Biomedical subjects

Alma Au

Publications and source records attributed to Alma Au.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2003

Cognitive-behavioral group treatment program for adults with epilepsy in Hong Kong.

A subjective sense of uncertainty is a common theme in the experience of patients with epilepsy. Lack of control has also been implicated as an etiologic factor in the development of psychosocial problems in epilepsy. Cognitive-behavioral interventions emphasizing the mediating role of thoughts and self-control appear to be particularly relevant for patients with epilepsy because anxiety and depression are the most common problems. Despite its apparent importance, very little systematic research has been published on the effectiveness of psychological treatment of epilepsy. The purpose of the present study was to conduct a seminal outcome evaluation of psychological intervention for adult patients in Hong Kong. Using a waitlist control group, the treatment program focused particularly on cognitive restructuring and seizure control. Results indicated significant gains by the treatment group in overall quality of life and self-efficacy. In particular, marked improvements were noted for emotional well-being, seizure, and stress management. The clinical implications are discussed in the context of developing specific intervention programs and outcome measures specific to the various needs of adult patients with epilepsy.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Verbal learning in Alzheimer's dementia.

Many recent findings in Western countries suggest that episodic recall is the most sensitive discriminator between patients with mild Alzheimer disease (AD) and the normal elderly, while semantic memory tends best to differentiate between moderate and severe AD patients. The present study is the first to examine in detail the episodic memory of Chinese AD patients in Hong Kong with a locally developed list learning test, comparing procedures that do or do not encourage the use of semantic organization. The performance of 28 AD patients was compared to that of 30 normal controls. AD patients did significantly worse in terms of acquisition and retention and also benefited significantly less from external organization cues. In the discriminant function analysis, the rate of forgetting in the random condition and the total retention score in the blocked condition were found to be the best predictors for differentiating between AD patients and controls. On the other hand, in the differentiation between mild and moderate AD, semantic clustering in the blocked condition was found to be the best predictor. Results of the present study were discussed in the light of the previous findings reported in the Western countries and the neuropathological changes of AD patients.

Aged↗

PubMed2002

Predicting the quality of life in Hong Kong Chinese adults with epilepsy.

Epilepsy is both a medical diagnosis and a social label. The traditional care of patients with epilepsy tends to focus on seizure control and drug treatment. There is a growing concern in the West about the importance of the influence of psychosocial factors on the quality of life. The main purpose of the present study is to explore and delineate the relationships between biomedical and psychosocial predictors and the health-related quality-of-life outcomes of Chinese patients in Hong Kong. Independent measures consisted of two types of predictors: biomedical and psychosocial variables. The biomedical variables included seizure frequency and the number of years since diagnosis. The psychosocial variables included locus of control, social support, and mood. The Quality of Life in Epilepsy Scale was used as the outcome measure. Correlation and hierarchical regression techniques were used. Results showed that psychosocial variables did make a significantly independent contribution to the prediction of the quality of life of patients with epilepsy. Furthermore, results suggested that mood could act as a mediator between seizure characteristics and psychosocial factors, on the one hand, and quality of life, on the other. The statistical significance of the health locus of control and the satisfaction with social support confirmed the importance of the influence of the subjective sense of mastery of condition on quality of life. The clinical implication was discussed in the context of developing psychological interventions in increasing the self-efficacy and resourcefulness of the patients.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2002

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