PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Frances Healey

Publications and source records attributed to Frances Healey.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Cross-cultural validation of expressed emotion in caregivers of Chinese patients with first episode psychosis in Singapore: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: The concept of Expressed Emotion (EE; Brown et al., 1972), a measure of criticism, over-involvement and hostility in families, has been shown to be a robust predictor of relapse in schizophrenia (Parker & Hadzi-Pavlovic, 1990). Recent criticism of using Western instruments in Asian countries has led to more stringent procedures for validation of scales. AIMS: The first aim was to establish that the concept of Expressed Emotion exists in Singapore. The second aim was to examine the Level of Expressed Emotion (LEE; Cole & Kazarian, 1988, Gerlsma & Hale, 1997) scale to ascertain the conceptual and construct operationalisation of this instrument in this culture. METHODS: This was a qualitative study. The concept of EE was examined using a Singaporean population; 10 patient-caregiver pairs were recruited and interviewed using a semi-structured interview format. Regarding the LEE, small focus-group interviews were conducted with a cross-section of Singaporeans to gain their views on the concepts in the scale and the relevance of the items in this culture. RESULTS: The interviews were analysed in light of attitudes found to discriminate between high and low EE families (Leff & Vaughn, 1985). A clear distinction between high and low EE groups was found. With regard to the LEE, the data from the focus groups, for the most part, supported the cross-cultural conceptual and operational equivalence of the scale and suggestions for additional items were made. CONCLUSION: There is support for the existence of EE among families in Singapore, and the LEE was found, for the most part, to be applicable in Singapore, with the addition of several emic items.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Using targeted risk factor reduction to prevent falls in older in-patients: a randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: falls and related injuries are known to be a significant problem for older people. There is evidence that identifying and addressing individual risk factors can reduce the incidence of falls in the community but no evidence of the effectiveness of targeted risk factor reduction methods applied to hospital in-patients. OBJECTIVE: to test the efficacy of a targeted risk factor reduction core care plan in reducing risk of falling while in hospital. DESIGN: a group (ward) randomised trial. SETTING: elderly care wards and associated community units of a district general hospital in the North of England. SUBJECTS: all elderly patients who received care in eight wards and community units during a 12-month study period. METHODS: matched pairs of wards were randomly allocated to intervention or control groups. In the intervention wards, staff used a pre-printed care plan for patients identified as at risk of falling and introduced appropriate remedial measures. Numbers of falls in each group were then compared. RESULTS: after introduction of the care plan there was a significant reduction in the relative risk of recorded falls on intervention wards (relative risk 0.79, 95% CI 0.65-0.95) but not on control wards (RR 1.12, 95% CI 0.96-1.31). The difference in change between the intervention wards and control wards was highly significant (RR 0.71, 95% CI 0.55-0.90, P = 0.006). There was no significant reduction in the incidence of falls-related injuries. CONCLUSION: the use of a core care plan targeting risk factor reduction in older hospital in-patients was associated with a reduction in the relative risk of recorded falls.

Accidental Falls↗