Skip to content
University of Maryland LibrariesDigital Repository at the University of Maryland
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   DRUM
    • Theses and Dissertations from UMD
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   DRUM
    • Theses and Dissertations from UMD
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Alternative Break Programs and the Factors that Contribute to Changes in Students' Lives

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    Niehaus_umd_0117E_13085.pdf (743.1Kb)
    No. of downloads: 604

    Date
    2012
    Author
    Niehaus, Elizabeth K
    Advisor
    Inkelas, Karen Kurotsuchi
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    The purpose of this study was to explore the extent to and ways in which student participants in Alternative Break (AB) programs report that their AB experience influenced their intentions or plans to volunteer, engage in advocacy, or study or travel abroad, or their major or career plans. Additional analysis explored the specific program characteristics related to the influence of the AB experience on students' lives in these six ways, and differences between domestic and international AB programs. The theoretical basis of this study was provided by Mezirow's (1991, 1997, 2000) theory of Transformative Learning, Fishbein and Ajzen's (1975) theory of Reasoned Action, and Etzioni (1992) theory of Normative-Affective Decision Making. Building on these three theories, Astin's (1991) Inputs-Environments-Outcomes (IEO) model provided structure to the analysis and interpretation of the relationships between student, program, and institutional characteristics and the outcomes in question. The data from this study were collected as part of the National Survey of Alternative Breaks, a multi-institutional survey of students who participated in Alternative Spring Break programs in 2011. Overall 2187 students responded to the survey, representing 443 separate AB trips and 97 colleges and universities. Data from the survey were analyzed following the above conceptual framework (modified to account for the nesting of the data) using descriptive analysis and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). The results of this study show that students overwhelmingly do report that their AB experience influences these outcomes, and there are a number of program characteristics related to the influence of the AB programs. The extent to which students were emotionally challenged and able to connect their AB experience to larger social issues, the frequency with which students wrote in individual journals, the amount students learned from their interactions with community members and other students on their trip, and the comprehensiveness of the reorientation program after returning to campus were all significant, positive predictors of all or most of the outcomes explored. Finally, an international program location was significantly related to the influence of the AB experience on students' intentions or plans to study or travel abroad.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/1903/12694
    Collections
    • Counseling, Higher Education & Special Education Theses and Dissertations
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations

    DRUM is brought to you by the University of Maryland Libraries
    University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-7011 (301)314-1328.
    Please send us your comments.
    Web Accessibility
     

     

    Browse

    All of DRUMCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister
    Pages
    About DRUMAbout Download Statistics

    DRUM is brought to you by the University of Maryland Libraries
    University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-7011 (301)314-1328.
    Please send us your comments.
    Web Accessibility