L'objet de la présente thèse était d'examiner les relations entre les perceptions de soi, la motivation d'accomplissement et la pratique d'activité physique des personnes âgées. Une première étude menée dans une perspective dynamique (Ninot et al., 2004) a montré que l'estime de soi et les perceptions du soi physique chez les sujets âgés, présentaient un niveau plus bas, une instabilité plus importante, comparées aux perceptions de soi de jeunes adultes, mais aussi une non-stationnarité des séries temporelles. Le caractère labile de ces perceptions de soi étant démontré, une seconde étude a mis en évidence qu'une prise en charge en APA de sujets institutionnalisés très âgés entraînait des changements positifs de leur estime globale de soi et de leurs perceptions de valeur physique, d'apparence physique et de compétence sportive. Compte tenu de la mise en jeu de l'estime de soi dans les buts d'accomplissement (e.g., Wolfe & Crocker, 2002), les deux études suivantes ont consisté à valider un Questionnaire Français des Buts d'Accomplissement pour le Sport et l'Exercice Physique (QFBASEP ; Riou et al., 2012) prenant en compte les évolutions conceptuelles récentes du modèle en quatre buts d'Elliot et Murayama (2008). L'instrument ainsi créé nous a permis, dans une cinquième étude, de démontrer qu'une prise en charge en APA, pratiquée dans un climat motivationnel de maitrise entraînait une réduction de l'implication des personnes âgées institutionnalisées dans les buts de maîtrise-évitement habituellement considérés comme des réponses mal-adaptatives à la menace que constitue la confrontation au déclin de ses propres capacités (Elliot, 2005). Enfin, une sixième étude a permis de montrer qu'une combinaison de propriétés relatives aux buts d'accomplissement identifiées par Gernigon et collaborateurs (Gernigon, 2013 ; Gernigon et al., 2012) prédisait la participation à des activités physiques des personnes âgées. En conclusion, l'étude des facteurs psycho-sociaux de la pratique d'activités physiques a permis de déterminer les rôles respectifs de l'estime de soi et des perceptions du soi physique d'une part, et de la motivation d'accomplissement d'autre part, dans l'engagement des personnes âgées dans des comportements actifs physiquement. Nous avons démontré que des pratiques d'APA encadrées ouvrent la perspective d'un processus de réengagement dans des comportements actifs et peuvent constituer le point de départ de l'inversion du processus de déconditionnement (Préfaut & Ninot, 2009). / The aim of this doctoral research was to examine the relationships between self-perceptions, achievement motivation and physical activity in aging. A first study, that was conducted according to a dynamical perspective (Ninot et al., 2004), showed that elderly person's self-esteem and physical self perceptions displayed lower levels, higher instability than young adults', but a non-stationary time series. The lability of self perceptions being so evidenced, a second study showed that an intervention based on adapted physical activities conducted in institutes for elderly persons entailed among these people positive changes in their global self-esteem as well as in their perceptions of physical value, physical appearance, and sport competency. Given that self-esteem is contingent on the extent to which one achieves specific goals (e.g., Wolfe & Crocker, 2002), the next two studies consisted of validating a French Achievement Goal Questionnaire for Sport and Exercise (FAGQSE; Riou et al., 2012) that takes into account the Elliot and Murayama's (2008) recent conceptual evolvements of the four-goal framework. The creation of this instrument then enabled, in a fifth study, the demonstration that carrying out an intervention based on a mastery motivational climate entails a reduction of the institutionalized elderly persons' involvement in mastery-avoidance goals, a kind of goal that is considered a maladaptive response to the threat that people perceive when facing up to their own capabilities decline (Elliot, 2005). Finally, a sixth study showed that a combination of specific properties of achievement goals that were identified by Gernigon and his collaborators (Gernigon, 2013; Gernigon et al., 2012) predicted elderly persons' involvement in physical activities. To conclude, this examination of the social-psychological factors of involvement in physical activities led to the identification of the respective roles of self-esteem, physical self perceptions, and achievement motivation in elderly persons' involvement in physically active behaviors. We showed that the supervised practice of adapted physical activities may activate a process of re-engagement in active behaviors and may be the starting point of a reversal in deconditioning (Préfaut & Ninot, 2009).

Academic institutions have recently organized to address their campus' greenhouse gas emissions. Along those lines, the University of North Texas (UNT) pledged to minimize the campus' environmental impact, and conducted a transportation survey in May 2009. The analyses confirm that commuting to campus was the second highest source (29%) of UNT's greenhouse gas emissions, following purchased electricity (48%). Students, faculty and staff drive over 89 million miles per year, 84% of which comes from students. Forty‐two percent of student driving trips originate in the primary and secondary core areas surrounding Denton, which are partially served by buses. However, because these core areas are in close proximity to the campus, they contribute only 8% of the total student driving distance. Beyond the Denton core, the inner periphery of Denton County contributes another 22% of driving mileage. Students living in the outer periphery (outside Denton County) contribute the remaining 70% of total driving distance, and carpooling is currently their only alternative.

This study provided administrators in a large southern metropolitan public school district an opportunity to participate in a stress-related research study. The questionnaire contained such stress-related probe areas as spiritual beliefs, preferred and imposed (perceived) orders of major-life emphasis areas, professional environment, personal-social environment, and probes into the ethical positions held by the administrators. The professional environment section contained subsets of internal (on-the-job) probes, external (political) probes, as well as personal (incentive) probes.The personal-social environment section was sub-divided into five Maslow hierarchy-of-need related probes such as physiological needs, safety-security needs, social needs, esteem needs, and self-fulfillment needs. The final section of the instrument sampled the administrators' responses to probes concerning their concepts of God, their concepts of the Bible arid their positions on eight ethical statements.

The diploma thesis focuses on the concept of social work in the social and legal protection of children and social workers perception of the prestige this profession. The diploma thesis defines terms such as self-worth, self-realization, motivation and prestige, while the emphasis is mainly on meeting expectations that were formed before studying at university, or higher professional school. The work also focuses on the professional and systemic limits that social workers at OSPOD encounter, but also on the assumptions that are an integral part of the professional performance of social work at OSPOD. The empirical part of the thesis is focused on qualitative research, where semi-structured interviews were used and the respondents were selected on the basis of the reference selection. This thesis also looks into the problem and identification of critical areas, which are connected with the performance of social work on OSPOD, mainly in the context of perception of prestige of this profession.

The effect of frequency of nursing home contact on family perceptions of quality care is the focus of this research. A family member characteristic, such as geographic distance from the nursing home, affects his or her frequency of contact with the nursing home. Frequency of contact, in turn, affects family perceptions of the care his or her loved one receives in the nursing home. The theoretical framework for this study is based on Allport's intergroup contact theory, which posits that when four contact conditions - institutional support, equal status, common goals, and intergroup cooperation - are present in an intergroup situation, a reduction in anxiety between groups is likely to occur. Regression analysis tested the stated hypotheses using survey data collected from 275 family members of residents in 10 Dallas-Ft. Worth area nursing homes. This study is among the first to quantify family geographic distance, finding that family geographic distance is a significant negative predictor of nursing home contact. Additionally, results build on Allport's theory by extending its' usefulness to nursing home organizations in two distinct ways. First, findings support Allport's premise that contact alone between groups - i.e., family members and nursing home staff - is insufficient for increasing or decreasing family perceptions of nursing home care. Second, three of the four contact conditions included in Allport's theory were statistically supported by the data. In sum, findings of this research provide nursing homes with an empirically tested model for improving family perceptions of quality nursing home care.

This study describes the learning projects of a sample of engineers between the ages of 25 and 35 employed by a single employer in Port Worth, Texas. The problem of this study was the nature and extent of the continuing education programs of young engineers and the implications of these programs to their job requirements and possible employer assistance. The purposes of this study were to determine the number and types of learning projects undertaken each year by engineers with degrees, the number of hours spent by the subjects, the problems experienced, the resources used, the amount of job-related learning projects undertaken, the locations used to pursue learning projects, and whether the learning projects were amenable to assistance from employers.

No description available.

The problem of this study is to compare certain elements of appeal in favorite comic books and favorite books of fiction read by 384 ninth-grade pupils in the J. P. Elder Junior High School, Fort Worth, Texas, during a three-months period from November 7, 1949, to February 7, 1950. The purpose of this investigation is to ascertain whether the same elements of appeal are common to both types of reading, and whether they compare favorably with the findings of other investigations reported in literature on the subject.

This thesis concentrates on a local union of the International Association of Machinists (IAM), District Lodge 776, of Fort Worth, Texas, during the war years. The main argument of the thesis runs along three basic lines. First, it demonstrates that the experiences of the Fort Worth Machinists clearly fit into the national labor movement during the war years. Second, it argues that the existence, survival, and strength of the union depended greatly on outside forcesan expanding national economy, a powerful national union, and a generally labor-friendly government. Third, it shows that union officers and rank-and-file members used their bases of strengththe national economy, the national IAM, and the federal governmentto build an effective local labor organization.

The problem of this investigation was to make a rating of the following factors which pertain to boys in three distinct residential districts of the W. C. Stripling Junior High School, Fort Worth, Texas: (1) intelligence quotient, (2) civic attitude, (3) academic achievements, (4) Sunday school attendance, (5) club membership, (6) after-school employment, and (7) the number of broken homes.