effective empathetic expression in negative events on both levels of supportiveness and message quality scales whereas Verbal Affirmation received the lowest ratings on both criteria. In positive events, Experience Sharing was evaluated as the most supportive and highest quality message whereas Verbal Affirmation was evaluated the lowest on both criteria. Taken together, the series of studies presented in this dissertation provided evidence for the development and validity of the EES for Negative and Positive Events. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Communication 2016

There is a void of existing measures assessing young adults’ perceptions of childhood disorganized and controlling attachment. The current research project aimed to fill this gap by developing a convenient self-report measure, the Childhood Disorganization and Role Reversal Scale (CDRR: Meier & Bureau, 2012), which comprehensively assesses for the complexity of those attachment constructs in young adults. The CDRR is a novel measure as it assesses the unique attachment representations of mother-child and father-child relationships. This research project had three main objectives. The first objective was the development of the CDRR. It was guided by the recommendations of various scholars in scale development using classical measurement theory. The items of the CDRR were informed by the attachment and family systems literature. The factor structure of the CDRR was determined through conducting principal components analyses (PCA). The second objective, constituting Study 1, aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the CDRR, namely, its structural stability, internal reliability, temporal reliability, convergent and discriminant validity and criterion-related validity. Lastly, the third objective, involving Study 2, sought to provide further support for the validity of the CDRR. It accomplished this goal by exploring the associations of the CDRR to psychological outcomes consistent with the attachment literature, namely, problems in the separation-individuation process, unresolved feelings towards caregiver, and current psychological well-being. The results of the PCA revealed a four-factor structure for both CDRR parent versions. The CDRR mother version includes the Disorganization/Punitive, Mutual Hostility, Affective Caregiving, and Appropriate Boundaries scales, while the CDRR father version includes the Disorganization, Affective Caregiving, Appropriate Boundaries, and Punitive scales. Overall, support was provided for the psychometric properties of the CDRR. The CDRR scales demonstrated adequate structural stability, internal consistency, temporal reliability and various forms of validity. Generally, the disorganized and controlling scales were positively related to problematic separation-individuation, unresolved feelings towards caregivers and psychological problems. It is hoped the CDRR will assist researchers in broadening the understanding of psychological outcomes of disorganized and controlling attachment representations in young adulthood.

By employing a multi-stage, multi-phase, and multi-sample approach, this paper reports on the construction of a service quality scale. Customer perceptions of service quality of retail banks in Northern Cyprus serve as the study setting. The parsimonious 20-item four-dimensional scale consisting of service environment (four items), interaction quality (seven items), empathy (five items), and reliability (four items) exhibits sound psychometric properties. Scale development procedures and managerial applications of the derived scale are discussed.

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In South Africa, the levels of unemployment and poverty are extremely high and these are two of South Africa’s most pressing problems. Over the past 28 years several major programmes have been initiated in South Africa to counter unemployment and poverty. Between 1980 and 1994, the former government spent billions of Rands on large-scale development programmes with the stated objective of using labour-intensive methods during the provision of physical infrastructure, to create employment and alleviate poverty. However, this did not solve the unemployment problem. Since 1994 the African National Congress (ANC) government has implemented large-scale programmes with similar objectives to those before 1994. After an analysis of the theoretical premises and implementation of labour-intensive public works programmes in Africa, the thesis critically evaluated several pre - and post - 1994 large-scale development programmes in South Africa. Major conclusions are that very little sustainable employment was created and there was no long-term programme approach to address poverty alleviation. Furthermore, lessons that could have been learnt from pre – 1994 have not been applied in the post 1994 period. Shortcomings in programme planning and implementation of large-scale development programmes in South Africa still exist. Another major conclusion is that the pre-1994 lessons were not taken into considerations in the post-1994 programme planning and implementation. Based on the research, the author has derived a six phase Programme Management Framework for Development Programmes. This framework embodies a long-term programme management approach to the planning and implementation of large-scale, labour-intensive development programmes.

The Social Class Worldview Model (SCWM; Liu, 2011) is a recent phenomenological framework, in which social class is understood based on experiences of acculturation, identity, and stress, as opposed to a narrow view of access to resources. Based on this model, people's experiences of social class discrimination (i.e., classism) are an integral part of how they make meaning of their social class. The current study addresses the development and initial validation of the Perceived Classism Questionnaire (PCQ), a scale of distress due to classist experiences. Items were initially created and refined based on a review of the available literature, expert analysis, and a pilot study. In Study 1, an Exploratory Factor Analysis was conducted on a sample of 309 participants, reveling three distinct factors: Downward Classism, Upward Classism, and Lateral Classism. In study 2, a Confirmatory Factor Analysis in a distinct sample of 274 participants provided further support for the three-factor structure of the PCQ. The three subscales were correlated in the expected directions with convergent and discriminant measures (i.e., subjective social status, self-rated health, stress, state and trait anxiety, life satisfaction, and well-being), supporting validity evidence of the PCQ. The Perceived Classism Questionnaire advances on previous scales of classism, as it is a theory-driven scale, and it is not restricted to academic environments. Research and practical implications of the PCQ are discussed.

Approachability of nursing clinical instructors is largely unknown and misunderstood, yet critical for millennial students which currently comprise 82% of nursing students (National League for Nursing, 2014). Nursing education consists of both a didactic and a clinical component. Clinical education is dynamic and allows the student an experiential learning opportunity. Therefore, clinical nursing educators are vitally important. Approachability has been identified in many studies as a leading characteristic of an effective instructor. Although the importance of approachability of the instructor is established, currently no scale exists to measure this concept. The purpose of this study was to examine the validity and reliability of the newly developed Approachability of Nursing Clinical Instructor (ANCI) scale. Based on the results of this study, the newly developed ANCI scale meets all four aspects of validity (face, content, construct and criterion-related) and reliability is established. The confirmatory analysis indicated a one-factor scale with 56.102 of the variance explained. There are multiple future recommendations for the ANCI scale which include further psychometric testing the new scale, potential theory testing, education and screening of new clinical instructors and expanding the ANCI within nursing and to other disciplines.

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