A study examined the extent of and the causes for student attrition in vocational education health careers programs in California. During the ten-month study, researchers utilized the following methods of data collection: analysis of data on enrollees, leavers, and completers that were gathered from California State Department of Education records for the years 1977 through 1980; administration of a questionnaire to 240 health careers teachers and administrators concerning their perceptions of 36 factors responsible for students' dropping out of health programs, administration of a telephone survey to 164 students reported to have dropped out of health programs, and site visits to high- and low-completing districts. Analysis of these data revealed that the following factors are associated with programs having high rates of completion: maintenance of a strong positive relationship between teachers and school counselors, provision of special attention to students with basic skills deficiencies, efforts to create a high degree of community awareness and participation, use of good teaching techniques, and provision of administrative support. Based on these findings, the researchers made a series of 15 recommendations geared to local and state administrators responsible for vocational health careers programs. (MN)