ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Occupational therapists play a major role in the assessment and referral of clients with severe mental illness for supported employment. Nonetheless, there is scarce literature about the content and predictive validity of the process. In addition, the criteria of successful job matching have not been analysed and job supervisors have relied on experience rather than objective standards in recruitment. This study aimed to explore the profile of successful clients working in 'shop sales' in a supportive environment using a neurocognitive assessment protocol, and to validate the protocol against 'internal standards' of the job supervisors. METHODS: This was a concurrent validation study of criterion-related scales for a single job type. The subjective ratings from the supervisors were concurrently validated against the results of neurocognitive assessment of intellectual function and work-related cognitive behaviour. RESULTS: A regression model was established for clients who succeeded and failed in employment using supervisor's ratings and a cutoff value of 10.5 for the Performance Fitness Rating Scale (R(2) = 0.918, F[41] = 3.794, p = 0.003). Classification And Regression Tree was also plotted to identify the profile of cases, with an overall accuracy of 0.861 (relative error, 0.26). CONCLUSION: Use of both inference statistics and data mining techniques enables the decision tree of neurocognitive assessments to be more readily applied by therapists in vocational rehabilitation, and thus directly improve the efficiency and efficacy of the process.
Subject(s)
Employment, Supported/psychology , Mental Disorders/psychology , Neuropsychological Tests/statistics & numerical data , Occupational Therapy , Adult , Data Mining , Decision Trees , Female , Humans , MaleABSTRACT
The goal of this paper is to discuss and indicate which electrophysiological and psychophysical tests are useful for diagnosis and monitoring of glaucoma patients. In diagnosis of glaucoma, among electrophysiological methods, the authors perform mainly transient and steady-state pattern electroretinogram (PERG). Steady-state as well as transient PERG have the best sensitivity and specificity in diagnosis of this disease even in its early stages. Pattern visual evoked potentials (PVEPs) are less sensitive and specific, that is why this examination is rare in practical use. The authors describe the method of PERG, discuss most frequent mistakes in the method and interpretation of the obtained results. Among psychophysical tests the authors emphasize the significance of short-wave-length perimetry (blue-on-yellow) and standard static perimetry in early diagnosis of glaucoma. On the basis of literature, the authors present also other psychophysical methods, which can be applied in diagnosis of glaucoma.
Subject(s)
Glaucoma/diagnosis , Electroretinography/methods , Evoked Potentials, Visual , Humans , Psychophysics , Retinal Ganglion Cells/physiologyABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To analyze the effect of localisation exercises with hypercorrection prisms on the behaviour of high and medium exophoria revealed in examination with Maddox scale at long and short distance. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The patients touch the surrounding objects while looking with each eye separately through a prism of 30 prismatic D with its basis at the nose. The treatment was applied in 35 patients, including 28 with exophoria only at short distance and 7 at both short and long distance. As a result in 20 cases exophoria at long and short distance decreased. It even completely disappeared in one patient who could stop using prismatic correction also at reading. CONCLUSION: Localisation exercises give more persistent results than surgical methods of exophoria treatment.
Subject(s)
Exotropia/rehabilitation , Adolescent , Adult , Child , HumansABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To check the behavior of the visual manual localization (v.m.l.) in the horizontal plane which can represent the state of the cortical connections between visual occipital centers and motor centers for the hand movement. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The examinations were performed using the manual localizer. The authors examined 14 patients with vertical deviations of the eyes caused by hyperfunction of the oblique inferior muscles and rectus inferior muscle in the left eye. V.m.l. examined both without the test and with the provoking test were in the range of the physiological norm which excludes the organic changes in the central nervous system. RESULTS: The authors suggest that the reason of the vertical deviations of the eyes is not localized in the higher parts of the nervous system but probably depends on unequal development of the connections in the nuclei of the oculomotor nerves.
Subject(s)
Psychomotor Performance/physiology , Strabismus/physiopathology , Adolescent , Adult , Child , Hand/physiology , Humans , Movement/physiology , Oculomotor Muscles/physiopathologyABSTRACT
The authors present preliminary results of a special training of patients with accommodative myopia, using plus correction for long distance vision and prismatic correction for near vision, which decreased or compensated exotropia. 60 patients have already been selected for this type of treatment but the results were evaluated only in 13, with 2-4 years' follow-up; 11 of them trained systematically, 2 were not exact in the recommended way of treatment.
