Theses and Dissertations from UMD
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item Getting on the Same Page: Associations of Immediacy and Client-Therapist Alliance Congruence(2022) Hillman, Justin William; Kivlighan, Jr., Dennis M; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examined the within-dyad association of immediacy (i.e., a skill that therapists use to work with the therapeutic relationship in the here-and-now) with the strength and congruence of the working alliance across 1352 sessions of 58 adult community clients seeing 11 doctoral student therapists in individual psychodynamic-interpersonal psychotherapy. As a preliminary step, the factor structure and validity were tested for the Metacommunication in Session Questionnaire–Client Form (MSQ-C), a client-rated measure of immediacy adapted from the supervisory MSQ (Calvert, Deane, & Grenyer, 2020). After every session, clients and therapists completed the Working Alliance Inventory–Short Revised (WAI-SR; Hatcher & Gillaspy, 2006) and clients completed the MSQ-C. Factor analysis supported a two-factor structure for MSQ-C (Open Communication and Managing Disagreement/Discomfort factors). Validity of the MSQ-C was supported by predicted correlations with measures of helping skills, sessions quality, alliance, and therapist reported immediacy use, although some associations varied depending on the client or therapist rater perspective. Results of multilevel, latent variable models found that when clients reported more immediacy in a session compared to their average session, they tended to report a stronger alliance; and this effect was strongest in earlier sessions, weaker in magnitude in middle sessions, and non-significant in later sessions. Results of multilevel truth-and-bias models showed that therapist alliance ratings were temporally congruent with client alliance ratings, but client-perceived immediacy did not predict alliance congruence. Limitations and future directions are discussed.Item Congruence X Employment Tenure: A Study with Transitioning Youth with Disabilities(2010) Castan, Juliana Unis; Fabian, Ellen; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examined the relationship between congruence (between individual's inventoried career interests and subsequent job) and employment tenure for transitioning youth with disabilities successfully closed in fiscal year 2008 by the Maryland State Vocational Rehabilitation Agency (DORS) - Region 6 (N = 51). The relationship between employment tenure and demographic variables (gender, ethnicity, education level, disability type, social security benefits status, and length in services) is also assessed. Data was obtained from DORS database, wage checks reports and file reviews. This study did not find support for the relationship between employment tenure and either congruence or demographic variables. Related findings include high frequency of low congruent jobs, and the majority of jobs in janitorial and service areas, part time and with hourly wage between $5.00 and $10.00.Item ORGANIZATION-EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIPS MODEL: A TWO-SIDED STORY(2009) Shen, Hongmei; Toth, Elizabeth L.; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study was to develop a theory of internal relationship management, and to propose a new way of measuring organization-public relationships by simultaneously examining the organizations' as well as their employees' perceptions of the quality of their relationships. It sought to contribute to theory-building on the process of relationship management from its maintenance through its quality to the consequences. An online survey was used to collect data. Usable questionnaires totaled 785 from 30 organizations. Data analytic methods included missing value analysis, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, multivariate regression, polynomial regression, surface response tests, mediation tests, and reliability tests. The proposed measures of symmetrical relationship maintenance strategies, asymmetrical relationship strategies, organization-employee relationship characteristics, turnover intention, and contextual performance were found to be valid and reliable. The major findings included: first, the more organizations used symmetrical relationship maintenance strategies with their employees, the more likely both employees and the organizations reported greater trust, control mutuality, commitment, satisfaction, and less distrust in the relationship; and vice versa for asymmetrical strategies. Second, employees would have higher turnover intention when both employees and their organizations perceived higher distrust and lower trust, control mutuality, commitment, and satisfaction. Also, when employees were more optimistic than their organizations about their relationships, employees were more likely to leave the organization. Third, employees' contextual performance would rise as both these employees and their organizations reported greater level of commitment and satisfaction. However, employees' level of contextual performance would drop when incongruence increased. Lastly, mediation tests showed that the effects of symmetrical and asymmetrical relationship maintenance strategies on turnover intention and contextual performance were partially mediated by congruence of perceived relationship characteristics, excluding the dimension of distrust regarding the effect of relationship maintenance strategies on contextual performance. This study contributed to public relations theory by 1) clarifying and refining the conceptualizations and operationalizations of relationship maintenance strategies, congruence of perceived relationship characteristics, and organizational effectiveness, 2) proposing a new way to evaluate two sides of organization-public relationships, and 3) empirically testing a relationship-building model within organizations to develop a theory of internal relationship management.