Maternal perceptual style and mother-infant play behavior

Normal mothers' perceptions of an older child at play were used to assess maternal perceptual biases. Mothers then engaged in play encounters with their 15-month-old infants. Perceptual biases were related to infant and mother play behaviors. For example, positive perceptions were related to positive play and interpersonal behaviors, including mutual play and exchange games. The data suggest support for the hypothesis that maternal perceptions of child behavior may affect maternal behavior and thereby influence mother-child interactions.     

Assessment of the Construct Validity of the EQ-5D in Patients with Acute Cough/Lower Respiratory Tract Infections

Although EQ-5D has been used in the context of acute cough/lower respiratory tract infections (acute cough/LRTI), it has not been formally validated in this disease area. The primary aim of this study is to assess the construct validity of EQ-5D as a measure for economic evaluation in the context of acute cough/lower respiratory tract infections. Data were collected alongside an observational study of the management of patients with acute cough/LRTI in thirteen European countries. However, the analysis was limited to 349 patients from the UK. Hypotheses were specified a priori and tested in order to establish the construct validity of EQ-5D. Statistical methods used to test the a priori hypotheses included Wilcoxon signed rank sum test, Kruskal-Wallis test, Chi-square test and regression analysis. Most of the relationships that were tested were in line with the a priori hypotheses. The main results indicate that there was a negative relationship between symptom severity scores and EQ-5D, smoking was associated with worse EQ-5D scores and EQ-5D was able to discriminate between patients with headache, interference with normal activities and disturbed sleep. This study also showed that the EQ-5D is moderately responsive in patients with acute cough/LRTI, and is a suitable measure for use in economic evaluation studies of acute cough/LRTI     

A Comparison of Suicide and Undetermined Deaths in Psychiatric Patients

ABSTRACT: Those people who had previously been patients of the Department of Mental Health of Missouri who died in the three year period 1972 through 1974 and whose deaths were designated as suicide or “undetermined whether purposely or accidentally inflicted,” were identified by matching statewide death tapes against the DMH data base. The demographic characteristics of the two groups are compared to ascertain if the members of the undetermined group are essentially similar to the suicides, as has frequently been hypothesized. It is found that, in general, the similarities are in areas which would not have had a direct influence on the medical examiner/coroner's verdict, whereas, the differences do highlight areas which could cause an indecisive verdict. The significance of the undetermined deaths is discussed.