Personality of students passing the entrance examination into siriraj medical school.

Objective: To compare the characteristic traits between groups and gender of students who were selected and not selected to Siriraj Medical School. To create data base of characteristic traits of medical students. Methods: A total of 329 students who passed the written examination into Siriraj Medical School in the year 2005 were examined by MMPI. Data analyses were done by SPSS/PC for Windows. The validity and clinical scales of MMPI were compared according to different groups and genders of the students. Results: The profile of all groups of students showed the characteristics of analytical thought, perfectionist, ambitious, high self-expectation, and expression (Ma, Sc, Pt, Mf, D, Hy). It was also found that female students had more confidence and self-expression than male. Conclusion: According to the finding that students had the characteristic of higher self-expectation and easily anxious, therefore the emotional management programs may help in mental health promotion and prevention besides the normal academic activities.

Preliminary validation of the Thai version of the wechsler abbreviated scale of intelligence.

The research aims to study comparisons between the Thai version of the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence and the original . Samples were people from urban and rural areas, aged from 6-70 years. The structure and pattern of 4 subtests of WASI-T are the same as those of the WASI but some items in vocabulary were changed to make them suitable for Thai respondents. Reliability for both child and adult samples ranges from .82 to .97 . Factor analysis found the factor pattern identical to the original WASI findings. The researcher suggests using the test for screening purposes when there is limited time available and no in-depth assessment of intellectual function is needed or when mass screening of subjects is necessary and there are inadequate conditions for using the full test.

Research on development of the manual for self detection of depression in the Thai elderly.

The purposes of this study were to develop an effective manual for the early self detection of depression in the Thai elderly, to detect the comorbidity of depression (pattern of drug and alcohol abuse, suicidal idea) and to ascertain the quality of life. A quasi experimental field research methodology (Randomized Control Group Pretest-Posttest Design) was implemented. The sample consisted of 1,390 elderly people in 35 communities from 4 districts surrounding Siriraj Hospital-Bangkok Noi, Bangkok Yai, Taling Chan and Bang Phlat. These areas are the peripheral parts of Bangkok and most of them have extended families. The result showed that: 1. The internal consistency reliability of the nine criteria of the manual for the self detection of depression in the Thai elderly ranged from 0.84 to 0.94. The validity tested by epidemiological methods, disclosed that the sensitivity was 82.14 per cent and the specificity was 97.56 per cent. 2. There was a statistically significant difference in the incidence of depression between the study and the control group (p<0.000); self referred cases = 86.7 per cent and 9.8 per cent respectively. The study group was able to detect depression in 42 days, while the control group did so in 122 days. In addition, in the associated comorbidity, there were differences in the patterns of drug and alcohol abuse, suicidal ideas and quality of life after the experiment. These findings showed a decreasing pattern of self medication for depression, and suicidal ideas and an improvement in the quality of life in the study group.

Prevalence and incidence of depression in the Thai elderly.

The purposes of this study were to study the prevalence and incidence of depression in elderly Thais. A field survey study was implemented. The sample consisted of 1,713 elderly people in 35 communities from 4 districts surrounding Siriraj Hospital Bangkok Noi, Bangkok Yai, Taling Chun and Bang Plud. These areas are the peripheral part of Bangkok and most of them have extended family. The Thai Geriatric Depression Scale (TGDS) and the Thai Mini Mental State Examination (TMSE) were used as screening tests, for data collection. The prevalence of depression was 12.78 per cent, of which 8.23 per cent had only depressive symptomatology (male 5.43%, female 9.63%) while 4.55 per cent had both depression and cognitive impairment (male 2.8%, female 5.54%). The point incidence (one year) of depression was 7.27 (male 1.58%, female 5.68%). The major contributing factors in depression were financial, poor family relationships and physical illness. The prevention and management of these factors may bring about a better quality of life for the elderly in Thailand.

The development of psychometric test “The Thai mental health questionnaire".

The purpose of this study was to develop the Thai Mental Health Questionnaire, having sufficient discriminate power, adequate construct validity, and reliability. The subject were two groups; (1) pilot study samples: 60 samples and (2) survey samples were 700 samples consisted of normals, psychiatric outpatients, and psychiatric inpatients. Data collected from the Thai Mental health Questionnaire was developed from criteria based on the DSM-IV. The results of this study showed that the final test composed of 70 items - was found to be significantly different at the .001 level between those people with mental disorders and normal people. The construct validity of this test consists of five factors: somatic, depression, anxiety, psychotic, and social function. The reliability coefficients for the Alpha were range from 0.82 to 0.94.

Depression and dementia in Thai elderly in urban and rural communities.

The purpose of this study was to describe the demographic data related to depression and dementia in elderly people in community. A total of 1,052 elderly people, 370 in urban area (Bangkok) and 682 in rural area (Ranong and Buriram provinces) were included. Data collection using TMSE and TGDS screening tests was done during December 1996-February 1998. Descriptive and analytic statistics were computed. Results showed that demographic data of urban and rural elderly people were similar. The prevalences of depression in elderly living in urban, rural and overall were 35.1 %, 17-19 %, and 24.1% respectively while those of dementia group were 27.6 %, 33-37 % and 32.8 % respectively. A positive relationship was found between depression and dementia in the studied population. Our data suggest that age, health status and the elderly’s role of consultant contribute substantially to cognitive and mental test scores. We can use these factors to generate conditions that promote quality of life in the elderly.