PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Fong Chan

Publications and source records attributed to Fong Chan.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2007

Cognitive phenotypes in temporal lobe epilepsy.

The objective of this study is to determine if distinct cognitive phenotypes could be identified in temporal lobe epilepsy. Epilepsy patients (n = 96) and healthy controls (n = 82) underwent comprehensive neuropsychological assessment. Adjusted (age, gender, and education) test scores for epilepsy subjects were grouped into cognitive domains (intelligence, language, visuoperception, immediate and delayed memory, executive function, and cognitive/psychomotor speed). Cluster analysis revealed three distinct cognitive profiles types: (1) minimally impaired (47% of subjects); (2) memory impaired (24%); and (3) memory, executive, and speed impaired (29%). The three cluster groups exhibited different patterns of results on demographic, clinical epilepsy, brain volumetrics, and cognitive course over a 4-year interval. The specific profile characteristics of the identified cognitive phenotypes are presented and their implications for the investigation of the neurobehavioral complications of epilepsy are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Rehabilitation students' attitudes toward persons with disabilities in high- and low-stakes social contexts: A conjoint analysis.

PURPOSE: The primary objective of this research is to examine factors influencing rehabilitation services students' attitudes toward people with disabilities in two social contexts using a conjoint analysis design. METHOD: Ninety-nine students in rehabilitation counselling participated in a conjoint measurement study featuring 55 stimulus cards representing varying disability types, genders, races or ethnicities, grade point averages, internship evaluations, and employment statuses for both high-stakes scenarios and low-stakes scenarios. The participants were instructed to order the stimulus cards to indicate their preferences for associating with different people with disabilities in two social contexts: A high-stakes context as a rehabilitation administrator hiring a counsellor and a low-stakes context as a mentor/companion. RESULTS: The results showed that age and disability type were most involved in the decision-making process in the low-stakes group, and performance-related variables were most important in the high-stakes context. Attitude was significantly affected by client characteristics unrelated to disability including age and race or ethnicity, and factors influencing attitude formation differed across the two social contexts. CONCLUSION: Conjoint analysis can contribute to our understanding of the formation of attitudes or preferences in multiple social contexts. Using these results, it may be possible to develop effective attitude change strategies.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Predicting employment outcomes of rehabilitation clients with orthopedic disabilities: a CHAID analysis.

PURPOSE: To examine demographic and service factors affecting employment outcomes of people with orthopedic disabilities in public vocational rehabilitation programs in the United States. METHOD: The sample included 74,861 persons (55% men and 45% women) with disabilities involving the limbs or spinal column who were closed either as rehabilitated or not rehabilitated by their state-run vocational rehabilitation agencies in the fiscal year 2001. Mean age of participants was 41.4 years (SD = 11.2). The dependent variable is employment outcomes. The predictor variables include a set of personal history variables and rehabilitation service variables. RESULTS: The chi-squared automatic interaction detector (CHAID) analysis indicated that job placement services significantly enhanced competitive employment outcomes but were significantly underutilized (only 25% of the clients received this service). Physical restoration and assistive technology services along with support services such as counseling also contributed to positive employment outcomes. Importantly, clients who received general assistance, supplementary security income, and/or social security disability insurance benefits had a significant lower competitive employment rates (45%) than clients without such work disincentives (60%). CONCLUSION: The data mining approach (i.e., CHAID analysis) provided detailed information and insight about interactions among demographic variables, service patterns, and competitive employment rates through the segmentation of the sample into mutually exclusive homogeneous subgroups.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Effect of a qigong exercise programme on elderly with depression.

OBJECTIVES: This report released findings of a randomized controlled trial conducted in Hong Kong to further our understanding of the psychosocial effects of qigong on elderly persons with depression. DESIGN: Eighty-two participants with a diagnosis of depression or obvious features of depression were recruited and randomly assigned into the intervention and comparison group. The intervention group was given a 16-week period of Qigong practice while the comparison group participated in a newspaper reading group with same duration and frequency. RESULTS: After eight weeks of qigong practice, the intervention group participants outstripped themselves in improvement in mood, self-efficacy and personal well being, and physical and social domains of self-concept when compared with comparison subjects. After 16 weeks of practice, the improvement generalized to the daily task domain of the self-concept. CONCLUSIONS: This report shows that regular qigong practice could relieve depression, improve self-efficacy and personal well being among elderly persons with chronic physical illness and depression.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2005

Would discussion on patients' needs add value to the rehabilitation process?

The objective of this study was to examine the effect of therapists' methods of addressing patients' problems (based on assessment results and discussions of patients' needs compared with assessment results only) on the level of agreement, between patients and therapists, over patients' daily living problems. A comparative design was adopted to examine the five most important daily living problems identified by patients and their occupational therapists. Twelve occupational therapists and five stroke patients of each therapist under in-patient rehabilitation were recruited. Thus, a total of 60 patients were recruited. Content analyses of the therapists' methods of analysing their patients' problems revealed that eight therapists had discussed their patients' needs with their patients (66.7%) and four relied on the assessment results (33.3%). The kappa statistics showed that a higher agreement of daily living problems was identified for the patients of those therapists who had held discussions (kappa=0.76; P<0.001). The results suggested that therapists should take their patients' needs into account in the planning of interventions. If therapists could help their patients to carry out their future life roles, it would lead the patients to better participate in the rehabilitation process.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2005

Drivers of workplace discrimination against people with disabilities: the utility of Attribution Theory.

The purpose of this paper was to determine what drives workplace discrimination against people with disabilities. These findings are then compared to available literature on attribution theory, which concerns itself with public perceptions of the controllability and stability of various impairments. The sample included 35,763 allegations of discriminations filed by people with disabilities under the employment provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Group A included impairments deemed by Corrigan et al. [1988] to be uncontrollable but stable: visual impairment (representing 13% of the total allegations in this study), cancer (12%), cardiovascular disease (19%), and spinal cord injuries (5%). The controllable but unstable impairments in group B included depression (38%), schizophrenia (2%), alcohol and other drug abuse (4%), and HIV/AIDS (7%). The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had resolved all allegations in terms of merit Resolutions (a positive finding of discrimination) and Resolutions without merit. Allegations of workplace discrimination were found to center mainly on hiring, discharge, harassment, and reasonable accommodation issues. Perceived workplace discrimination (as measured by allegations filed with EEOC) does occur at higher levels in Group B, especially when serious issues involving discharge and disability harassment are involved. With the glaring exception of HIV/AIDS, however, actual discrimination (as measured by EEOC merit Resolutions) occurs at higher levels for Group A.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Psychometric validation of a subjective well-being measure for people with spinal cord injuries.

PURPOSE: The researchers examined the factorial validity and the concurrent validity of the Sense of Well-Being Inventory (SWBI) based on a sample of Canadians with spinal cord injuries (SCI) in the community. METHOD: One hundred thirty-two participants were recruited from the Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, and Manitoba chapters of the Canadian Paraplegic Association. Mean age of participants was 45.82 years (SD=15.67), and 77% were men. The participants were asked to complete a research packet containing a demographic questionnaire, the SWBI, and the brief version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF). RESULTS: Factor analysis yield four factors (Psychological Well-Being, Financial Well-Being, Social and Family Well-Being, and Physical Well-Being) similar to the original SWBI. In addition, the SWBI factors in the present study correlated moderately well with the corresponding factors in the WHOQOL-BREF and with demographic variables appropriate to the respective subscale. CONCLUSIONS: The factorial validity and the concurrent validity of the SWBI were generally supported. The SWBI, as a subjective well-being measure developed specifically to relate to disability and rehabilitation, appears useful for use with people with SCI in the community.

Canada↗
PubMed2004

Life skills and subjective well-being of people with disabilities: a canonical correlation analysis.

This study examined the canonical relationships between a set of life skill variables and a set of subjective well-being variables among a national sample of vocational rehabilitation clients in the USA. Self-direction, work tolerance, general employability, and self-care were related to physical, family and social, and financial well-being. This analysis also found that communication skill is related to family and social well-being, while psychological well-being is not related to any life skills in the set. The results showed that vocational rehabilitation services aimed to improve life functioning will lead to an improvement in subjective quality of life.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Sources of burdens on families of individuals with mental illness.

Families of individuals with mental illness face a range of practical and emotional stresses. Studies that have addressed the sources of these burdens are limited. Literature suggests that burdens could come from the stigmatizing attitudes towards individuals with mental illness and inadequate public resources. Nevertheless, how public attitudes and availability of public resources have affected the burden on patients' families remains to be studied. This study set out to explore the relationship between stigma, accessibility of mental health facilities and family burden through individual interviews of patients' relatives in order to understand the burden on mentally ill patients' relatives from their perspectives. Ten interviewees from two out-patient psychiatric clinics were recruited and interviewed. Each interviewee had at least one family member receiving out-patient psychiatric services. Altogether 11 mentally ill patients were involved. Data analyses showed that much of the burden was related to stigma and to lack of mental health and rehabilitation services. Consequences included social isolation of the families, difficulties experienced by the mentally ill patients when trying to obtain competitive employment and financial difficulties. Subjective burden resulting from social stigma included frustration, anxiety, low self-esteem and helplessness. Implications of the findings to social policy and development of mental health services were discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Factors influencing occupational therapy students' attitudes toward persons with disabilities: a conjoint analysis.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine factors influencing occupational therapy students' context-specific attitudes toward persons with disabilities. METHOD: Attitudes of 128 occupational therapy students toward placement of a residential treatment facility in their community were measured by a conjoint measurement of 16 stimulus cards (representing persons with varying disability types, gender, age, employment history, and history of aggression) and their responses were analyzed using conjoint analysis. FINDINGS: Disability type and threat of violence were significantly higher on important scores compared with the other attributes across all students. Additionally, Year-Three students had significantly higher importance scores for the employment attribute than Year-One students. CONCLUSION: Conjoint analysis can be used effectively, as an indirect measure, to study factors contributing to the formation of attitudes-preferences for persons with disabilities in specific social contexts.

Adult↗