ABSTRACT
This study was designed to determine whether a reliable instrument could be developed to measure the loneliness experienced by workers with mental retardation. In addition, supervisors were asked to rate subjects on loneliness and four other behavioral subtypes in order to determine whether there was a relation between these ratings and the loneliness questionnaire. Three groups of subjects were assessed: persons with mild, moderate, and severe mental retardation. Results indicated that the Worker Loneliness Questionnaire was a reliable instrument for use with persons with mild and moderate mental retardation. In addition, the results showed that some individuals were lonely; however, this was not a pervasive feeling. The implications for measuring the self-perceptions of individuals with mental retardation were discussed.
Subject(s)
Education of Intellectually Disabled , Intellectual Disability/psychology , Loneliness/psychology , Sheltered Workshops , Adult , Female , Humans , Intellectual Disability/rehabilitation , Male , Personality Assessment , Social BehaviorABSTRACT
To determine the effects of a school-based, nurse-run prenatal counseling program, records of prenatal care visits of students and their infants' birth weights (i.e., cases) were obtained from the state live birth certificate tape for 1985-1987. From the same tape, a mother residing in the same community but not enrolled in the program was matched with each case on eight criteria to serve as a control. A total of 288 matched case-control pairs were obtained. Using McNemar's test, a significantly higher percentage of the cases received adequate prenatal care than did the controls.
Subject(s)
Counseling/standards , Pregnancy in Adolescence , Prenatal Care/standards , School Nursing/standards , Adolescent , Birth Weight , Case-Control Studies , Chicago , Female , Humans , Matched-Pair Analysis , Nursing Evaluation Research , PregnancyABSTRACT
Obtained self-reports of parenting practices from fathers and mothers of 24 children with cancer, and 24 controls using the Child-Rearing Practices Report (CRPR). Cancer patients were primarily in long-term remission and represented a typical pattern of childhood malignancies. Same age/sex controls were recruited from the classrooms of the children with cancer. In addition, CRPR ratings were obtained from experts in pediatric oncology based upon their prediction of how a parent of a child with cancer would respond. The experts predicted differences in the areas of overinvolvement, discipline, worry about the child, nutritional concerns, and use of supernatural explanations. Results from parents showed surprising similarity between the parents of children with cancer and control parents, and disagreement with the experts. Discussion focuses on explanations for this apparent contradiction.
Subject(s)
Child Rearing , Neoplasms/psychology , Parent-Child Relations , Parents/psychology , Adolescent , Attitude of Health Personnel , Attitude to Health , Child , Child Psychiatry , Female , Humans , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
Previous studies showed that the Natural Killer (NK) activity of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) from cluster headache (CH) patients is lower than that of controls. This decreased activity seems to be independent of the cluster period. beta-interferon has been shown to be more effective in increasing NK activity when incubated with PBL from CH patients, than with PBL from control donors. Lymphokine-Activated Killer (LAK) cells can be generated by incubation of human PBL in recombinant Interleukin-2 (rIL-2). This phenomenon was studied in 10 CH patients and 8 healthy volunteers. PBL were activated to LAK cells by "in vitro" incubation for 72 hours in Control Medium containing rIL-2 (1000 I.U./ml). A four hour Chromium 51 release was used to measure LAK Cell Killing of K562 target cells. The released radioactivity was measured in a gamma scintillation counter. The CH patients showed a marked increase of LAK generation compared to control subjects. This effect seems to be augmented during the cluster period.
Subject(s)
Cluster Headache/immunology , Interleukin-2/pharmacology , Killer Cells, Natural/immunology , Lymphocyte Activation , Vascular Headaches/immunology , Adolescent , Adult , Female , Humans , In Vitro Techniques , Male , Middle Aged , Recombinant Proteins/pharmacologyABSTRACT
This study documents the health problems managed by pediatric nurse practitioners (PNPs) and pediatricians and examines the effects of setting and provider group on the distribution of health problems. Proportional samples by clinic were selected from a total of 11,968 patient visits to five ambulatory care clinics during an 18-week period in 1978. A patient encounter form was devised and the ICD-9-CM was used as the coding system. Results indicated 1) distributions of health problems differed significantly between the PNPs and the pediatricians in each clinic; 2) setting significantly effected the distributions of both types of health problems; and 3) provider group significantly affected the distribution of health problems with V codes but not frequently reported problems given a setting. The PNPs caseloads differ from pediatrician caseloads in diagnostic categories and wellness emphases. Community-based settings seem to be especially appropriate for nurse practitioner practice.
