Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Doctoral students – Attitudes'

The purpose of this study was to investigate social science doctoral students' perceptions and attitudes toward different characteristics of written feedback and written feedback providers for their academic writing. Moreover, it aimed to provide an explanatory model to describe the relationships between these perceptions and attitudes, students' revision decisions, and other potentially relevant factors in their written feedback practices. The investigation was informed by two theoretical frameworks: principles of instructional design and conditions of learning, and situated learning and communities of practice. The study used a mixed methods approach in which qualitative data collection and analysis was followed by quantitative data collection and analysis. The main purpose of the qualitative phase was to develop a background to build a questionnaire to be used in the quantitative phase. The qualitative data were collected through interviews with 15 participants. Grounded theory data analysis methods were adapted in the qualitative analysis of the data. The quantitative data were collected through a questionnaire with 276 participants in two large mountain west public universities. Descriptive and multivariate correlational data analyses were employed for the analysis of the quantitative data. The results of this study provided descriptive information on doctoral students' preferences for different types of written feedback and their perceptions and attitudes toward different characteristics of written feedback providers. Moreover, the structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis results showed that that there are several factors in the feedback practices of the doctoral students that have significant influences on some other factors in these feedback practices. An eight-factor model was developed constituting the following factors: (a) attitudes toward critical/negative written feedback, (b) motivations for academic writing, (c) perceptions of opportunities to write academic papers with faculty members in the department, (d) attitudes toward asking and searching for written feedback for academic papers, (e) attitudes toward feedback providers' willingness and time to give feedback when asking for written feedback, (f) attitudes toward feedback providers' personality when asking for written feedback, (g) revision decisions considering the external issues while examining the written feedback, and (h) revision decisions considering the written feedback characteristics and the need for the revisions while examining the written feedback.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether differences exist between characteristics and attitudes of graduates and those of non-graduates of doctoral programs in education. The subjects were the 256 students who had successfully completed the qualifying examinations in the College of Education at North Texas State University during the years of 1978 through 1980. Although the data findings from this study are too numerous to list within the restrictions of this abstract, the most notable findings include that (1) 74.2 per cent had graduated; (2) graduates were more likely to have selected the dissertation topic before the qualifying examinations; (3) graduates rated personal motivation higher than did non-graduates; and (4) there were no significant differences in Graduate Record Examination scores (verbal, quantitative, or total) between graduates and non-graduates. Among the conclusions drawn from this study are that (1) the process of going through a doctoral program discourages the less serious students before they reach the qualifying examinations and (2) graduates have high personal motivation and receive high support for dissertation efforts from many segments of life (spouse, family, friends, major professor, and doctoral committee). The recommendations drawn from this study are for (1) further research into the personal motivation of the candidate, (2) further research as to the effect of the candidate's attitudes toward and grades for courses in research and statistics, (3) universities to maintain records that allow for determination of completion rates of doctoral students and to consider these rates in the evaluation of doctoral programs, and (4) graduate faculty to encourage doctoral students to give serious consideration to possible dissertation topics early in their graduate programs.

Background. Previous research on written feedback has taken place mainly in campus-based settings. Written feedback to Non-Native English speaking Online Doctoral students is under-researched. Aim. The purpose of this study is to explore the attitudes, perceptions and actions of Non-Native English Speaking (NNES) Online Doctoral students toward the written feedback that they receive from their Native English Speaking (NES) doctoral research supervisors. This research will address questions about these students’ attitudes and perceptions regarding written feedback and the feedback providers. Furthermore, the investigation’s research findings point towards practical application by doctoral research supervisors. The Social Presence, Transactional Distance and Second Language Activity theories frame the interpretation of the findings. Sample. 100 online doctoral students completed the online survey of which 41 completed enough of the survey to be included in the study and 10 telephonic or Skype interviews were conducted. The survey respondents lived on different continents and represented seventeen distinct first languages, namely Afrikaans; Arabic; Chinese; Croatian; Dutch; French; German; Italian; Malay; Malayalam; Mandarin; Portuguese; Romanian; Russian; Spanish; Swedish; and Turkish. Method. A survey preceded and informed the 10 individual semi-structured interviews. An exploratory sequential, mixed methodological approach was used to develop an understanding of the main themes related to what NNES online doctoral students do with written feedback. Findings. This study focuses on the intersection of the online modality with the language issues encountered by NNES online doctoral students as opposed to campus-based NNES doctoral students or NES online doctoral students. The focus of this study is not a comparison between campus-based and online NNES and NES students but is intended to reflect upon issues that will promote the use of written feedback to improve the NNES online doctoral students learning experience. This study found that while NNES online doctoral students share many of the experiences of NNES campus-based students and NES online doctoral students, the combination of online and language issues compound the NNES online doctoral students’ ability to make good use of the written feedback that they receive. This combination of online and NNES has significant implications for policy, institutional guidance and practice.

This thesis explored the epistemological beliefs of the Hong Kong teacher education students and the relation with their personal theories about teaching and learning. The study also attempted to investigate whether the epistemological beliefs and the personal theories held by the teacher education students were related to the cultural context, gender and fields of study. As well, a theoretical framework on beliefs structure and system was proposed to seek to clarify the concern of Pajares (1992) about the "mess" of teachers' beliefs and to address the issues raised by Hofer and Pintrich ( 1997) in their review of the area. The proposed nature and structure of epistemological beliefs in the framework also aimed to account for different findings identified in this study from those of Schommer ( 1990) and other researchers. The study began by the application of Schommer's 63-item epistemological questionnaire. Analysis of the responses from about 300 student teachers in Hong Kong cast doubt on the reliability and validity of the scale and also on the general applicability of the scale across cultural groups to measure epistemological beliefs. Therefore, a specifically adapted version of this instrument containing 30 items was developed for the Hong Kong context through repeated processes of item identification, exploratory factor analysis, tests of consistency, follow up interviews with respondents and item clarification with about 300 different students for each trial. The adapted version of scale was validated by confirmatory factor analysis indicating a satisfactory fit of model. A similar process was undertaken to develop a scale to investigate personal theories about teaching and learning. The study identified four epistemological belief dimensions within the Hong Kong teacher education students, viz. Fixed/Innate Ability, Authority/Expert Knowledge, Certainty Knowledge and Leaming Effort/Process. Multivariate analysis such as MANOVA indicated there were no significant statistical differences in the epistemological beliefs of the student teachers with their gender, age and electives groups except the course they were enrolled in (Chinese and English Courses). Multivariate analysis showed that the personal theories of the Hong Kong student teachers comprised two dimensions: Traditional and Constructivist Conceptions. Using these two dimensions the individual belief profile of each student could be constructed. Each student's belief structure could be represented by the scores on each dimension. MANOVA study of personal theories with demographic variables yielded similar results to that of epistemological beliefs. The significant differences in student teachers' epistemological beliefs and personal theories between the Chinese and English Course may be explained in terms of the different exposure to western educational thoughts and practice of expatriate/western scholars who were appointed as lecturers for the English Course. Opportunity was also sought in the discussion of the results to clarify some of the misperception held by westerners toward the learning approaches/behaviour of the Chinese (Hong Kong) students. Canonical Correlation analysis indicated that three epistemological beliefs dimensions, viz. Innate/Fixed Ability, Authority/Expert Knowledge and Certainty Knowledge were related to the Traditional conception about teaching and learning. The other dimension, Leaming Process/Effort was related to the Constructivist Conception. The identified relations could be accounted for in terms of the interaction of the traditional Chinese Confucianism culture and the increasing influence of western thoughts and philosophy on the teenagers and adolescents. Hong Kong is unique in that the majority of the population (over 95%) is Chinese, and yet, it has been a British colony for over 100 years. Subsequently, the people in Hong Kong are subject to the impact of both the traditional Chinese-Confucian heritage culture as well as western thoughts and philosophy. The influences of western culture on the teenagers and adolescents are ever increasing, weakening the traditional Confucian-heritage culture and this may account for some of the unexpected results and misperception held by western educators/scholars toward the behaviour, thoughts and beliefs of the Hong Kong students. The interaction of both traditional Chinese culture and western philosophies in Hong Kong may explain why there are a variation of beliefs and conceptions about teaching/learning within the Hong Kong teacher education students. This exploratory study is the beginning, as a springboard for studies to follow. The instrument for measuring epistemological beliefs is still developing, creating opportunities for tapping the hidden beliefs constructs which are recognized to be difficult tasks by many researchers. Nevertheless, this study contributes to the understanding of student teachers learning how to teach through investigating teachers' thoughts and beliefs which is now agreed by teacher educators to be a powerful and influential factor in determining the classroom behaviour and practice of teachers (both preservice and in-service). The results also facilitate curriculum development of teacher education courses/programmes to make use of epistemological beliefs as a possible way to promote professional growth and development of teacher education students, subsequently enhancing teacher efficacy and quality of teaching/learning, an aim which is pursued by all teacher educators and institutes. Following this study, there will be many alternatives to study teachers' beliefs and other aspects as suggested by the author, which leads to a fuller understanding of the student teachers' process of learning to teach and comparable application studies to different cultures and context.

This study began as a teacher's search for greater understanding about history. It was triggered by a cluster of concerns about the discipline of history, the role of history in Australian society, and a sense of confusion about the current role of history. After nearly thirty years of enjoyable involvement in history, why was it that I was now more confused than ever about the nature of history? Within what I perceived as my 'middle Australia' social context there appears to be a 'big picture' view of history that has become more complex and fragmented. Both professional and research literature on 'history' and history education reflects a wide and complex range of concerns and issues: with many different meanings being ascribed to 'history'. In particular, over the past forty years academic debate and discussion has illuminated many complex and problematic philosophical, epistemological, ontological and ideological aspects to the processes, outcomes and social purposes ascribed to discourses of history. Had students at school also constructed a similarly complex range of understandings about 'history'? If so, what were they and did they have any links to the issues evident in the hotly contested academic debates about 'history'? The research focus of this study emerged: what conceptions of the phenomenon of 'history' had been constructed by a group of Year Twelve students in a Queensland school. The site chosen for the study was the researcher's professional 'home territory': a coeducational independent Christian School, with a humble self-image, and whose students (over 800) may be regarded as representing the wide social context of Queensland's 'middle Australia'. Over a two-year period, a group of twenty-two participants was selected from those who had volunteered, to be involved in an open and discursive interview process. The resultant open, frank and often startling conversations about 'history', 'the past' and Australian society were recorded, transcribed and analysed. The research orientation of phenomenography was chosen because it provided a means of discovering and constructing the range of different understandings and awarenesses that were held about the phenomenon of 'history'. The outcome of this study was the construction of an Outcome Space, which provides a 'map' of the collectively held awarenesses about the phenomenon of 'history'. Central to the construction of this Outcome Space was the discovery and identification of the different variant conceptions that emerged from the participants' verbalised understandings. The different images creating these conceptions were then constructed into Eight Categories of Description. The construction of these two outcomes gives new insights into a number of aspects of understanding the phenomenon of 'history'. Individually the eight different Categories of Description illuminate a complex range of possible understandings held about the phenomenon of 'history': conceptions that resonate with the awarenesses evident in academic literature. For history educators the Outcome Space suggests a simple reference framework to use in discussion, and exploration, of the complex concerns and issues about the phenomenon of 'history'. In the classroom, this framework could be used to help students explore and understand the socially constructed awarenesses of the phenomenon of 'history' that they have and that may influence their academic performance. For the wider context of Australian society the conceptions of these young Australians highlight some issues in need of intense reflection and discussion. The decline in support for the critical milieu of academic History, is paradoxically paralleled by an increasing interest in issues relating to 'heritage', 'remembrance', 'the past', 'memory', written and oral interpretations of 'history' in both the Australian media and the Australian political arena. As Queensland historian and educator, Professor Reynolds comments: events outside the academy reaffirm the moral authority and political potency of history. While it has always been used by the rich and powerful, it is a weapon within the reach of the poor, the oppressed and the disregarded (Reynolds, 1998:84). Reflection on the participants' emotional and cognitive awarenesses about the phenomenon of 'history', raise to a critical point the need to address the question: Who will construct the interpretations of Australia's 'past' and 'history' that will educate the present generation, about past generations, in order to empower future generations?

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2004
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: There are indications that the emergence of global trends in the production and dissemination of knowledge is influencing science policies worldwide, and compelling universities and technikons in South Africa to become more market oriented, competitive and entrepreneurial. Some of these trends include new modes of knowledge production, increased financial and academic accountability and distance education. The changing higher education landscape worldwide has implications for South African tertiary institutions. In addition, one of the objectives of the democratic government that took power in 1994 was to transform higher education. The publication of the White Paper on Education in 1997, the establishment of the Council on Higher Education (CHE) and the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC), and the National Plan for Higher Education in 2001 heralded the beginning of change. Consequently, it became necessary for higher education institutions to deliberate on the future course of their undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and training programmes. In this context, it is important for universities and technikons to understand the needs of their postgraduate students. The overall aim of this study was to identify the perceptions of ex-Technikon Natal (now the Durban Institute of Technology) postgraduate students on their research experiences with regard to supervision, communication, the Technikon generally, availability of resources, finance, time, departments, faculties, research, research methodology, statistics, library and expertise. The particular focus was on postgraduate students registered at the Technikon Natal in 2001, whether or not they had submitted their research proposals. A postal survey was carried out to determine the students' perceptions of their research postgraduate experiences at the then Technikon Natal. The results of the survey indicate that the majority of postgraduate students have a negative perception of the Technikon. Students feel that there are insufficient experienced supervisors available for consultation, leading to unacceptable delays. With regard to communication, students feel that the Technikon does not disseminate enough information on processes and procedures about postgraduate issues. Overall, students in the Health Sciences are more dissatisfied than students in the other faculties. In fact, the postal survey reveals that students in these other faculties are more positive than negative about their postgraduate experiences. However, it is worth pointing out that a large proportion of Science and Engineering students (38%) are undecided on this matter. It is interesting to note that the open-ended comments section at the end of the questionnaire reveals far more negative perceptions than the closed questions. Students are dissatisfied about the lack of modern computer facilities and available funds. They also feel strongly that it takes too long to get a research proposal approved. The majority feels that a postgraduate information kit would assist greatly. Comments about Research Methodology as a subject are particularly negative with regard to statistics, and the course, which they feel is too general. Students do not seem to have any major difficulties with the library services. The Technikon has to put structures in place to improve these negative perceptions and manage the students' needs. Combined with the impact of the merger of the former Technikon Natal and M.L. Sultan Technikon, the effects of which are not yet fully understood, the new Durban Institute of Technology should give serious consideration to the needs of its postgraduate population, especially in the Faculty of Health.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Globale tendense in die produksie en disseminasie van kennis blyk wereldwyd 'n invloed op wetenskapsbeleid te he en noodsaak universiteite (en ook technikons in Suid-Afrika) om 'n groter markgerigtheid, mededingendheid en ondernemingsgees te openbaar. Hierdie globale tendense behels, onder andere, 'n verskuiwing na nuwe modi van kennisproduksie, sowel as 'n toename in finansiele en akademiese verantwoordbaarheid, en afstandsonderrig. Suid-Afrikaanse tersiere instellings kan hierdie wereldwye veranderinge in die landskap van hoar onderwys moeilik ontsnap. Daarbenewens het die demokratiese regering, wat in 1994 aan bewind gekom het, dit ten doel gestel om hoar onderwys in die land te transformeer. In 1997 het die eerste veranderinge ingetree met die publikasie van die Witskrif op Onderwys, en dit is in 2001 opgevolg met die totstandkoming van die Raad op Hoar Onderwys (CHE), die Hoar Onderwyskwaliteitskomitee (HEQC), en die Nasionale Plan vir Hoar Onderwys. Gevolglik het dit nodig geword dat hoar onderwysinstellings oorleg pleeg rakende die toekomstige verloop van voorgraadse en nagraadse onderrig- en opleidingsprogramme. Binne hierdie konteks is dit nodig vir universiteite en technikons om begrip te he vir die behoeftes van hul nagraadse studente. Die oorhoofse doel van hierdie studie was om die persepsies te identifiseer van nagraadse studente aan die eertydse Technikon Natal (nou deel van die Durban Instituut vir Tegnologie). Die fokus was op studente se navorsingservarings met betrekking tot supervisie, kommunikasie, die technikon in die algemeen, die beskikbaarheid van hulpbronne, finansies, tyd, departemente, fakulteite, navorsingsmetodologie, statistiek, biblioteekfasiliteite en kundigheid. Studente wat in 2001 aan die Technikon Natal geregistreer was, is by die ondersoek betrek, ongeag of die student 'n navorsingsvoorstel ingedien het of nie. 'n Posvraelys-opname is gebruik. Die resultate van die opname toon die meerderheid nagraadse studente het 'n negatiewe persepsie van die Technikon. Die studente voel daar is nie genoeg ervare studieleiers om te raadpleeg nie, en dit lei tot onnodige vertragings. Wat kommunikasie betref, voel die studente dat die Technikon nie genoeg inligting omtrent nagraadse prosesse en prosedures versprei nie. In geheel gesien, het studente in die Gesondheidswetenskappe 'n veel groter ontevredenheid uitgespreek as studente in ander fakulteite. In die ander fakulteite was 'n geringe persentasie studente meer positief as negatief omtrent hul nagraadse ervaring. 'n Redelike persentasie studente in die Natuur- en Ingenieurswetenskappe (38%) was egter besluiteloos in hul opinie. Verder het die oop vrae aan die einde van die vraelys, wat kommentaar versoek, veel meer negatiewe as positiewe persepsies ontlok. Die studente is ontevrede met die gebrek aan moderne rekenaarfasiliteite en beskikbare fondse. Hul voel dat dit te lank neem om 'n navorsingsvoorstel goedgekeur te kry. Die meerderheid is van mening dat 'n nagraadse informasiepakket van groot waarde sou wees. Die kommentaar omtrent Navorsingsmetodologie as 'n vak is besonder negatief, veral wat statistiek bet ref, en hulle voel die kursus is te algemeen. Die studente blyk nie ernstige probleme met biblioteekdienste te he nie. Die technikon moet derhalwe strukture in plek stel ten einde die negatiewe persepsies van die studente aan te spreek en hul behoeftes doeltreffend te bestuur. Tesame met die impak van die samesmelting (waarvan die effek nog nie ten volle begryp word nie), moet die instelling ook ernstige oorweging skenk aan die behoeftes van die nagraadse populasie, veral in die Fakulteit van Gesondheid.

The professional literature contains little or no documentation of university curriculum in adult education that deals with ethical practice. Nor is there evidence indicating what graduate students learn about ethics in their professional studies.Purposes of this study were to identify: (a) the extent to which university graduates, at the doctoral level, in adult education were aware of ethical dilemmas in their practice; (b) how practitioners determined ethical behavior; (c) the influence of graduate studies on determining ethical situations; (d) self perceptions of preparedness to face ethical dilemmas; and (e) the extent to which adult educators rely on codes of ethics.The study sought to answer the following questions: (a) Are adult education practitioners aware of ethical dilemmas in their practice? (b) How often do they encounter ethical dilemmas in their practice? (c) Do they have a way to determine ethical behavior in their practice? (d) How do they describe the impact of their graduate work on their ability to make ethical decisions? (e) How do they perceive their preparedness to face ethical dilemmas? (f) Do they consider codes of ethics when making decisions?Findings include: (a) over 90% of the respondents indicated they are aware of ethical dilemmas/situations in their work; (b) while all respondents indicated that they faced ethical dilemmas in areas such as program planning, marketing of programs, evaluation of programs, and in the teaching of adults approximately two thirds said they encountered them infrequently; (c) virtually all respondents indicated they had determined what ethical behavior was in their practice and cited personal values and religious beliefs as the two primary sources of information; (d) 83.3% of participants described graduate work as a significant factor in their ability to make ethical decisions; (e) s significant majority (89.0%) of participants indicated they were very well or well prepared to face ethical dilemmas; and (f) less than half indicated they used a code of ethics in their decision making process.Conclusions from the study include: (a) ethical dilemmas are perceived to be pervasive in the practice of adult education, (b) a person's own value system and religious beliefs were the most influential on impacting the way participants approached ethical dilemmas, (c) although professional knowledge obtained in graduate school was deemed influential, it was not deemed more important than one's personal values and beliefs.Recommendations include: (a) further study is needed to probe the specific elements raised on evaluation of students as an area of ethical concern, (b) further study could reveal why practitioners differ with regard to the frequency of encountering dilemmas, (c) if a deeper understanding of the value of graduate school is to be achieved more study is necessary, (d) a clearer understanding of the value of codes of ethics is needed.
Department of Educational Leadership

Within nursing, there is a strong demand for high quality, cost effective clinical education experiences which facilitate student learning in the clinical setting. The concept of learning environment has been well accepted in the educational literature (Bloom, 1964; Fraser, 1986; Keeves, 1972) but is relatively new to nursing education. Bloom (1964) has described the educational environment as "providing a network of forces of factors which surround, engulf, and play on the individual" (p. 187). The learning environment has been repeatedly shown to strongly influence learning outcomes (Bloom, 1964; Fraser, 1986; Hart, 1992; Keeves, 1972; Orton, 1981 ). For the purposes of this study, the clinical learning environment was defined as "those factors within the clinical setting which interact dynamically with each other and the student to influence the learning of the student within that setting". This study was framed in an interactive model based in educational psychology. The aim of this study was to explore the clinical learning environment and the effects of this environment on student learning outcomes, specifically the clinical problem solving ability and confidence of undergraduate nursing students. A multiple methods research design was used, integrating quantitative and qualitative methods with triangulation (confirmatory) and complementary (completeness) intents (Breitmayer, Ayres, & Knafl, 1993; Greene, Caracelli, & Graham, 1989). Four quantitative instruments were used during data collection. The Clinical Learning Environment Scale (CLES) was used to collect quantitative data on the clinical learning environment and a videotaped patient simulation, the Clinical Performance Appraisal Tool, and the Problem Solving Inventory were used to assess students' clinical problem solving ability and confidence. Focus group interviews were conducted to explore students' perceptions of the clinical learning environment and their own problem solving ability. This study investigated students' perceptions of their clinical learning environment, identifying those factors which influence these perceptions. The items forming the CLES subscale "staff-student relationships" and the qualitative category "attitudes" highlighted the major influence of the clinical nursing staff on the students' perceptions of the clinical learning environment. They described the importance the students attached to the willingness of the staff to accept students, to engage in a teaching relationship, and to provide access to the clinical experiences the students required for optimum learning. The Clinical Nurse Consultant was seen to play a pivotal role in establishing and maintaining the clinical learning environment, and in influencing the attitudes of the entire ward. The data described the CNC's influence on valuing the student as a learner and participating in the students' teaching and learning. Patient relationships also formed a key characteristic of the clinical learning environment. Positive learning environments were perceived to place a high priority on meeting the needs of each individual patient. The attitude with which the staff approached patient care often seemed to reflect their attitudes towards the students. Student satisfaction was consistently identified as the most reliable index of clinical learning environment. The results of the study indicated that student satisfaction was both a cause and effect of a positive learning environment. A productive, stimulating, and supportive environment created more satisfied students, and more satisfied students facilitated the achievement of a more effective clinical learning environment. The data indicated that the ability to meet goals and achieve optimum outcomes for the multiple participants in a clinical setting was best created in a ward which was not bound by hierarchy and ritual, but responsive to the changing needs of the participants. The year of the nursing program in which the student was enrolled, structure and public or private sector setting of the clinical venue, ward size, and ward specialty were significantly related to aspects of the students' perceptions of the clinical learning environment and their problem solving attributes. The CLES factors "staff-student relationships" and "patient relationships" were shown to be weakly predictive of clinical problem solving ability and confidence (p <.05). Interview data corroborated this view, highlighting the importance of interpersonal relationships and structured problem solving opportunities in development of student clinical problem solving ability and confidence. In an environment where students were encouraged to practise clinical problem solving but felt assured they would not be allowed to do any harm, they were best able to develop the clinical problem solving ability and confidence so essential to effective nursing practice. The results of this study may assist nurse educators to identify and measure factors within the clinical learning environment which influence student learning outcomes. The Clinical Learning Environment Scale provides the educator with a valid and reliable instrument to evaluate effectively relevant factors in the clinical learning environment, direct resources to areas where improvement may be required, and nurture those areas functioning well. The appropriate implementation of recommendations from this study may assist in the application of resources in a cost effective, efficient, productive manner, and will ensure the clinical learning environment best facilitates the development of clinical problem solving ability and confidence in undergraduate nursing students.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational video on the foetal alcohol syndrome, for increasing knowledge, changing attitudes and predicted behaviour regarding the consumption of alcohol, during and whilst planning pregnancy. It was anticipated that the video might be suitable for health education purposes amongst university students and ultimately for use in the general community, to influence and promote behaviour change. It was hypothesised that the video might influence participants' attitude toward the consumption of alcohol during and when planning pregnancy, would influence predicted drinking behaviour and would increase knowledge about the danger of alcohol to the unborn. Control and experimental groups of both male and female university students from a range of different faculties, were surveyed by means of a questionnaire in both a pilot and a main study. The experimental group was shown the educational video on the foetal alcohol syndrome. The control group in the main study was shown an entertaining video on alcohol consumption. The control group in the pilot study was not shown a video. In the main study both control and experimental groups were given preand post-video questionnaires and were followed up one month later in the main study, and six weeks in the pilot, with the same questionnaire. Focus groups were held in the main study to obtain qualitative data to enrich the quantitative component. The results of both the pilot and the main study, suggested that subjects in both groups increased their knowledge and awareness about alcohol in pregnancy. There was an increase in the numbers of experimental subjects who increased their knowledge and perceived knowledge about the foetal alcohol syndrome and who changed both attitude and predicted drinking behaviour immediately after seeing the target video and at one month or six weeks follow-up, suggesting that the video had been effective as an educational tool. The possible implications of this study for the Australian community are discussed and recommendations for further action are an integral part of the work.

The use of computers equipped with Internet access by students during face-to-face (F2F) class sessions is perceived as academically beneficial by a growing number of students and faculty members in universities across the United States. Nevertheless, some researchers suggest unstructured computer use detached from the immediate class content may negatively influence student participation, increase distraction levels, minimize recall of recently presented information, and decrease student engagement. This study investigates graduate students' beliefs about computer use with Internet access during graduate face-to-face lecture classes in which computer use is neither mandated nor integrated in the class and the effect of such use on student recall. Methods include a 44-item questionnaire to investigate graduate students' beliefs about computers and two experiments to investigate the influence of computer use during a lecture on students' memory recall. One experimental group (open laptop) used computers during a lecture while the other (closed laptop) did not. Both groups were given the same memory recall test after the lectures, and the resulting scores were analyzed. Two weeks later, a second phase of the experiment was implemented in which laptop groups were reversed. Results from the first experiment indicated no statistically significant difference in recall scores between the open laptop group (M = 54.90, SD = 19.65) and the closed laptop group (M = 42.86, SD = 16.68); t (29) = -1.82, p = .08 (two tailed). Conversely, the second experiment revealed statistically significant differences in scores between the open laptop (M = 39.67, SD = 15.97) and the closed laptop group (M = 59.29, SD = 26.88); t (20.89) = 2.37, p = .03 (two tailed). The magnitude of the difference in mean scores (mean difference = 19.62, 95% CI: 2.39 to 36.85) was large (eta squared = 0.17). Multiple regression analysis suggests two factors accounted for 10% of the variance in recall scores: (1) students' beliefs about distractions from computer use, and (2) beliefs about the influence of computer use on memory recall. Based on survey findings, participants (N=116) viewed computers and Internet access in graduate classes as helpful academic tools, but distractions from computer use were major sources of concern for students who used computers in graduate classes and those who did not. Additionally, participants believed academic productivity would increase if instructors integrated computer use appropriately in the curricula. Results of the survey and experiments suggest unstructured computer use with Internet access in the graduate classroom is strongly correlated with increased student distractions and decreased memory recall. Thus, restricting unstructured computer use is likely to increase existing memory recall levels, and increasing unstructured computer use is likely to reduce memory recall. Recommendations include changes in the way students use computers, pedagogical shifts, computer integration strategies, modified seating arrangements, increased accountability, and improved interaction between instructors and students.
Ph.D.
Department of Educational Research, Technology and Leadership
Education
Education PhD

This thesis explores doctors’ and medical students’ attitudes toward older patients in UK hospital settings. There have been regular and strong assertions in the grey literature and the news media that negative attitudes toward older patients may contribute to the inequality of healthcare service provision and treatment for older patients, compared to younger patients (those aged under 65 years), in UK hospital settings. However, much of the evidence does not investigate or explore these attitudes using a theoretical framework of attitudes outlined in the scientific research literature. This thesis comprises three studies. Firstly, a systematic search and review (Study 1) was undertaken in order to determine how attitudes toward older patients had been explored to date in the English-language, scientific research literature. Results demonstrated that previous studies had focused on attitude measurement rather than exploring the content of attitudes toward older patients. In fact, there was little evidence that previous research had ever explored these attitudes, despite the number of studies attempting to measure them. Furthermore, the review indicated the lack of research emanating from UK settings. In Study 2, attitudes toward older patients and their care were explored in twenty-five in-depth interviews with medical students and doctors in a UK NHS Hospital trust. Data were thematically analysed and findings indicated that attitudes toward older patients and their care could be conceptualised as: (1) attitudes toward older patients and their healthcare needs, and (2) attitudes toward providing care for older patients (e.g. the social and organisational barriers and facilitators). Within these two domains, the themes, subthemes and nodes, which represent attitude content with increasing levels of specificity, are presented. The findings from Study 2 mark one of the first attempts in this research area to explore and describe the content of attitudes in line with a theoretical framework of attitudes. The final study, Study 3, explored the devaluation and unpopularity of the specialty of geriatric medicine as a future career choice in a sample of junior doctors. Having identified, in Study 2, that geriatric medicine was not highly regarded in a range of doctors and medical students, Study 3 aimed to ascertain whether this was due to the organisational and working environment or due to older patient-related factors in a recently-qualified sample of doctors. The findings indicated that organisational and work-related factors serve to discourage junior doctors from pursuing geriatric medicine, rather than factors related to the older patients treated on geriatric wards. This thesis contributes to the research literature in two main ways. Firstly, this thesis outlines the research gaps in the worldwide English-language scientific research. Secondly, this thesis presents a conceptualisation of doctors’ and medical students’ attitudes toward older patients in a UK hospital setting. Importantly, this conceptualisation provides research that is relevant to UK settings and is in line with a theoretical framework of attitudes that has been identified from the scientific research literature. The strengths and limitations of this work are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the use of a school-wide token economy program on middle school students' achievement, behavior, and attitudes toward school. This involved the comparison of two similar suburban middle schools, one of which used a school-wide token economy program. A nonequivalent control-group design was used to examine: (1) the effects on achievement as measured by grades and honor roll status; (2) the effects on behavior as measured by numbers of students attaining perfect attendance, numbers of punches earned, and numbers of detentions and suspensions; and (3) the effects on attitude as measured by the School Attitude Measure (SAM). Data were gathered from school guidance and disciplinary records. The results indicated that there was a statistically significant relationship between the token economy program and student achievement as measured by grades and honor roll status in the A/B honor roll (p Implications and limitations of the study are discussed. Suggestions for further research are presented.

The major goal of this study was the creation of two unique intervention programs for upper primary students, based around the National Profile and Statement (Curriculum Corporation, 1994a, 1994b) for the Key Learning Area (KLA) of Technology. The intervention programs comprised discrete units or projects, each of which ran for a full school term, and each of which thematically integrated the other seven KLAs. Both intervention programs were identical in content and implementation techniques, with the exception that the second program aimed to seamlessly integrate classroom computer resources with the curriculum units of work. The two intervention programs, called Program Only (PO) and Program+ Computers (P+C), were implemented for a period of one school year and their effectiveness in facilitating positive student learning products and processes was assessed using mixed-method procedures. This thesis views the KLA Technology as basically an intellectually creative problem solving process which can be applied in a range of culturally valued domains. Thus, this study proposed that it is imperative that intervention programs dealing with Technology be strongly linked to the accumulated psychological research into intelligence and intellectual development, in order to provide the programs with a sound theoretical basis for development, implementation and assessment. Therefore, the literature pertaining to intelligence and intellectual development was reviewed, and a theoretically sound conceptual model of intelligent functioning within the classroom context was proposed. Further, the relationship between intelligence and other valued human capacities such as creativity, problem solving and metacognition were also examined. The conceptual model used in this study contained three major dimensions: Learning Context, Learning Processes and Learning Products. It was largely based on the work of Gardner (1993a) and Biggs & Moore (1993). The interventions, based on this model, endeavoured to develop students' creativity and domain-specific intellectual abilities, through use of the problem solving heuristic Investigate (I), Design (D), Make (M) and Evaluate (E). The definition of intelligence, that was used in this study, is that intelligence is a unique set of proclivities, which afford the individual the capacity to solve problems, or to create novel products, valuable in the specific cultural setting in which they were created. Intelligence was therefore viewed as a pluralistic cognitive construct (Gardner, 1993a). Further, this research took a distributed view of intelligence, whereby it was assumed that an individual's intelligence is composed of both in-the-head and out-of-the-head elements. An individual's creative output can be perceived therefore, as the mirror through which to view their intellectual ability in specific domains. Nine research questions were asked pertaining to the effectiveness of the interventions to positively impact upon learning process and product components of the conceptual model. Eleven measurement instruments and/or procedures were utilised to answer the questions and accept or reject the eight hypotheses that were based on the research questions. The Approach to Learning Inventory (ALI), the Classroom Environment Questionnaire (CEQ) and the Creativity Checklist are new instruments that were designed and psychometrically validated for use in this study. The Upper Primary Classroom Computer Attitude Inventory (UPCCAI) was designed and validated by this researcher in a previous study, and its reliability was confirmed as part of this study. Other instruments include the MICUPS and COSMIC (McGrath & Noble, 1995) and the Self-Concept Questionnaire that was developed from Burnett's research (1994). All of these instruments were psychometrically validated as part of this study. Qualitative data were also collected to triangulate, complement, develop and expand the data collected with the quantitative measures (Greene, Caracelli & Graham, 1989). The qualitative data took the form of teacher Feedback Sheets at the completion of each project/term; teacher interviews at the end of the implementation period; student Process Folios for each project; and student written responses to two questions about their own learning. The study involved 24 upper primary classes in seven schools in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Fourteen of the classes from five schools were evenly distributed between the two interventions and the remaining ten classes in two schools acted as a non-intervention control group. The study utilised an Intervention (3) by Time (3) repeated measures MANOVA design to investigate the quantitative impact of the three treatment programs (2 interventions, 1 control). Initially 580 students were pre-tested and 455 completed data sets were collected at the post-test. At the treatment group level, interactions between the groups and time were achieved for both the MICUPS and the COSMIC which measured students' relative intellectual strengths; the Creativity Checklist which measured the students' personal creativity characteristics; and the Upper Primary Classroom Computer Attitude Inventory (UPCCAI), which measured students' attitude to their classroom computers. In fact, the students in the P+C group were perceived by their teachers to have significantly enhanced personal creativity characteristics at the post-test, in contrast to the other two groups. All three groups reported liking their classroom computers less at the end of the trial than they did at the start. However, only minor differences were reported at the .01 level of significance among the three groups with respect to the students' intellectual ability profiles. Further, the results of the teacher interviews and Feedback Sheets indicated that there were differences among the implementation approaches used by the individual teachers within the same intervention program. These difference were more related to teacher and school variables than they were related to the intervention program itself. They also undoubtedly impacted upon the results obtained at the treatment group level of analysis, and required investigation at the class level, hence the unit of analysis was moved to individual classes within the two intervention groups. At the class level, there were interactions between the seven PO classes and time for the COSMIC and the UPCCAI. Interactions between the seven P+C classes and time were reported for the COSMIC, the Creativity Checklist, the Approach to Learning Inventory (ALI), the Self-Concept Questionnaire (S-CQ), and the UPCCAI. It would appear from these results that differences were more apparent among classes within interventions, than they were among the three treatment groups as a whole. Another compounding issue of the study reported here relates to the non-convergent results which were obtained between the quantitative and qualitative data with respect to the students' approach to learning, self-concept and perceptions of their classroom environment. An explanation is provided for this non-convergence in the study's concluding chapter. However, further research will be required in order to establish the reasons for the anomalies obtained in this study's results. Overall, the results obtained in this study indicate that the intervention programs were a wise investment of classroom time, as students achieved positive learning outcomes in a number of areas. Further, the purposeful integration of computer technologies seems to have had a significant impact on the personal creativity characteristics of the students in the P+C group. Generally, the teachers involved in the trial of the intervention programs reported a positive impact on their pedagogical thinking and practices. They felt that the intervention programs were a valuable addition to their classroom curriculum programs and they would not hesitate to use the programs again with other class groups.

A quasi-experimental study was conducted within the context of the University of North Florida's EXCEL (Excelling in Clinical Education Learning) teacher preparation program to investigate the impact of three types of educational treatment on the attitudes toward diversity of preservice teachers. Data were collected and analyzed based on the pretest/posttest measures of three self-reporting instruments: Cross Cultural-Adaptability Inventory, the Cultural Diversity Awareness Inventory, and the Bogardus Social Distance Scale. The preservice teachers (N = 208; K-12 regular and special education majors) experienced the following treatments: (1) informal seminar studies of multicultural education issues accompanied by a field experience in a non-culturally diverse public school classroom; (2) informal seminar studies of multicultural education issues accompanied by a field experience in a culturally diverse public school classroom; and (3) no seminar studies of multicultural education issues and no field experience in a public school classroom. The weekly on-campus seminars were conducted by four clinical educators (master teachers from neighboring districts on alternative assignments for two years). In addition, with-in group attitudinal differences toward diversity of preservice teachers enrolled in the fieldbased seminars were examined based on variates of field placement, seminar instructor, gender, age, race, educational major, association with culturally different people, and teaching grade level. Examination of relationships between groups, based on ANOVA and ANCOVA results at the .05 level of confidence, reveals the followings: (1) no significant differences were found in attitudes toward diversity of preservice teachers enrolled in the field-based seminars focusing on issues of diversity, but significant differences were found between the control and experimental groups at both the onset and end of the study (experimental group had higher mean scores), (2) significant differences were found within-groups for the demographic variates of seminar instructor, age, race, association with people of diversity, and grade level, (3) significant (although minimal) differences were found in attitudes toward diversity between preservice teachers enrolled in the seminars focusing on issues of cultural diversity as compared to the control group of students not enrolled in the seminars (experimental groups had higher mean scores), (4) no significant differences were found between the experimental groups to support the assumption that field experiences within Culturally diverse settings have a positive effect on the attitudes of preservice teachers toward diversity, and (5) although positive significant differences were found between the control and experimental groups following the completion of the multicultural seminars, all three groups remained at the social distance preference level "having merely as a speaking acquaintance" in working with the culturally different as measured on the Bogardus and far below the normed population on the Cross Cultural Adaptability Inventory factor Flexibility/Openness (FO).

The purpose of this study was threefold: (a) to describe the impact the SLS courses had on the retention and success rates of students who were taking developmental English courses at FSCJ-Kent Campus, (b) to explain how students taking developmental English felt the SLS courses impacted them, and (c) to find out what elements of the SLS program were most and least valued by students. In order to understand how the SLS program impacted students in the developmental English program at FSCJ-Kent Campus, I conducted a mixed methods case study using FSCJ–Kent Campus as the research site. The case study included a quantitative stage, during which I examined archival data from fall 2008 to summer 2010 to determine the impact of the SLS program on student success and retention, and a qualitative stage, during which I conducted a survey and two focus groups to get an understanding of participants’ perspectives. The evidence that the SLS program affected the success and retention rates of students in the developmental English classes at FSCJ-Kent Campus was not conclusive. However, students reported that the program was extremely beneficial to them and provided insight into why they thought the program contributed to their success. The study was significant because I was able to get a deeper understanding of students’ perspectives and provide a framework for understanding those perspectives. I concluded that the SLS program was a mechanism to transition and integrate students into the institution. This study may affect the way leaders in educational institutions approach developmental English, the SLS program, and all other developmental programs.

The purpose of this study was to gather more information about the process of internationalization in U.S. counseling psychology programs. Participants included 26 training directors and 83 doctoral students, representing 32 of the 63 APA-accredited, active counseling psychology doctoral programs. Results suggested that the presence of international learning opportunities did not increase from 2007 to 2010, with the exception that internationalism was increasingly being incorporated into the definition of multiculturalism. Results also suggested that training directors perceived opportunities to gain international experience in their programs integrated to a greater extent compared to their doctoral students. Doctoral students, however, perceived greater institutional commitment to international learning opportunities compared to their training directors. Finally, results suggested that both sets of respondents’ attitudes were generally favorable toward internationalization. Implications for counseling psychology training programs, as well as recommendations for improving internationalization efforts are discussed.
Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

While the literature on the experiences of women in academe generaly, is growing, the experiences of women student mothers in post-secondary education are rarely explored. Given the increasing number of women students enroling in university and the fact that the student population is aging, there is a greater likelihood of these students being mothers. A study of these women is timely and crucial to understanding their needs and chalenges within the university. The purpose of the research was to examine the experiences of doctoral student mothers living at the intersection of studenthood and motherhood as it was expected that the demands from the family and university would create specific chalenges. The study delineates the women's understanding of and the degree to which they accepted the dominant North American ideology of intensive mothering and the ideology of the good student. Further, the study sought to ascertain whether the student mothers experienced contradiction between the two ideologies similar to that experienced by the women in Hay's (1996) study of employed and stay-at-home mothers. The study utilizes the concept of the public/private dichotomy and the notions of greedy institutions and competing urgencies in its framework. The design consisted of in-depth semi-structured interviews with seventeen mothers at various stages in their doctoral programme. The women range in age from thirty-three to forty-seven and have at least one child, under age of thirteen, living with them full-time. Findings noted that the women were able to articulate the dominant definitions of the good mother and the good student but, for the most part, they rejected them. They preferred to be balanced both as mothers and as students, although almost all of them insisted their children were their first priority. The women experienced a contradiction between the two ideologies and, using the concept of ideological work developed by Berger (1981), their experiences were explored. The women engaged in ideological work to support their alternative definitions of the good mother and the good student. When they were not as able to sustain their ideological work they tended to revert to the dominant definitions.

This study focuses on student support service quality with particular reference to an Open Distance Learning (ODL) environment. Taking student support services as anchors in mainstreaming ODL, the aims of the study are to develop an instrument that can accurately measure student support service quality in an Ethiopian ODL environment. Simultaneously, it is to investigate an alleged gap between students’ expectations and experiences of service quality in the Ethiopia-UNISA context. In doing so, an attempt is made to determine the students’ level of satisfaction with the student support services provided. The study relies on quantitative methods and a design-based research strategy, which involves iterative and step-by-step processes of investigation. The theoretical framework employed in this study is Gaps Model by Parasuraman, Ziethaml and Berry (1985). Using an instrument of which the possible level of external and internal validity has been ensured, data are collected and quantitatively analysed using a standard Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The data suggest that there are five dimensions that play a cardinal role in the measurement of student support service quality in an ODL context, namely supervision support, infrastructure, administrative support, academic facilitation and corporate image. In the Ethiopian context, there appears to be a discrepancy between students’ expectations and their experiences of the quality of student support services. More than often their expectations exceed their actual experiences of quality service provision. Students’ satisfaction levels are negatively affected by the quality of four of the support services provided by UNISA as measured through expectations and experiences. In contrast, the students’ responses show that they are highly satisfied with the corporate image UNISA holds both in Ethiopia and internationally. From among the five dimensions, however, corporate image and supervision support stand out to be the most important dimensions in contributing to the students’ satisfaction and dissatisfaction, respectively. As a recommendation, this study highlights that these two dimensions must be focal areas by UNISA as more effort must be exerted to build the image of UNISA in Ethiopia and to improve the supervision support provided to students.
Educational Leadership and Management
D. Ed. (Education Management)

Introduction: The deleterious health effects of tobacco use and smoking in particular have been well documented. Anti-smoking campaigns have been in existence for decades. Doctors, generally perceived as role models by members of their societies, can play a significant role in anti-tobacco programmes. Objectives: The objectives were: to determine the prevalence of tobacco use among medical students, their knowledge of the health effects of tobacco use, their beliefs and perceptions about anti-tobacco legislation/restrictions and the role of doctors as advocates in tobacco-cessation programmes. Methodology: A cross-sectional census was carried out using the 3rd and 5th year students at the medical school of the University of the Witwatersrand (n = 357). Results: The total prevalence of smoking was 15.4% (n = 53), with 9.6% (n = 34) smoking occasionally and 6.2% (n = 22) smoking daily. Among the smokers, more of the 3rd year students smoked daily compared to the 5th years (64% vs 19.3%, p = 0.001). Overall, there were no major differences between the sexes with respect to prevalence of smoking (P= 0.312 Fischer exact test) across both classes. Within the male population (Africans, whites and Asians) overall differences ( 2- אל 11.1, p= 0.006) existed in their smoking patterns. Both the whites and the Asians smoked more than their African counterparts (5.8%, n = 3). There were however no differences in the smoking prevalence rates between the whites and the Asians ((20.9% vs 31.6%: p= 0.314). The females differed (P = 0.042 Fischer exact test) in their smoking behaviour across the races: Coloured (33.3%, n = 2), white (16.5%, n = 18), Asian (13.3%, n =9) and Africans (4.0%, n = 2). The prevalence of noncigarette tobacco use was 14%, with the majority smoking hookahs (7.1%, n=26). More of the 5th year students than their 3rd year students counterparts (23.5% vs 7.1%) had very good knowledge of tobacco cessation techniques and overall differences were observed ( 2אל -35.5, P <0.001). About 90% (n = 316) of the students knew about the dangers of smoking, but 12% (n = 41) did not associate smoking with heart disease. About 45% (n= 179) of the respondents believed that ban of smoking in public space had reduced prevalence rates and about 40% (n= 172) believed that taxation had reduced prevalence rates of tobacco use in South Africa. Almost 50% (n= 164) students believed that the ban of tobacco sales to minors had reduced prevalence rates and about 85% (n= 286) of the respondents agreed that pictorial health warnings should be placed on the packages of tobacco products. The students generally believed that doctors are seen as role models (84%, n= 286) by society and should not smoke (86.3%, n= 299). Even though 81% (n= 279) of the students were willing to speak to the community about the dangers of tobacco, only about 30% (n= 101) were willing to be members in an anti-tobacco organisation. Discussion and conclusion: The prevalence of smoking among the respondents was lower than national prevalence rates among adults but similar to that of South African young adults. The students had a low knowledge of tobacco cessation techniques. Less than half of the respondents believed that the current anti-tobacco legislation was effective and the majority supported the inclusion of pictorial warnings on the packages of tobacco products. The majority of the participants agreed that doctors were perceived as role models by members of their communities and should not smoke. There was a general willingness on the part of the respondents to advice their patients to quit smoking but majority of the participants however would not want to get involved in anti-tobacco organisations in the future.

碩士
國立陽明大學
公共衛生研究所
95
Abstract Background: Over half of Mongolia's urban adult population (67.8% men; 25.5% women) routinely smokes. Smoking is also an escalating problem among young people. Surveys show 19% of boys and 8% of girls in their teens (14 – 17) are smokers. Tobacco-related diseases have been increasing and have become a leading cause of death. As of year 2005 estimate, the incidence of smoking-related diseases and deaths reached 504.38 and 38.3 per 10,000 population respectively. Because heath professionals play important roles in tobacco control, their attitude and practice toward tobacco use can affect the health of the community. The aim of this study is to find out knowledge, attitude and practice on smoking and smoking cessation among health profession students and family doctors in Mongolia. Method: A cross sectional survey conducted among 975 third-year health profession students and 152 family doctors in Mongolia. The study used questionnaire from Global Health Professional Survey (GHPS) which was developed by the World Health Organization, US Center for Disease Control and the Canadian Public Health Association. Response rates among health profession students and family doctors were 88.9% and 97% respectively. Results: Survey 1: Knowledge, attitude and practice on smoking and smoking cessation among third year health profession students. The current cigarette smoking prevalence among health profession students is 11.5%. Female students were significantly less likely (5.9% vs. 38.5%, p<0.00) than their male counterparts to smoke cigarette. Overall 69.4% students reported that their school has an official policy banning on smoking in school buildings and clinics and among them 36% said that the policy is enforced. The vast majority of participants believed that health professionals have the responsibility of giving advice or information about smoking cessation to patients. However, only almost half (58.6%) of students had heard about nicotine replacement therapies (NRT), and no more than 33.9% of students reported that they have received formal training in cessation approaches. Most of them (93.7%) expressed that health professionals should be given specific training on cessation techniques. Survey 2: Knowledge, attitude and practice on smoking and smoking cessation among family doctors. The current cigarette smoking prevalence among family doctors is 10.5%. Female doctors were significantly lower (7.9% vs. 46.2%, p<0.00) than their male counterparts to smoke cigarette. Most family doctors (92.1%) said they were willing to counsel patients to quit smoking and 95.4% said that they advised smoker to stop smoking during most or all consultations. Only a third of family doctors said they had recommended NRTs to patients. However, only 11.2% of participants received formal training in cessation, and most of them (95.4%) would like to attend such a training course. Some difficulties and barriers were reported in smoking cessation practice such as perceived ineffectiveness of smoking cessation techniques, lack of family doctors’ time, lack of knowledge about smoking cessation techniques, lack of space in their office to counsel patients, lack of smoking cessation materials and lack of patients’ interest to quit smoking. Conclusion: The preliminary results suggest that the degree of awareness about their duty of counseling patients on smoking cessation is high among Mongolia’s medical students and doctors. However, their knowledge about smoking and smoking cessation techniques needs to be improved. Family doctors need assistances and incentives to increase their involvement in smoking cessation.

楊希.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 155-169).
Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.
Abstract in Chinese and English.
Yang xi.