Biomedical subjects

Charles Farrugia

Publications and source records attributed to Charles Farrugia.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2004

Emotion recognition/understanding ability in hearing or vision-impaired children: do sounds, sights, or words make the difference?

BACKGROUND: This study was designed to assess whether children with a sensory disability have consistent delays in acquiring emotion recognition and emotion understanding abilities. METHOD: Younger (6-11 years) and older (12-18 years) hearing-impaired children (HI; n = 49), vision-impaired children (VI; n = 42), and children with no sensory impairment (NSI; n = 72) were assessed with the Emotion Recognition Scales (ERS), which include two tests of the ability to recognize vocal expressions of emotion, two tests of the ability to recognize facial expressions of emotion, and three tests of emotion understanding. RESULTS: Results indicate that when compared with age-peers, HI children and adolescents have significant delays or deficits on all ERS, but VI children and adolescents are delayed only on emotion recognition tasks. When compared with children group-matched for verbal ability (Wechsler verbal scales), the achievement of HI children on ERS equals or exceeds that of controls; VI children underachieve on an emotion recognition task and overachieve on an emotion vocabulary task compared to verbal ability matched peers. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that VI children have a specific emotion recognition deficit, but among HI children, performance on emotion recognition and emotion understanding tasks reflects delayed acquisition of a broad range of language-mediated abilities.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

Nurses' attitudes towards clients who self-harm.

BACKGROUND: Deliberate self-harm is frequently encountered by emergency department (ED) nurses. However, clients are often dissatisfied with the care provided and clinicians feel ambivalent, helpless or frustrated when working with clients who self-harm. AIM: The aim of the study was to develop and test a scale to identify relevant dimensions of ED nurses' attitudes to clients who present with self-injury. METHODS: Items on Attitudes Towards Deliberate Self-Harm Questionnaire (ADSHQ) were drawn from a literature review and focus group discussions with ED nurses. The tool was piloted with 20 ED nurses not working in the target agencies. A survey of nurses working within 23 major public and 14 major private EDs in Queensland, Australia (n = 1008) was then undertaken. RESULTS: A total of 352 questionnaires were returned (35% response). Analysis revealed four factors that reflected nurses' attitudes toward these clients. The factors related to nurses' perceived confidence in their assessment and referral skills; ability to deal effectively with clients, empathic approach; and ability to cope effectively with legal and hospital regulations that guide practice. There was a generally negative attitude towards clients who self-harm. Correlations were found between years of ED experience and total score on the ADSHQ, and years of ED experience and an empathic approach towards clients who deliberately self-harm. CONCLUSION: There is a need for continuing professional development activities to address negative attitudes and provide practical strategies to inform practice and clinical protocols.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

PubMed2002

Study of Queensland emergency department nurses' actions and formal and informal procedures for clients who self-harm.

Emergency department nurses are often required to assess and manage the needs of people who self-harm. A survey of 352 nurses working within 23 major public and 14 major private emergency departments in Queensland, Australia, investigated the extent to which formal and informal procedures are available and the extent to which these procedures guide how nurses respond to clients who present with deliberate self-harm. The Risk Assessment Questionnaire was developed and found that nurses are frequently called to respond to clients presenting because of deliberate self-harm, but most have no formal training in this area. In some services there is a lack of formal and comprehensive procedures for assessment and treatment. Where procedures do exist, significant therapeutic areas related to assessment are not explored with clients. These findings have implications for continuing professional development activities, nursing education programs and clinical practice procedures.

Emergency Nursing↗