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Biomedical subjects

A L Kirkengen

Publications and source records attributed to A L Kirkengen.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

[Inscribed in the body].

BACKGROUND: Accumulated general practice experience from numerous encounters with sexually victimized persons motivated this study of childhood sexual abuse with regard to its longterm impact on life and health. THEORY, METHODS, AND MATERIAL: Phenomenology is its theoretical frame of references, and its methodological tools are hermeneutics, 34 adult users of two Norwegian incest centres consented to being interviewed in depth about their encounters with the health care system. The audiotaped interviews were transcribed verbatim. Relevant medical records filled out 16 of the interviews. Likewise, extensive field notes from interview setting were collected. RESULTS: The experiences linked to violation, illness and treatment clustered around seven phenomena present in every interview in at least one modality. These were termed sensory imprints, confused judgements, maladaptive adaptations, strained relationships, recognized memories, unheard messages, and reactivated experiences. INTERPRETATION: The impact of childhood sexual abuse was shown to transgress linear time, cause-effect relationship, categorical distinction and individuality. Since these four central preconditions for a correct medical judgement were not provided, harmful, though presumably correct, medical treatment was a frequent result. Consequently, the abused persons were revictimized in medical contexts when asking for help for sickness in the wake of socially silenced sexual violation.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1998

["It is difficult to move a writing pen"--an interpretation of subtext in Agnar Mykle's work].

This article embarks from knowledge gained from dialogues with adult men and women in a phenomenological-hermeneutical study of the long-term health impact of sexual boundary violations in childhood. All published texts by the Norwegian novelist Agnar Mykle have been reviewed for the purpose of a reinterpretation, together with scholarly work on his oeuvre and biographical accounts of the author and his first wife. The interpretation has been guided by the assumption that the essays, novels and letters may represent a double text with an embedded coded message. The suggestion is offered that Mykle's work can be read as an attempt at acknowledging and surmounting a basic conflict in the author's own life between, on the one hand, his memories of experiences of boundary violations in childhood and, on the other, a scientific theory of infantile sexuality. It is also claimed that Mykle was silenced by the experience of being tried on pornography charges against one of his novels. The impact of this public humiliation may, in Mykle's perception, have reactivated earlier boundary violations and, as such, have been experienced as a revictimisation.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

[Medical research on patients' experiences--structured questionnaires result in worthless answers].

The patient's expectations, wishes, judgments, and opinions have recently become a topic of interest in medical research. This is partly due to the physician's increasing awareness of an inadequate impact of medical measures, be they preventive, informative, or even curative, on the patient and the general public. It may also be partly due to an increasing criticism on the part of the patient and the general public of the failure of the medical service to respond adequately to the information provided. Consequently, there has recently been increased interest in gaining knowledge about the social aspects of human life relevant to medicine. The measures for securing validity, however, are the traditional rules of reductionist methodology. The author argues that by exploring the domain of culturally constructed meaning with tools based on naturalistic epistemology, the knowledge obtained will be invalid.

Evaluation Studies as Topic↗
PubMed1993

[Body language in live communication].

The core of every consultation is the patient-doctor interaction connected to the patient's problem. The physician's perception of this problem is based on an interpretation of words and of bodily signs. In Western medicine these two modes of expression are divided and separated from the relevant biographical connections. Taking case histories and clinical examination, defined and practised in accordance with the current epistemological traditions of science, unacceptably limit an understanding of human health or sickness. Some historical and theoretical traces are followed for the purpose of promoting a change in medical understanding.

Communication↗
PubMed1993

Indicators of childhood sexual abuse in gynaecological patients in a general practice.

OBJECTIVE: To find indicators of a history of childhood sexual abuse in patients consulting for a gynaecological examination in a general practice. DESIGN: Semistructured interview after a consultation. SETTING: General practice in the city of Oslo, Norway. PARTICIPANTS: Of 117 women aged 20-49 with a gynaeco- logical problem, 85 were interviewed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: History of childhood sexual abuse. RESULTS: 24 (28%) of 85 women interviewed by their female GP when consulting for a gynaecological problem reported childhood sexual abuse. In total they reported 32 abusive events, quite different as to the type of assault, the relation to the offender, and the duration. A history of pelvic pain or gynaecological surgery showed a significant association with reported childhood sexual abuse with odds ratios of 4.0 (CI 1.0-15.8) and 4.1 (CI 1.0-17.0), respectively. As adverse sexual experiences may lead to somatization as a coping strategy, certain findings might be indicators of unknown childhood sexual abuse in patients presenting for gynaecological disorders. CONCLUSION: A history of pelvic pain and gynaecological surgery may be indicators of sexual abuse in childhood.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1992

Oestriol in the prophylactic treatment of recurrent urinary tract infections in postmenopausal women.

A block randomized, double-blind, group-comparative, placebo-controlled study was conducted to assess the effect of oestriol on recurrent urinary tract infections in postmenopausal women. 40 women, median age 78 years (66-91), 20 in each group, were treated with oestriol three mg p.o. per day or corresponding placebo for four weeks, followed by one mg per day for eight weeks. The main response parameter was the number of urinary tract infections per week in the two treatment periods. Both oestriol and placebo reduced the number of infections per week significantly in both periods, compared with the pretreatment period. There was no difference between oestriol and placebo treatment in the first period. In the second period, however, oestriol treatment was significantly more effective than placebo (p = 0.05). Correspondingly, there was a significant difference between the two groups in the vaginal pH at the end of the study (p less than 0.05). We conclude that oestriol reduces recurrent urinary tract infections in postmenopausal women.

Aged↗
PubMed1989

[Gudrun's story. What stuff is illness made of?].

UNLABELLED: What stuff is illness made of? Anne Luise Kirkengen, MD A story of life and a story of illness are two versions of the same issue. We are such stuff as dreams are made of, and our little life is rounded with a sleep. Prospero, The Tempest, by William Shakespeare Gudrun, 60 years old, married to Gunnar, mother of Nils 35 and Nicole 30 years old, grandmother of Mads, six months old. Previous office-manager, disabled since 1986. DIAGNOSIS: fibrositis syndrome, hypothyreosis, depression, chronic obstructive lung-disease. Sexually abused by her stepfather at age 11 until 14. Gudrun reflects about how this may have influenced her life, her health and her personal relationships.

Adolescent↗