Nursing education: developing specification equations for selection and retention.

Because nursing is a professional area in which costs continue to rise faster than in other academic areas, it is imperative to provide quality education that is within the financial reach of those students who can benefit from it. This study sought to develop a specification equation that could be used to predict retention in the academic area and workplace.

Effects of cognitive-behavioral, reminiscence, and activity treatments on life satisfaction and anxiety in the elderly.

This study involved an examination of effects of a cognitive-behavioral group condition, a reminiscence treatment group condition, and an activity group condition on anxiety and life satisfaction for senior citizens, aged sixty-five and older. No significant differences on life satisfaction and trait anxiety were found for the groups at pretest, posttest, and follow-up. A significant ANOVA for state anxiety at follow-up was followed by directional t-tests which were not significant in the predicted direction. The differences on state anxiety observed at follow-up appear to have resulted from improvement of the reminiscence group. Suggestions were made for further research on group treatment of the elderly.

The effects of self-administered cognitive therapy on social-evaluative anxiety.

Investigated the efficacy of self-administered cognitive therapy (RET) in the treatment of high and chronic social anxiety. Forty-five socially anxious volunteer students, who scored in the upper 15% of 570 students prescreened with the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale, were matched on SAD scores and randomly assigned to self-administered cognitive therapy (RET), a self-administered attention placebo condition (Logo-therapy), or a no-treatment control condition. Pretest and posttest measures included the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale (SAD), Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (FNE), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale. Results indicated that self-administered cognitive therapy significantly decreased social anxiety and fear of negative evaluation and also suggested a generalization of effects as trait anxiety significantly decreased. Comparisons of mean change scores with therapist administered studies lend support to the conclusion that self-administered cognitive restructuring is an effective means of decreasing social-evaluative anxiety. Mean change scores suggest that participants may have attained therapeutic benefits as a consistent trend toward decreased anxiety across variables.

Counseling psychology: the impact of authority and peer pressure as training variables.

Assessed by use of a modified Asch paradigm the effects of peer and authority social pressure on the evaluative responses of 44 graduate students who were majoring in Counseling Psychology. Ss were assigned randomly to three research groups. Group one Ss rated video taped counseling segments for counselor effectiveness, while 4 peer confederates reported erroneous ratings for 10 of the 25 segments. The "peer" panel was removed, and the Ss rated the segments again in a postpressure condition. Group two was similar, except that 4 faculty confederates comprised the "authority" panel. Group three rated the segments in a no-pressure control condition. Results indicate that both pressure conditions produced significantly greater distortion (conformity) than in the controls and that authority pressure was not significantly more potent in eliciting conformance than peer pressure. It also was found that both groups retained a "residual" conformity effect after the social pressure was eliminated.

Race and socioeconomic status as confounding variables in the accurate diagnosis of alcoholism.

Utilized two psychologists as actors in making four videotapes to depict background information and verbal modes of communication for alcoholics according to black-white race differences and high-low socioeconomic status. Forty graduate psychology students (10 per group) then were shown randomly one of the four recordings and asked to make a diagnosis. A significant difference was found for the effects of race, socioeconomic status, and race X socioeconomic status interaction on the correct diagnosis of alcoholism. Results were interpreted as suggesting that a clinician's personal biases and/or prejudices might extend into the clinical diagnosis and treatment of clients.