Gender Differences in Empathic Ability and Facial Emotion Recognition of Schizophrenic Patients

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to investigate gender difference in empathic ability and recognition of facial emotion expression in schizophrenic patients. METHODS: Twenty-two schizophrenic outpatients (11 men and 11 women) and controls (10 men and 12 women) performed both the scale of Empathic Quotient (EQ) and facial emotion recognition test. We compared the scores of EQ and the facial emotion recognition test among each group according to diagnosis and gender. RESULTS: We found a significant sex difference in the scores of EQ and the facial emotion recognition test in the schizophrenic patients. And there were significantly negative correlation between the score of the facial emotion recognition test and the scores of Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS) in female schizophrenic patients. However, in male schizophrenic patients, there were no significant correlations between the score of each test and the scores of PANSS. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that the sex difference in empathic ability and facial emotion recognition would be very important in chronic schizophrenic patients. Investigation of sex effects in empathic ability and facial emotion recognition in chronic schizophrenic patients would present an important solution for constructing optimal rehabilitation program.

Influence of Memory Intensive Training Program on Cognitive Function, Memory Performance, and Self-Esteem in Elderly People / 재활간호학회지

PURPOSE: This study was to confirm the influence of memory intensive training program on the elderly people's cognitive function, memory performance, and self-esteem. METHOD: Using a quasi-experimental or experimental design, 60 elderly aged over 60 years randomly assigned the experimental and control groups completed pretest-post evaluation. The experimental group participated in the memory intensive training program was offered to the participants in the experimental group for three weeks (2times/week). The t-test and chi2-test using SAS program. RESULTS: 1) The cognitive function was significantly higher in the experimental group compared to that in the control group (t=3.26, p=.002). 2) The memory performance that included immediate word recall tasks, word recognition tasks and delayed word recall tasks was significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group (t=5.30, p<.001). The experimental group showed significantly higher scores for memory performance than the control group (t=5.30, p<.001). 3) The self-esteem was higher in the experimental group than in the control group, but there was no significant difference between the two groups (t=1.94, p=.058). CONCLUSION: The Memory Intensive Training Program could be an effective intervention for improving cognitive function, and memory performance of the elderly people.