Dynamic social change has influenced government's response to aid disabled persons' return to productive lives. Rehabilitation counselors are a keystone to this ambitious effort and program. Because much of rehabilitation professionals' work involves providing direction in case management and making decisions about extensive and varied problems, increasing attention is focused on their professional expertise, especially their problem solving capabilities. / From discussion of these capabilities arises the issue of measurement. Many forms of assessment exist, one of the more effective of which is the multiple choice format employed in medical client management training programs. The purpose of this study, to examine relationships between rehabilitation professionals' biographical and demographical characteristics and their sequential problem solving skills, was pursued through formulation and use of such an assessment instrument. The Applied Rehabilitative Judgment Scale-79b, consisting of 25 multiple choice, forced tetrad item statements, represented fictitious case study abstracts with four alternative selections from which subjects were to select the most appropriate, next-best-step solution. / The sample included 268 randomly selected rehabilitation supervisors and counselors from Alabama and Florida; of this number, 153 (61 percent) responded to mailed questionnaires. All returned instruments were validated for use. / With alpha set at .05 by convention, beta set at .20 yielding power of .80, and a medium effect size (partial r('2)=.13, r=.30) pre-established, multiple regression analyses were performed to test eight null hypotheses. Results revealed significant and/or important relationships as follows: For the total sample, relationships between successful closure ranges (0 through 14 and 45 through 59) and Evaluation-Diagnostic sequential problem solving scores achieved on the ARJS were both significant and important. For Alabama only, the relationship between age (under 29 years) of subjects and Evaluation-Diagnostic sequential problem solving scores achieved on the ARJS was significant but not important. For Florida only, the relationship between subjects' certification status and Composite-Summation sequential problem scores achieved on the ARJS was both significant and important as well. The relationship between professional role (supervisors or counselor) and Planning Services sequential problem solving scores achieved on the ARJS were both significant and important. Finally, the relationship between sex and Evaluation-Diagnostic scores were both significant and important. / Findings of this study suggest strong relationships exist between some biographic and demographic characteristics of rehabilitation professionals and their problem solving capabilities. Further research is needed to ascertain the nature of these relationships. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-03, Section: A, page: 0947. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74138 |
| Contributors | SPANAGEL, HERMAN ADOLPH., The Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 180 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
Page generated in 0.0026 seconds