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Biomedical subjects

H M McGee

Publications and source records attributed to H M McGee.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1998

Assessing adherence to dietary recommendations for hemodialysis patients: the Renal Adherence Attitudes Questionnaire (RAAQ) and the Renal Adherence Behaviour Questionnaire (RABQ).

This article describes preliminary investigations into the psychometric properties of two scales for hemodialysis patients (N=35): the Renal Adherence Attitudes Questionnaire (RAAQ), a 26-item scale measuring attitudes toward adherence: and the Renal Adherence Behaviour Questionnaire (RABQ), a 25-item scale measuring self-reported dietary (diet and fluid) adherence. Factor analysis of the RAAQ yielded a four-factor structure. These factors were attitudes to social restrictions, well-being, self-care/support, and acceptance. The scale demonstrated high internal and test-retest reliability. Factor analysis of the RABQ gave a five-factor structure: adherence to fluid restrictions; adherence regarding potassium and phosphate restrictions, adherence regarding self-care; adherence regarding sodium intake; and adherence in times of particular difficulty. This scale had moderately high internal reliability and high test-retest reliability. Validity for the RABQ was tested with independent measures of adherence; biochemical (serum potassium, serum phosphate, and interdialytic weight gain) and dietician-rated (potassium and fluid). There was little association among the differing measures of adherence. These scales facilitate empirical evaluation of dietary adherence for hemodialysis patients.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Development of a direct weighting procedure for quality of life domains.

The Schedule for the Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life allows individuals to nominate the domains they consider most important to their quality of life and to use their own value system when describing the functional status and relative importance of those domains. The weights for domain importance are derived through a procedure called judgement analysis. As judgement analysis is impractical for individuals with cognitive impairment and in many clinical situations, a shorter, direct weighting procedure has been developed. To test the new procedure, 40 healthy individuals completed both direct and judgement analysis weightings, at t1 and 7-10 days later (t2). After a further 7-10 days (t3), they were asked to identify the weight profiles they had previously produced using each method. The weights produced by the two methods differed on average by 7.8 points at t1 and 7.2 points at t2. The direct weights changed on average by 4.5 points from t1 to t2, while the judgement analysis weights changed by 8.4 points. At t2, 55% of individuals were able to identify the direct weights they had previously produced. The new procedure demonstrates stability and validity but is not interchangeable with judgement analysis. The most appropriate ways of using and interpreting both procedures are discussed.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1996

Can the measurement of quality of life contribute to evaluation in cardiac rehabilitation services?

The case for evaluation in cardiac rehabilitation is outlined with particular emphasis on the role of quality of life measurement in the assessment of services. A range of studies evaluating quality of life in cardiac rehabilitation settings are described, and recommendations are made to help identify appropriate measures for use in routine clinical cardiac rehabilitation settings in the future.

Heart Diseases↗
PubMed1994

Individual quality of life in the healthy elderly.

Quality of life research with the elderly has usually focused on the impact of decline in function, and used a pre-determined model of quality of life in old age. The Schedule for the Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life (SEIQoL) allows individuals to nominate, weigh and assess those domains of greatest relevance to their quality of life. The SEIQoL was administered to 56 healthy elderly community residents at baseline and 12 months later. Quality of life levels were significantly higher at baseline (t = -2.04; p = 0.04) than that of a previously studied sample of healthy adults below 65 years of age, and did not change significantly over the study period. The domains nominated by both samples as relevant to their quality of life differed notably. Health status was not correlated with the perceived importance of health at baseline, and showed only a low correlation (r = 0.27) at 12 months. The weight placed on health did not increase over the study period despite a significant decline in health status. The value of allowing the individual to define personal quality of life values in a research context is explored.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Unrealistic optimism: a behavioural sciences classroom demonstration project.

Unrealistic optimism may contribute to risky health practices and to a delay in seeking treatment for medical conditions, as most individuals perceive themselves to be at little risk for various disorders. It is thus an important concept to present to medical students as part of their behavioural sciences training. Social psychological concepts such as unrealistic optimism may appear, on initial presentation to students, to be a misjudgement based on faulty understanding of risk estimates by the general population. This project aimed to teach the principle of unrealistic optimism by having students document their own beliefs about health risks. Students rated their own risk, relative to other classmates, of experiencing a range of 17 health problems. Questionnaires were completed by two classes of medical students (n = 257). Class results showed varying levels of unrealistic optimism for all 17 conditions. Males and females differed significantly on three of the 17 conditions. Student data were obtained rapidly in a large didactic setting and served to illustrate the concept of unrealistic optimism which was subsequently taught in class. Such exercises may be a useful teaching aid to students providing them with feedback on their own cognitive processes and illustrating that they display cognitive distortions similar to those of patients.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1994

Renal failure.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Humans↗
PubMed1993

Return to work following coronary artery bypass surgery or percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty.

Return to work (RTW) and other treatment outcomes of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) and percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) patients were compared. Consecutive patients at one centre (n = 112 CABG and 119 PTCA patients) were interviewed 6-18 months following treatment (groups were similar in sex and social class). Pre-treatment employment levels were similar (41 and 38% for CABG and PTCA groups, respectively). PTCA patients were more likely to smoke, have angina, have less advanced cardiovascular disease and have been advised to stop working for medical reasons pre-treatment. Post-treatment levels of employment increased significantly. RTW rates were similar for CABG and PTCA groups (59 and 68% respectively). Both groups had reduced smoking to similar levels. The PTCA group continued to have higher levels of angina. For those without angina, PTCA patients were significantly more likely to return to work (73 vs 55%, P < 0.01). Both CABG and PTCA resulted in increased employment post-treatment.

Angina Pectoris↗
PubMed1992

Communication skills training in undergraduate medicine: attitudes and attitude change.

The importance of communication skills training in undergraduate medical education is now widely accepted. However little is known about student attitudes towards their own communication skills and whether their attitudes changes as a result of participating in communication skills courses. The aim of the present study was to identify these attitudes prior to commencing such a course and to further evaluate changes in these attitudes on completion of the course. Results demonstrated an improvement in perceived confidence regarding a number of specific communication skills. The study provides further evidence of the value of such courses in undergraduate medical training.

Attitude↗
PubMed1991

Assessing the quality of life of the individual: the SEIQoL with a healthy and a gastroenterology unit population.

Current methods of measuring quality of life (QoL) impose an external value system on individuals, rather than allowing them to describe their lives in terms of those factors which they consider important. The Schedule for the Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life (SEIQoL) was developed to overcome such limitations. The QoL of 42 healthy attenders at an international immunization clinic was assessed using SEIQoL. Judgement reliability was high (r = 0.74) and individuals' judgement policies accounted for a large percentage of the variance in overall QoL (R2 = 0.75) demonstrating the construct validity of judgement analysis in this context. In a second study of QoL of out-patient suffering from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) (N = 20) or peptic ulcer disease (PUD) (N = 20) was assessed using SEIQoL. Judgement reliability was lower (r = 0.54) although statistically highly significant (P less than 0.01), and the variance in overall QoL judgements explained was high (R2 = 0.74). SEIQoL is an acceptable, reliable and valid technique for measuring individual QoL that takes greater account of individual perspectives than traditional measurement approaches.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1991

Imaging of intramedullary tumour spread in osteosarcoma. A comparison of techniques.

The level of bone resection for osteosarcoma depends on the pre-operative evaluation of the extent of intramedullary tumour. We compared the accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computerised tomography (CT), and isotope bone scanning with the actual extent of the tumour in the resected specimens from 34 patients with primary osteosarcoma of a long bone. The extent of medullary tumour was defined accurately in 23 of 24 MRI scans (96%) and 24 of 32 CT scans (75%). A flexion contracture of a joint close to the tumour was an important cause for inaccurate measurements from both MRI and CT scans. Isotope bone scanning was inaccurate: its role is now confined to detecting skeletal metastases and skip lesions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Childhood hospitalization for psychosocial reasons: the case of gastroenteritis.

Nonmedical factors are often important considerations when choosing treatment options for illness. High levels of childhood hospitalization are of concern for psychological as well as medical and economic reasons. This study compared medical and psychosocial attributes of children managed at home or in hospital for childhood gastroenteritis to identify factors differentiating type of care. Parents of children under two years with gastroenteritis managed at home (n = 76) or in hospital (n = 76) were interviewed. Medical details and a range of intra-family factors (e.g., parenting skills, marriage) and extra-family factors (e.g., neighborhood, social contacts) were queried. Doctors (n = 6) rated the severity of symptomatology of each case based only on medical details. There was no difference in the medical severity of the gastroenteritis episodes for hospital and home care groups. Instead families were most clearly differentiated using discriminant analysis by social variables; specifically hospital care families had poorer scores than home care families on social contact indices. This highlights the necessity for focusing on the wider social context in efforts at decreasing the incidence of childhood hospitalization.

Family↗
PubMed1991

Study skills instruction in medical school.

Effective study skills are an essential component of medical education. Following analysis of current study habits of students attending the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) a brief study skills course was developed for premedical students. Course evaluation indicated that instructed students reported more positive study habits one year later than did those without such instruction: a greater number of instructed students reported taking detailed notes during lectures (56 vs 32%) and starting to revise early in term (28% vs 11%) while fewer of these students routinely used the notes of other students after lectures (2 vs 10%) or as study material (0 vs 6%). A study skills course is now routinely provided in conjunction with individual student counselling, where necessary, to facilitate student success in this Medical School.

Chi-Square Distribution↗
PubMed1991

Should children with minor medical problems be sent to hospital? A study of infant care practices within families.

The admission of children to hospital for minor medical problems is frequently influenced by family and social circumstances. This study compared the infant care practices of families of children admitted to hospital for gastroenteritis (n = 76) and families caring for children with gastroenteritis at home (n = 76). Mothers of children who were admitted to hospital were more likely to use medical sources of advice on parenting and less likely to use other non-family sources than home care mothers. They also received less support in the education/entertainment of their children from fathers. There were many similarities between the two groups, including the high level of behaviour problems of the children and the relatively low level of involvement of fathers in child care tasks. Both of these factors serve to increase stress on mothers to the point where they may be unable to cope with a sick child at home.

Chi-Square Distribution↗
PubMed1990

Psychological health status of mothers and the admission of children to hospital for gastroenteritis.

The prevalence of psychological distress was measured by the 30-item general health questionnaire in two populations of mothers: those who had children hospitalized for gastroenteritis and those who cared for children with gastroenteritis at home. Significant differences emerged, with mothers of hospitalized children reporting higher levels of psychological distress. There were no differences in severity of the children's illness between the two groups as indicated by blind ratings of symptomatology from six infectious diseases hospital doctors. Thus hospitalization of children for gastroenteritis was not contingent on medical symptomatology. Instead the evidence indicates that the psychological status of mothers may influence doctors' management decisions on childhood gastroenteritis. Significant positive associations between poor psychological status and poor social resources illustrate the social context in which maternal vulnerability may influence child health care generally. The impact of maternal psychological status on decisions about paediatric care is discussed.

Adult↗