Date of Award

11-1-1978

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Dr. Karen J. Budd

Second Advisor

Dr. Shelton E. Hendricks

Third Advisor

Dr. Julie Horney

Fourth Advisor

Dr. Caylon L . Oswalt

Abstract

An attempt was made to determine what the effects of implementing a child care program, the Teaching-Family Model, would be on the social climate of a midwestern youth care institution, Boys Town. The Community Oriented Programs Environment Scale (COPES) was implemented four times over an 18-month period to assess if changes in the social climate at Boys Town were taking place and, if changes were occurring, what they possibly were due to. The results of the study were four-fold. First, the data suggested that changes in the social climate were occurring. Next, it was determined that these changes were more similar to other programs that were experiencing programatic change than they were to programs that were not experiencing such change. Thirdly, the data seemed to suggest that these changes probably were not due to staff or youth turnover rates, generalstaff youth care experience, or merely the passage of time. Finally, the results suggested that the changes probably were greatly effected by a Teaching-Family Model training sequence in addition to staff selection. These results imply that staff training can effect social climate. They also suggest that the Teaching-Family Model training sequence maybe one example of an effective training method.

Comments

A Thesis Presented to the Department of Psychology and the Faculty of the Graduate College University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts University of Nebraska at Omaha. Copyright Loren E. Brooks November, 1978.

Download

COinS