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Biomedical subjects

B B Heather

Publications and source records attributed to B B Heather.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1996

Screening for smokers in four Sydney teaching hospitals.

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of death and a reason for hospital admissions. The hospital stay is a window of opportunity to assist smokers to quit. METHODS: Patients from selected wards in four teaching hospitals in Sydney, Australia were screened using a self-completed general health questionnaire. The questionnaire included questions on demographic variables, tobacco and alcohol consumption, attitudes towards tobacco and alcohol use, and a measure of readiness to charge high-risk lifestyle behaviors, based on that proposed by Prochaska and DiClemente [1]. RESULTS: The total number of screening questionnaires completed was 2,815: 78% men and 22% women. The average age of the sample was 44 years, 48% were married or living in a de facto relationship whilst 35% never married, with the rest widowed, separated or divorced. A total of 877 (31%) patients reported smoking: 33% of men and 24% of women screened. Predictors of smoking were sex, age, marital status, education level and socio-economic status. A significant association was found between excessive drinking and smoking. Among the smoking patients, 157 (18%) planned no change in smoking (precontemplation), 379 (43%) were ambivalent about smoking (contemplation), and 334 (38%) were serious about quitting. CONCLUSION: As about one third of patients in hospital are smokers, the hospital is an ideal setting for the delivery of brief interventions by a range of health personnel at the patients bedside. The use of a detection instrument measuring levels of intake and readiness to change tobacco use is described, as a practical method for targeting patients in hospital who are at risk or have already developed cigarette-related diseases, such as cardiovascular disease.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

The natural history of behavioural symptoms among severely and profoundly mentally retarded patients.

In a study of the evolution of behavioural symptoms in severely and profoundly mentally retarded adults in hospital over a period of six years, items of abnormal behaviour were found to be remarkably persistent. There is a high prevalence rate of psychiatric disorder in this population, when this disorder is defined in a widely descriptive sense. A substantially improved living environment, and increased staff-patient ratios, are prerequisites for improving disturbed behaviour in these patients.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

The possible relationship of herpes simplex virus infection to cause of retardation in severe mental handicap.

The relationship between herpes simplex virus type 1 and mental retardation is explored by studying the antibody levels to this virus in a group of 86 severely and profoundly retarded adults. A tendency towards higher antibody levels is found in patients whose retardation is of unknown aetiology. The relationship of these observations to previous research findings and the possible significance of herpes simplex virus in the aetiology of mental retardation are discussed.

Antibodies, Viral↗
PubMed1978

Behavioural syndromes identified by cluster analysis in a sample of 100 severely and profoundly retarded adults.

Very little is known about psychiatric disorders in severely and profoundly retarded adults. We have investigated these disorders by systematically recording and collecting data about the behaviour of 100 severely and profoundly retarded hospitalized adults and subjecting the data thus derived to cluster analysis. Eight clusters were isolated. The clinical psychiatric significance of these clusters is discussed and their relationship to cause retardation, duration of stay in hospital and visiting is considered. A diagnostic framework for psychiatric disorder in severely and profoundly retarded adults is put forward and some possible treatment approaches are suggested.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

The analysis of interactions in experiments on the specificity of schizophrenic thought disorder: a reply to Phillips.

Phillips (1977) has criticized the investigation of statistical interactions in a series of related papers concerned with the specificity hypothesis of schizophrenic thought disorder. In a discussion of these criticisms, some are accepted and some rejected. However, when the relevant data are reanalysed by a correct method for the investigation of nominated interactions, the specificity hypothesis is broadly supported. A new finding to emerge from the reanalysis is that, in two experiments where level of 'difficulty' of constructs was controlled, the specificity effect appears much reduced or non-existent when intensity scores are employed while remaining intact for consistency scores.

Factor Analysis, Statistical↗
PubMed1978

Psychological construing and thought disorder: another test of the 'difficulty' hypothesis.

Two versions of the grid test of thought disorder were derived which used similar elements, and were of equal difficulty, but one of which employed psychological, and the other non-psychological, constructs. They were administered to thought-disordered schizophrenic patients and to psychiatric and normal controls. On one measure (consistency), although not on the other (intensity), the results strongly supported the hypothesis that thought-disordered patients are maximally disordered in the area of psychological construing. The results support those of an earlier study (McPherson et al. 1975) and are compatible with those theories which postulate a role for social factors in the aetiology of thought disorder.

Adult↗