The study was designed to develop and explicate the Personal Development Seminar, to empirically test its efficacy for enhancing the self concept of seminar participants, and to examine their assessment of the experience A pre-test--post-test control group design was used to test self concept change. The Tennessee Self Concept Scale was employed as the measuring instrument. A self-report questionnaire was used to obtain the participants' evaluations of the experience. Experimental subjects participated in the Personal Development Seminar which consisted of 8 weekly sessions of 2 hours duration, led by the researcher Seventeen staff members of a Jewish Community Center and 8 university students comprised the two experimental groups of the study; the respective control groups were composed of 19 staff members from a similar Jewish Community Center and 6 students from the same university The results of the study indicated that participation in the Personal Development Seminar did not change self concept at the accepted level of significance (0.05). A possible positive trend in the mean scores of the experimental groups not evidenced in the control groups was noted, though viewed cautiously. Examination of the Questionnaire responses indicated that a preponderance of the participants considered the seminar helpful and recommended it for others Modifications that may enhance the utility of the seminar are suggested and directions for further research are offered
