Self-perceived information needs and concerns of elderly persons.

The research was intended to identify the dimensions underlying self-perceived information needs and concerns of an elderly population. The spontaneously mentioned needs and concerns expressed in 271 letters from a sample of the population were extracted and a multidimensional scaling procedure was used to represent the 58 most frequently mentioned items in configurations of varying dimensionality. To interpret the multidimensional spaces, another sample of 176 elderly subjects was asked to rate the 58 concerns on eight properties. These ratings were then regressed onto the multidimensional configurations. The results indicate that the most frequently mentioned information needs and concerns of elderly persons can be parsimoniously understood in terms of three underlying dimensions: (1) Improving the Quality of Life vs Securing the Necessities of Life, (2) Health-related vs Not Health-related, and (3) Individual vs Societal Responsibility.     

Determination of problems in patients with post‐laryngectomy

The purpose of this study is the determination of the physical and psychosocial problems of total and partial laryngectomies. A total of 25 patients, who were operated with the diagnosis of larynx carcinoma in 2010 at Gazi University Faculty of Medicine Otolaryngology Department, were included in the study. They were evaluated with the help of the Personal Information Form (PIF) and the Determination Form of Post Laryngectomy Problem (DFPLP) for the problems they encountered after the operation. Total laryngectomy (TL) was performed on 76% of patients. It was determined that patients undergoing total laryngectomy experienced some physical and psycho‐social problems such as problems in sleep (31.6%), smell (52.6%), taste (36.8%), and difficulty in swallowing solid foods (36.8%). Furthermore in patients with TL surgery whilst 47.4% of them think that their sexual lives were affected rather negatively, this rate was determined as 33.3% in patients with partial laryngectomy surgery (PL). The psychosocial score averages of the patients who had smell and taste disorders were significantly lower (p < 0.05). The patients, who underwent a laryngectomy operation, experienced many physical, social, and psychological problems. Thus, medical personnel also need to pay attention to these concomitant problems that occur during the treatment of the primary disease and the application of necessary supplementary treatments such as voice prosthesis, pre‐op and post‐op counseling, and anti‐depressants seems significant in terms of increasing the life quality of the patients.     

Experimental evaluation of rehabilitation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: short-term effects on exercise endurance and health status

Randomly assigned 119 adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to an 8-week comprehensive rehabilitation program or to an 8-week education control program. Comprehensive pulmonary rehabilitation included education, physical and respiratory therapy instruction, psychosocial support, and supervised exercise training; education control included biweekly classroom instruction and discussions on respiratory therapy, medical aspects of lung disease, clinical pharmacology, and diet, but no exercise training. Both groups received extensive physiological and psychosocial evaluation before and after the intervention. Six months after enrollment, patients randomly assigned to the rehabilitation program showed significant increases in exercise endurance, whereas patients randomly assigned to control program showed nonsignificant increases. Improvement in self-efficacy was correlated with improvements in exercise endurance.     

The sense-making approach for audience assessment of adolescents

The purpose of the research was to test the methodology used to identify how adolescents approach their nutrition concerns and questions. The methodology was based on Dervin's sense-making theory. Using a time-line interview technique, 305 adolescents 14 to 16 years of age detailed a situation involving their most important nutrition concerns. Other pertinent information was obtained. Cluster analysis was chosen as the appropriate analysis to identify groups of adolescents who responded similarly to the technique. Discriminant analysis was then used to determine which variables maximally separated the groups. Four groups were identified, two of which described action-oriented approaches to dealing with nutrition situations and differed in terms of how much outside help they wanted. The remaining two groups perceived barriers to dealing with situations and also differed in how much help they wanted. A fifth group indicated no nutrition concerns or questions. The results will be used to develop and test the effectiveness of nutrition education when it is focused on the different approaches.     

Voucher-based reinforcement for alcohol abstinence using the ethyl-glucuronide alcohol biomarker

This study assessed the effects of a contingency management (CM) intervention for alcohol consumption in 10 alcohol-dependent participants. An ABCA design was used. Vouchers were provided contingent on results of ethyl glucuronide (EtG) urine tests (an alcohol biomarker with a 2-day detection period) and alcohol breath tests during the C phase. The percentage of negative urines was 35% during the first baseline phase, 69% during the C phase, and 20% during the return-to-baseline phase. Results suggest that EtG urine tests may be a feasible method to deliver CM to promote alcohol abstinence.     

The Draw-A-Person Test and Process-Reactive Schizophrenia

The Draw-A-Pcrson test was administered to three matched groups of 32 male Ss each: reactive schizophrenics, process schizophrenics, and normal control subjects. Patients were rated for prognosis using the Premorbid Subscale of the Phillips Scale. Drawings were rated by two judges on 80 diagnostic signs culled from the literature. No signs were found to significantly differentiate reactive and process schizophrenics, and only three signs significantly differentiated normals from schizophrenics. It was concluded that a sign approach to the DAP is insensitive to the reaction-process dimension of schizophrenia, and of only limited value in differentiating between normals and schizophrenics in general.     

Reducing suggestibility to additive versus contradictory misinformation in younger and older adults via divided attention and/or explicit error detection

Younger and older adults are more suggestible to additive (not originally included) versus contradictory (a change to the original) misleading details. Only suggestibility to contradictory misinformation can be reduced with explicit instructions to detect errors during exposure to misinformation. The present work examines how to reduce suggestibility to additive misinformation and whether attentional resources at exposure similarly influence additive and contradictory misinformation. During the misleading question phase, attention and error detection were manipulated. Participants answered the questions under full or divided attention, and some were instructed to mark detected errors. On the final test, additive misinformation was endorsed more than contradictory misinformation despite equivalent error detection. However, dividing attention reduced suggestibility for additive misinformation, whereas successful error detection showed evidence of reducing contradictory misinformation, providing further evidence for the dissociation between these types of misinformation. Additionally, dividing younger adults' attention did not consistently result in a pattern paralleling older adults.