Dissertation Abstract

Attrition in Associate Degree Radiography Programs: Perceived Causes and Possible Solutions.

The purpose of this study was to determine the perceived causes of and possible solutions to attrition in associate degree radiography programs nationwide. The 287 program directors in two year colleges were surveyed to determine their program's attrition rates as well as perceived causes and solutions to attrition. The overall survey return rate was 67.2 percent. Analysis indicated that the average overall attrition rate of programs responding was 26.5 percent, with the highest dropout occurring during the first year. Three one-way ANOVA procedures were used to compare attrition rates for freshmen, sophomores, and overall by three levels of student-faculty ratio. There were no significant differences in attrition rate by student faculty ratio.

In addition, t-tests were used to compare the attrition rates in programs that required hospital visits and interviews prior to program acceptance and those that did not. The analysis indicated that there were no significant differences in attrition rates between these programs. The findings of the study indicate that program directors perceive the causes of attrition to be poor health of students, family-related problems, academic problems, financial problems and demands of the program. The program directors perceive that the main solutions to reducing attrition are to provide information packets that explain the program's expectations, to provide improved counseling sessions for all students, to require liberal arts courses prior to radiology curriculum, to increase the availability of financial aid for the students and to increase minimum academic requirements.

This dissertation citation and abstract are published with permission of ProQuest Information and Learning. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission.