This study assesses the continuing education needs of social caseworkers employed by the Community Care for the Aged, Blind and Disabled Program Division of the Texas State Department of Human Resources. A model by which needs assessments and discrepancy evaluation can be conducted was identified. The study was designed to answer three major questions. These were (1) What are the behavioral competencies critical to the effective practice of C.C.A.B.D. social casework within the Texas State Department of Human Resources? (2) What are the current continuing education needs of C.C.A.B.D. caseworkers with respect to these competencies? (3) What significant discrepancies exist as to the perception of these needs among caseworkers, supervisors, and administrators that hold implications for continuing education program planning. The needs assessment model developed in this study is designed to overcome many of the limitations of traditional approaches to needs assessment by defining critical job requirements from the perspective of current practice as well as administrative policy, establishing a profile of the successful worker as a model for staff development, and integrating the perceptions of administrators, supervisors, and workers in identifying continuing education needs.

This investigation was designed to study coach and self-appraised groupings of intercollegiate tennis players who yield to stress and withstand stress and to determine if personality differences existed between groups. Subjects were 75 intercollegiate tennis players from Texas. A stress inventory and the Cattell Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire were instruments utilized in the study. Data were subjected to hierarchical profile-groupings, three-way analyses of variance, and a correlational analysis. Conclusions of the study were that intercollegiate tennis players and male and female players respond to stress differently; intercollegiate tennis players and male and female players who experience different levels of stress have different personalities; and players and coaches do not evaluate the ability to cope with stress similarly.