Browsing by Subject "communication"
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Item An examination of the relationship among patient factors, patient-physician interaction, and utilization of health services in adults with diabetes(2009-05-15) Rivers, Desiree AviaIn this study, patient-physician interaction, patient socio-demographic factors, health literacy, sources of care, and use of diabetes-related health services, were examined to assess the relationships to patients? satisfaction with the quality of health care they received in the past 2 years. By examining the relationship among patient, physician and environmental systems? factors, research findings will be used to develop interventions that will inform patient education and physician training and foster patient and physician behavior change that ultimately leads to improved health outcomes for adults with diabetes. To answer the research questions, univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the predictability of the 5 groups of dependent variables: 1) socio-demographic factors, 2) sources of care ?factors?, 3) health literacy ?factors?, 4) patient-physician interaction ?factors?, and 5) use of diabetes-related services ?factors?. Individually these groups comprised thirty-two dependent variables. Three dependent variables, specifically confidence and trust in doctor; doctor spend as much time as wanted; and had a hemoglobin A1c in the last 6 months, were statistically significantly predictive of a relationship with patient satisfaction with quality of health care. This study provides insight regarding the specific aspects of patient-physician interaction and use of diabetes-related services that impact patient health outcomes. By knowing that a statistically significant relationship exists among confidence and trust in a doctor, being able to spend as much as time as wanted with a doctor, having a hemoglobin A1c in the last 6 months, and satisfaction with quality of health care, future investigators know which influences are perhaps most influential and deserve further exploration to predict satisfaction with quality of health care.Item An Expectation States Approach to Examining Medical Team Information Exchange(2013-07-30) Manago, BiancaThis project is the first step in a long line of research that will examine the impact of status on information exchange in small groups of medical professionals. Specifically, we employ the expectation states theory and observable power and prestige methodology to develop a coding scheme and live coding methodology that is attuned to the unique status organizing process in interprofessional medical teams. This paper begins with an explanation of the shortcomings in current research that examines medical teams. We then discuss the conceptual development of the coding scheme and methodology. Next, we establish reliability between live coders and between the transcript coders. We conclude by employing our coding scheme to examine how occupational status (physician vs. nurse) operates in medical teams, and find that our scheme possesses both criterion and face validity. Future steps include increasing our sample size to have more statistical power in detecting status differences and dropping some items from the coding scheme to increase reliability.Item Becoming a Professional: Examining Professional Development Practices of Communication Doctoral Students(2012-10-19) Rashe, RachelHigher education is currently facing a number of challenges that are leading doctoral students to seek employment outside of the traditional research-focused institution. With students looking for different jobs, professional socialization and development activities need to be re-examined to understand whether current practices are meeting the needs of doctoral students. Sociologists have explored what it means to be professional at length, but a communicative voice is needed in this conversation. This research seeks to understand how to "do" professionalism in mundane, everyday contexts. Graduate student socialization, identity, and professional development literature was used as a backdrop for exploring this phenomenon. Interviews with doctoral students in communication and directors of graduate studies in communication were conducted and documents were collected from graduate programs and the National Communication Association. This material was subsequently analyzed to explore what it means to be a professional, how to develop as a professional, and how professionalism is tracked and evaluated. The analysis suggested that what it means to be professional is composed of traditional conceptualizations of research, teaching, and service, and a number of other practices and values such as independence, collaboration, collegiality, and work-life balance. This analysis also showed that while students developed these qualities through formal means, they relied more on informal methods of developing to enhance their professionalism. Formal assessment measures helped in the evaluation process, though they did not measure many of the characteristics of a communication professional. Informal means of evaluation served as a way to track some of these characteristics. Findings showed several challenges that doctoral education currently face. First, students are increasingly pursuing careers outside the traditional Research I institutional context and increasingly pursuing more teacher-centric goals. While development opportunities should reflect student goals, a shift away from a research focus could undermine placement at Research I institutions and decrease the value of the PhD, given the increase in fixed-contract hiring at public and for-profit universities. Second, doctoral students and advisers are not adequately prepared to have difficult conversations about career goals, which may be connected to students feeling underprepared to go on the job market. Third, current assessment procedures do not measure many of the more abstract qualities and values identified as professional, which makes it difficult to assess student development. Finally, this research highlighted how the role of the body in white-collar work has been overlooked and how academic practices discipline the body in particular ways. Future research and practical applications regarding each of these challenges were explored, and limitations were also discussed.Item Channels and sources used to gather equine-related information by college-age horse owners and enthusiasts(2009-05-15) Sullivan, Erin AleneThis thesis identifies the equine-related topics that are important to Texas college-age horse owners and enthusiasts and the channels/sources they use to get equine-related information. Little research has focused on this group to determine their information needs. Therefore, two focus groups were conducted in 2008 in Texas with college-age horse owners and enthusiasts to conduct a needs assessment. Participants were separated into competitive and recreational groups depending on their level of participation in the industry. They were asked what topics they consider important and what channels/sources they use to gain desired information. Training was the most mentioned topic overall, and the most mentioned by recreational participants. Alternative medical treatments was the most mentioned topic by competitive participants. Competitive participants reported a smaller number of topics as important, indicating that they have specialized information needs. Recreational participants emphasized broader, less specialized topics. Participants showed an interest in relevant and controversial topics affecting the equine industry. Participants also used a combination of channels/sources and competitive and recreational participants often placed importance on different channels/sources. Face-to-face communication was important to both groups. Magazines were important to competitive participants, while the Internet was important to recreational participants. Competitive participants doubted the trustworthiness of sources available through the Internet, but wanted more reliable sources to be made available in the future. Participants preferred to get information from industry specialist sources, such as trainers, veterinarians, other owners and enthusiasts, breed associations, and equine magazines. Participants? perceptions of trustworthiness were affected by the source?s ability to demonstrate equine-specific knowledge and the source?s reputation and success among equine industry members. The results suggests that the influence of the Internet has altered the traditional models of communication in which source selection determines channel use. In this study, the participants? Internet channel selection often determined their source use. The results also suggests that communicators wanting to reach this audience should target specific topics to competitive and recreational audiences, use a multi-channel approach, establish trustworthiness, and explore the changing role of the Internet in agricultural communication.Item Communicating for Creative Success in Remote Collaborative Work(2014-01-16) Keske, Stephanie LeeThis thesis investigated how technological communication tools contribute to creative success within the speci c domain of animation production. Research indicates that communication is one of the most important factors in producing successful collaborative work; speci cally, constant and open communication channels are the most conducive to creative collaboration. Communication habits in remote creative collaborative work have been little studied, but drawing upon established knowledge in co-located collaboration I hypothesized that teams with the highest volume of communication would produce the most successful creative output. In a three-year study of distributed student production teams, I compare quantitative communication modality and volume data with qualitative end-product success scores. My ndings indicate that more communication is not necessarily a positive factor. Further, an increased variety of communication modalities did not correlate with creative success. The results do indicate a preference among communication modalities for di erent types of communication: namely, asynchronous modalities are preferred for logistical communication and synchronous modalities are preferred for aesthetic communication. Collaboration using computer-mediated communication tools requires further study to determine best practices for creative work.Item Effective science communication to children via a health-related Web site(Texas A&M University, 2004-09-30) Gore, Sabra LaddThis study assesses one Web site, Veggie-mon.org. This Web site aims to effectively communciate health information to children, resulting in user learning and an intent to change health behavior. Fourth- through eighth-grade pupils were interviewed before and after perusing the Web site for up to 20 minutes, and then they participated in focus groups. A majority of participants learned what the Web site was about, had previous health knowledge reinforced, discovered new health information, and said it made a difference in their health choices. Readability tests performed on seven text passages on the site indicated seventh- and eighth-grade reading levels, which is too high for the majority of the targeted audience.Item Informal and formal channels of communication preferred and used in the adoption of ranching practices by livestock producers in the state of Nuevo Leon of northeastern Mexico(Texas A&M University, 2005-11-01) Lazenby, William LeeThis descriptive research was undertaken to investigate the preferred channels of communication used in the adoption of livestock production practices by ranchers in the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo Le??n. The study builds on previous research by Freund (1999). Freund??s study concluded that ranchers in Nuevo Le??n preferred the Uni??n Ganadera as their primary source. However, the producers indicated some communication preferences that resulted in the Uni??n adjusting some of their efforts to reach out to their membership. This study was designed to revisit those livestock producers to investigate what changes had occurred in their preferences for communication since the Freund (1999) study. This research was conducted in the state of Nuevo Le??n, Mexico. The methodology used was a survey employing a questionnaire to collect data. The convenience sample consisted of 273 active members of the Uni??n Ganadera Regional de Nuevo Le??n (UGRNL) who attended regularly scheduled association functions. A principal objective of the research was to describe the communication infrastructure used in the state of Nuevo Le??n by UGRNL livestock producers. Another objective of the research was to describe preferred formal and informal channels of communication that livestock producers use to get information about ranching practices. Yet another objective was to describe what UGRNL livestock producers use as primary sources of information when choosing to adopt or reject agricultural practices, as well as investigating what secondary and feedback channels they prefer. Another objective was to determine which husbandry practices UGRNL livestock producers want more information about. Finally, an emphasis of the study was on what communication channels smaller stakeholders prefer, because the Uni??n wants to use that information to improve its diffusion of technology to that particular group of producers.Item Investigating the Relation Between Stress and Marital Satisfaction: The Interaction Effects of Dyadic Coping and Communication(2013-07-30) Gasbarrini, Molly FThis study examined the role that communication and coping skills play in the relation between stress and marital satisfaction in a community sample of 119 married, heterosexual couples in Italy. Hierarchical regression models were used to test for communication or coping skills as a moderator of the relation between an external or internal stressor and relationship satisfaction. Results from regression analyses showed that actor reports of both coping and communication significantly contributed to relationship satisfaction above and beyond contributions from external/internal stressors for both husbands and wives. There was a significant interaction effect of poor communication and internal stress on relationship satisfaction for both husbands and wives. There was also a significant interaction effect of coping skills and internal stress on relationship satisfaction for wives. Additionally, there was a significant interaction effect of husbands? coping and wives? internal stress on relationship satisfaction. Implications of these findings for prevention and intervention strategies for relationship distress and for further research are discussed.Item Managing the Yellowstone River System with Place-based Cultural Data(2011-10-21) Hall, Damon M.This project aims to create new research tools within the human dimensions (HD) of the natural resources field to improve environmental policy decision making. It addresses problems that arise from the recent trend towards decentralized natural resource management (NRM) and planning (e.g., community-based planning, watershed-based and collaborative management, others). By examining one decentralized riparian management planning effort along the Yellowstone River (Montana), this study finds that decentralization forces new needs such as localized information requirements and a better understanding of the rationales behind local interests. To meet these new scale demands and to ensure that policy best fits the social and biophysical settings, this project argues that local cultural knowledge can serve as an organizing framework for delivering the kinds of understanding needed for decentralized planning. This was tested by interviewing 313 riverfront landowners, recreationalists, and civic managers to understand how residents conceptualize the river?s natural processes, its management, and their desires for the future of the river. Analysis of the transcribed in-depth interview texts?the Yellowstone River Cultural Inventory (YRCI)?found that: (1) altering decision venues places more significance upon interpersonal working relationships between managers and citizens; (2) while local expertise can provide higher quality information to managers, local decision making cultures still retain power dynamics that can inhibit or advance conservation policies; (3) how natural resource places are symbolically communicated has a material impact upon resource uses; (4) how residents conceptualize the ownership of land is complicated along a dynamic river; and (5) this dynamism impacts planning efforts. In sum, this project argues that for social research to provide the data and analysis appropriate, a modification in scale and a commensurate shift in the lenses used for social inquiry is necessary. An in-depth understanding of local cultures?like the YRCI?enables agencies to best manage in decentralized scales of planning by calling attention to site-specific nuances such as power dynamics and place representation which are often missed in traditional large-scale HD methods and lenses. This research also functions as a preemptive way to engage the public in environmental planning helping decision makers? best fit policy to particular socio-cultural and ecological settings.Item Motherhood, Media and Reality: Analyzing Female Audience Reception of Celebrity Parenthood as News(2012-10-19) Hatfield, Elizabeth FishThe growing cultural commodity of celebrity news and its increasing focus on celebrities' families is examined by this project to determine what consequence communications about celebrity pregnancy and parenthood have on readers most likely to identify with the stories ? new mothers. While gossip magazines are not meant to provide parenting advice, their editorial focus on parenting may position celebrity parents as role models for audiences. Guided by theories of media effects, this project sought to understand why and how that might happen. Using narrative thematic analysis, two complementary data sets were analyzed: 36 issues sampled from the leading gossip magazines, People and Us Weekly, during 2007-2009, and five focus groups with recent mothers. Gossip magazines positively framed celebrity family life, idealizing the experience by avoiding talk of parenting's daily challenges. Resources such as nannies and personal trainers define celebrity parenting by affording celebrities, especially women, the ability to continue work while maintaining the identity of primary caregivers. A gendered act, consumption was intrinsically part of good celebrity parenting. Expectations for celebrity postpartum weight loss communicated that bigger bodies are a work-in-progress rather than an acceptable new body type. Fathers were visually depicted more often than in conventional parenting media, though these images similarly showed parents performing normative, gendered behaviors. Participants reported escapism as their main reason for reading gossip magazines and parasocial relationships existed with both liked and disliked celebrities. For liked celebrities, a parasocial dialectical tension emerged defining role models as both special and ordinary. For disliked celebrities, negative frames portrayed their parenting behavior as unacceptable and served as the strongest form of social learning from gossip magazines as readers internalized media criticism. Celebrity role models were selected based on feeling similar, serving as fantasy role models whose parenting lifestyles were simultaneously interpreted as aspirational and unattainable. Participants' social comparisons usually evaluated their own parenting experience as preferred to the demands and media environment faced by celebrities. Situations interpreted as incomparable attributed celebrities' success to external factors rather than internal characteristics. Overall, gossip magazines do provide parenting information that expands and impacts the real experience of mothers.Item Participants' Perspectives of Training Experiences: An Exploratory Qualitative Study(2010-07-14) Mathis, Robin S.Perceptions concerning training and development continue to appear in practitioner literature; however, the fact that those perceptions are not explored in HRD literature is a problem. The purpose of this study was to examine perspectives of participants in organization-sponsored training. A general qualitative methodology was utilized in this study. Then, through a social constructivism lens, the researcher looked closely at the interactions described in the trainees? experiences in order to understand their assumptions and how they made sense of their experiences. The researcher collected 10 interviews from participants representing various types of training experiences. The 10 interviewees identified shared experiences that led to the formation of four themes: (1) relevance and applicability, (2) attitudes and preferences, (3) immediacy, and (4) relational learning. Within the first theme, there were three subthemes: (1) responsibility for relevance and application, (2) communicating relevance, and (3) trainees? recognition of relevance and application. Theme 2, immediacy, consisted of three subthemes as well. Immediacy was explained by trainees as verbal, nonverbal, and environmental. No subthemes emerged from the other two themes. Finally, the themes revealed two episodic narratives. The two narratives were "Time is money--Is this worth the time?" and "If you don't care, I don't care." The two episodic narratives, pieced together, disclose the idea of the desired training described by the 10 participants. In conclusion, the findings of the study lead to a number of implications for practice and research. This study demonstrated the importance of trainers and instructional designers to develop clear understandings regarding what trainees think of face-to-face and online training and why they hold those opinions. Also, trainers and/or instructional designers should explore the use of communication and technology theories to develop training modules. In addition to practice, scholars should conduct more qualitative studies exploring trainee perceptions in online organizational training. Finally, the findings of the study showed that instructional communication researchers have not explored the issue of the importance of out-of-the classroom learning experiences in the field of human resource development.Item Promoting Blood Donation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Role of Culture and Interventions(2013-12-13) Appiah, BernardInadequate blood donation is a major public health problem in Sub-Saharan Africa. This study examines the influence of culture and communication on blood donation in Sub-Saharan Africa, with particular focus on Ghana. The literature was systematically reviewed for aspects of culture and communication that influence blood donation in Sub-Saharan Africa. Also, key informant interviews and focus group discussions with physicians, media professionals, and voluntary blood donors in Ghana were used, both to identify barriers to blood donation and to obtain some recommendations for designing interventions to boost blood donation. Literature searching yielded 3020 publications, including conference abstracts. Of them, 41 publications?representing 36 studies?met inclusion criteria and were critically appraised. Aspects of culture that were identified as influencing blood donation in Sub-Saharan Africa included blood donation-related misconceptions, religious beliefs, and influence of relatives. Communication channels that were identified for increasing blood donation included mass media, mobile phones, and face-to-face contacts. In Ghana, beliefs and attitudes of the public that were identified as barriers to blood donations included misconceptions about blood donation, such as the erroneous belief that hospital authorities were using donated blood for rituals. Some respondents perceived that health professionals have not educated the public and journalists enough about blood donation. Another perceived barrier to blood donation was negative media reporting, such as indicating the percentage of blood donors found to be HIV-positive. The lack of mutual trust between health professionals and journalists also served as a barrier to using the mass media to promote blood donation. To promote blood donation, respondents in Ghana suggested several strategies, including broadcasting radio or television dramas about blood donation in English and local languages to engage both literate and illiterate populations; providing media recognition of donors who achieve blood donation-related milestones; having blood donors serve as ambassadors of blood donor drives; using social media to engage prospective younger blood donors; and using mobile telephone caller tunes or ringback tones to publicize blood donation. Thus, many culture- and communication-related factors influence blood donation in Sub-Saharan Africa. Those designing interventions to increase blood donation in this region should consider these factors, including misconceptions, religious beliefs, family influences, and language.Item Redefining Entrepreneurship: The Discursive Constructions and Dialectics of Women's Sole-Proprietorship, Business-Ownership and Direct Sales Business-Ownership(2014-08-11) Jacocks, Cara WhitneyThis study examines the discursive constructions of women entrepreneurs related to their roles as sole-proprietors, business-owners and direct sales business-owners as well as the communicative contradictions experienced by these women in the leading and organizing of different business enterprises. Relying on social dialectics theory to unpack the tensions associated with entrepreneurial practice, this study illuminates definitions, descriptions and struggles related to enacting gender and various forms of entrepreneurship. By examining the discursive tensions experienced via the direct accounts of sole-proprietors, business-owners, and direct sales business-owners, this research contributes to a larger understanding of gender, communication and entrepreneurship. Findings from this study demonstrate that women define entrepreneurship in different ways depending on a host of factors including their personal work history, differential treatment faced in previous occupations, the type of entrepreneurship practiced, the type of industry or business, and family status. Results also demonstrate that women who enact different forms of entrepreneurship experience distinct relational tensions and enact varying management techniques as they seek to balance these tensions.Item Reproductive strategies of Weddell seals in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica: relationship among vocalizations, behaviors, and social interactions(Texas A&M University, 2007-09-17) Rousseau, Ludivine BlandinePhocid seals (true seals, Order Carnivora, Family Phocidae) use a diverse array of breeding habitats and strategies, and produce many vocalizations. Therefore, phocids are well suited as subjects for study of reproductive strategies and the role of vocalizations in species mating at sea. However, the amount of information is still limited for aquatically breeding pinnipeds. Using underwater audio and video recordings of Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) interacting in McMurdo Sound, I compared the frequencies of vocalizations and behaviors of males and females during the mating season. I also investigated differences in these frequencies based on the social context. Finally, I identified patterns of vocalizations and behaviors to help determine the behavioral context of calls and used this information as a basis for considering the degree of ritualization in Weddell seal displays. Mews, growls, knocks, and trills were found to be almost exclusively male-specific. The territorial male produced chirps more often when another male was present in its territory; whereas, mews and growls were more frequent when one or more free-ranging females were present. Several vocal and behavioral padeparture of the territorial male into or from the breathing hole. In the context of an evolutionary-based model of communication, these findings suggest that low-frequency vocalizations and stereotyped displays produced by territorial males may have been favored by sexual selection: they may provide reliable information to females about the fitness of the signaler and influence their choice of mate. They may also help in limiting conflicts between the territorial male and females over access to the breathing hole.Item Speaking the unspeakable: emotional expressions of identity within journals(Texas A&M University, 2004-11-15) Horrocks, AubrieCreating a sense of identity is constructed through communicative processes allowing us to participate in interpersonal relationships, and understand who we are. "Much of our emotional life is bound up with the way we narrate experiences..." (Kerby, 1991, p. 48). Because experiences are told from our own perspective, what we tell is significant. It reflects our feelings regarding a situation, and in the telling of the story, we reinterpret the way we understand our life and how we know ourselves. The purpose of this study is to examine the content and structure of the narratives contained within a diary, in order to learn how an individual interprets emotional experiences and constructs identities. It is a unique opportunity to explore how individuals can cope with ambiguity and uncertainty by constructing multiple identities to functionally enact within a variety of environments.Item Teacher questioning: effect on student communication in middle school algebra mathematics classrooms(Texas A&M University, 2007-09-17) Matthiesen, Elizabeth AprillaThis study investigates the components within teacher questioning and how they affect communication within the mathematics classroom. Components examined are the type of question, the amount of wait time allowed, the use of follow-up questions, and the instructional setting. The three types of questions analyzed in this study were highorder, low-order, and follow-up questions. High-order questions are defined as questions which promote analysis, synthesis or evaluation of information versus low-order questions which only seek procedural or knowledge of basic recall of information. The third type of question, follow-up, is the second question asked of a student when the initial question is not answered or answered incorrectly. This study observed video of three teachers from three different adjacent school districts. Upon watching three lessons of each teacher and recording data, conclusions were made. All three teachers were found to use low-order questions at least 50% of the time during instruction. Wait time following high-order questions met the minimum three second time as suggested from previous researchers. Follow-up questions were found to occur more frequently after high-order questions, but followed similar trends as stated above related to the type of question asked. Instructional setting does differ in the types of questions asked with a small group setting more likely to elicit high-order questions than a whole group setting. The researcher concluded that high-order questions with a minimum of three seconds wait time in a small group setting encourage communication within the mathematics classroom.Item The Police Chief and City Manager: Cultivating and Maintaining a Practical Line of Communication and Philosophy in the Workplace(Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas (LEMIT)) Crow, Larry E. Sr.Item The Supreme Court's Chief Umpire: Judging the Legal Rhetoric and Judicial Philosophy of John G. Roberts, Jr.(2012-10-19) Hudkins, JayMany Supreme Court followers contended that Judge John Roberts entered his Supreme Court confirmation hearings as a "stealth candidate" who lacked a paper trail the Judiciary Committee could vet to discern the interpretive approach, or judicial philosophy, to which Judge Roberts' subscribed. This dissertation used rhetorical criticism as a methodological approach for examining this claim. A close-reading of Roberts' law journal articles, his writings from his service during the Reagan and Bush (41) administrations, the text of his appellate court confirmation testimony and published opinions, and the text of his Supreme Court confirmation testimony and published opinions reveals that Roberts was not a "stealth candidate" but instead a jurist who resolved constitutional, judicial, political, and statutory issues by incorporating components of originalism and positivism into his prudentialist judicial philosophy. The first two chapters of the dissertation provide the requisite background for the study. Chapter I discusses the challenges of the nomination and confirmation processes for Supreme Court Justices, and the chapter discusses the crucial powers that the Chief Justice possesses. Chapter II introduces readers to legal arguments, argument modalities, and judicial philosophies, and the chapter offers a new definition for the terms "legal rhetoric" and provides a new methodology for studying judicial discourse. The subsequent chapters comprise the core of the study. Chapter III examines Roberts' law review articles and the letters, memoranda, and position papers he wrote while working for the Reagan and Bush administrations, Chapter IV investigates Roberts' appellate court confirmation testimony and his published opinions, and Chapter V investigates Roberts' Supreme Court confirmation testimony and his published opinions. Following a chronological approach reveals that Roberts consistently used certain argument types within corresponding argument modalities to formulate his argumentative strategies, and each chapter demonstrates that Roberts' adhered to a prudentialist interpretive approach to resolve constitutional and statutory questions. Finally, Chapter VI argues that scholars should examine judicial discourse from an interdisciplinary perspective and reevaluate their conceptions about legal rhetoric and rhetorical criticism.Item Transference effects on student physicians' affective interactions and clinical inferences in interviews with standardized patients: an experimental study(Texas A&M University, 2005-11-01) van Walsum, Kimberly LynnThis study applied Andersen??s social cognitive paradigm for the experimental study of transference to the problem of understanding transference effects on the affective interactions and clinical inferences of student physicians with standardized patients. The investigator designed a 2X2 experimental study in which the independent variables were: source of information for statements about a standardized patient (participant??s own or matched participant??s) and valence of information in statements about the patient (positive or negative). Dependent variables were: affect expressed by a student physician in videotapes of a medical interview with a standardized patient, as measured by a modified version of the Specific Affect ?? 16 code system (SPAFF-16), and clinical inferences by the student physician as measured by the Physician Clinical Inferences Scale (PCIS) developed by the investigator. Covariates included gender, physician verbosity, and intergenerational family relationship variables as measured by the Personal Authority in the Family System Questionnaire ?? Version C (PAFS-QVC). A 2X2 MANCOVA was conducted, along with hierarchical regressions of gender and PAFSQVC variables as predictors of negative and positive affect and clinical inferences (likelihood of treatment success and patient as partner). One sample of undergraduate medical students (n= 71) provided data for the study. Results indicated no statistically significant differences between experimental groups regarding the effect of the experimental manipulation of patient information on student physicians?? affective interactions and clinical inferences with patients when gender, physician verbosity, and related PAFS-QVC variables were controlled. Hierarchical regression analyses of gender and related PAFS-QVC variables onto positive affect, negative affect, clinical inferences (patient as partner) and clinical inferences (likelihood of treatment success) revealed statistically significant effects of intergenerational family relationship and peer relationship variables on student physicians?? affective interactions and clinical inferences with patients.Item Understanding the Team Dynamics of an Executive Virtual Team(2011-10-21) Riley, Ramona LeonardOrganizations of all types are now able to operate in virtual capacities through time, space, and distance across multinational boundaries; therefore, geography no longer limits business functioning. In fact, many corporate executives and boards employ virtuality in their work regimen. Therefore, organizations employ virtual executives to work teams with ideal skill sets to effectively persevere and complete tasks through distance, space, and time. The purpose of this study was to identify and yet understand the experiences of executive multinational, virtual board members working as a team in a virtual environment. Through this research the virtual dynamics of the virtual team have been studied, prodded, purposely mismatched, and weaved together to understand the culture of the virtual environment in which the team members interact and perform duties. With this particular board, there has been a history of previous work experience or exposure in some capacity; however, it has no great impact on their interaction and work with the entire board. In this study, an exploratory look at the experiences, perceived team dynamics, and strategies used to successfully function as a virtual team are highlighted from a qualitative perspective. The purpose is to describe the individual perspectives of how a multinational executive virtual team best works. The findings of this study reveal that there are many ways to communicate utilizing technology, but the objective for this virtual team is to be multidimensional in use. That means that honest communication is necessary for the board to perform at their optimal level. Therefore, the theoretical framework is based on team performance as a teamwork process-based construct which depends on communication, relationship, and trust to add success for virtual teams The framework results in three step process for team flow and success i.e., the importance of face-to-face meetings; advantages of virtual teaming; and challenges of virtual teaming to result in virtual team performance dependent on the team having communication, relationship, and trust present.