The purposes of this study were (1) to determine whether patients with AIDS are stigmatized by nursing faculty, (2) to determine whether practicing homosexuals are stigmatized by nursing faculty, (3) to determine whether faculty attitudes toward AIDS patients are influenced by the patients' sexual preference, and (4) to determine whether faculty attitudes toward practicing homosexual patients are influenced by the patients' disease. This study is a modified replication of studies by Kelly et al.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of using word processing and proofreading software in freshman composition at a community college. This study used pretest and posttest measures to determine if significant differences in the improvement of composition skills occurred between students in a composition class that did not use microcomputers and students in a composition class that did use microcomputers. Objective tests and writing samples were used as measurements. The population for the study consisted of students enrolled in freshman composition classes at a two year community college. Students self-selected enrollment in each class. Three hundred students who completed the pretest and posttest measures and completed the course were included in the study. There was no significant difference found in the improvement of writing skills between the two groups as measured by the objective test or the writing samples. There was a significant difference found in the withdrawal rate of students from the classes. The computer class had a significantly higher withdrawal rate than the non-computer class.

The study determined the overall persistence rate of first-time full-time entrants into a mid-sized private university during the fall semesters 1989 to 1991 to the 2nd year (1990 to 1992). The study compared the retention rate of recipients and nonrecipients of a variety of financial aid programs. Included is a comparison of groups receiving various types of financial assistance and whether or not there are differences between the groups with respect to types of assistance, gender, ethnicity (African American, Hispanic, Anglo), high school grade point average, and national test scores (SAT, ACT). The types of assistance studied were categorized by academic scholarships, university-operated student employment, need-based grants, activity awards, entitlements, and loans. The question of whether renewal, elimination, or reduction in assistance relates to retention was also studied.

This study was designed to develop a procedure for the identification of freshman students at risk in the academic and social integration process at Texas Christian University. The data for the study were collected from the Student Information Form (SIF) and student records system at Texas Christian University. The data included demographic, attitudinal, educational background and one-year persistence indicators (retain and drop) as well as one-year cumulative grade point averages for the fall 1990 entering freshman class.

The purpose of this study was to compare two types of flyers used in the promotion of a recreational special event by a nonprofit agency. Informational and persuasive flyers were developed for an audience participation murder mystery play presented at Carswell Air Force Base near Fort Worth, Texas. Flyers were distributed throughout this military community. Only those individuals interested in attending a theatrical production registered for this program. A pretest and posttest were administered. Data were analyzed using Chi square goodness of fit tests, tests of proportions, and t-tests. Findings were: (a) persuasive flyers were more effective than the informational type in attracting potential patrons to register for an audience participation murder mystery play, (b) persuasive flyers were also more effective in attracting potential patrons to actually attend a murder mystery production, (c) however, persuasive flyers were not more effective in influencing the expectation or satisfaction of the patrons with the murder mystery production, and (d) neither type of flyer attracted patrons with any different demographic profiles who registered for or who attended this murder mystery production. In view of the findings of this study, the following recommendations for further study appear to be warranted: (a) further research on the …

The fact that girls and women suffer a loss of self-esteem disproportionate to boys and men is without argument. There are an increasing number of books, magazine articles, and resource kits being made available to begin to comprehensively address the issue with young girls. However, less effort is being directed toward the older adolescent, the college-age woman. The problem with which this study was concerned was that of determining the impact of a mentoring program on the self-esteem of college-age women. The Multidimensional Self-Esteem Inventory (MSEI) was administered as a pre- and posttest, to 40 sophomore women, 20 of whom were in a control group and 20 who participated in the structured mentoring program. Using the MSEI, it was possible to gain statistically significant data which indicated that the self-esteem of the women could be positively impacted as a result of the mentoring experience. In addition to the instrument, the participants kept journals about their mentoring experience. Therefore, this research was able to report both qualitative and quantitative findings. The findings regarding the control group were not statistically significant for any of the 11 characteristics on the inventory. The findings from the mentored group however, were determined to be statistically …