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Biomedical subjects

Gail C McCain

Publications and source records attributed to Gail C McCain.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2004

Living with schizophrenia: a family perspective.

The lifetime emotional, social, and financial consequences experienced by individuals with schizophrenia have significant effects on their families. Family responses to having a family member with schizophrenia include: care burden, fear and embarrassment about illness signs and symptoms, uncertainty about course of the disease, lack of social support, and stigma. Study findings about families in which parents are hostile, critical, or overly involved are equivocal about whether this negative environment contributes to patient relapse. This review summarizes the studies related to the family responses and emotional environment of families who have a member with schizophrenia.

Family Health↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Post-traumatic stress disorder in children and adolescents with motor vehicle-related injuries.

ISSUES AND PURPOSE: Motor vehicle crashes account for the greatest number of childhood injuries, but there has been little study of the psychological responses. DESIGN AND METHODS: This longitudinal, descriptive study included 143 children 7 to 15 years of age who experienced a motor vehicle-related injury. Parents/guardians completed the Child Behavior Checklist Behavioral Problem Scale. Each child and parent completed the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) section of the Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents at 2 and 6 months postinjury. RESULTS: Twenty-two percent of the children met criteria for PTSD. There were no associations for presence or absence of PTSD with age, gender, race, injury, or cause of injury. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Children who are injured in motor vehicle crashes are at risk for PTSD. Anticipatory guidance about behavioral distress symptoms should be provided to parents of children who experience motor vehicle related injuries.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Heart rate variability responses of a preterm infant to kangaroo care.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of kangaroo care on heart rate variability in a healthy preterm infant. DESIGN: Case study. SETTING: Private room on a postpartum unit. PARTICIPANT: A mother-preterm infant dyad. INTERVENTION: Kangaroo (skin-to-skin) care. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Heart rate variability, a noninvasive measurement of the sympathetic and parasympathetic components of the autonomic nervous system's influence on heart rate. RESULTS: Heart rate variability, especially the parasympathetic component, was high when the infant was fussy in the open crib, indicating increased autonomic nervous system activity. With kangaroo care, the infant fell asleep, and both sympathetic and parasympathetic components of heart rate variability decreased. CONCLUSIONS: The wide fluctuations in the parasympathetic component of heart rate variability suggest immaturity of the sympathovagal response. Overall, kangaroo care produced changes in heart rate variability that illustrate decreasing stress.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

An evidence-based guideline for introducing oral feeding to healthy preterm infants.

The ability of a preterm infant to make the transition from gavage to oral nipple feeding depends on the infant's neurodevelopment in relation to behavioral organization, to a rhythmic suck-swallow-breathe pattern, and to cardiorespiratory regulation. Research-based knowledge about infant neurodevelopment in these three areas has led to the creation of a semidemand feeding method to aid in this transition. The method combines the use of nonnutritive sucking to promote awake behavior for feeding, use of behavioral assessment to identify readiness for feeding, and systematic observation of and response to infant behavior cues to regulate frequency, length, and volume of oral feedings. Semidemand feeding may be individualized for healthy preterm infants. This article discusses both the relevant knowledge about neurodevelopment and the semidemand feeding method itself.

Bottle Feeding↗