Biomedical subjects

J A Collings

Publications and source records attributed to J A Collings.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1995

Life fulfillment in an epilepsy sample from the United States.

This study examined the life fulfillment of a sample of 420 people with epilepsy drawn from affiliates of the Epilepsy Foundation of America in various urban and rural regions of the United States and also a private clinic. At the time of the study, all respondents were attending hospital outpatient neurological or epilepsy clinics for treatment, monitoring or advice. Life fulfillment was operationalized in terms of the discrepancy between people's desired and actual circumstances, and the scale developed for the research covered the following life domains: family and social relationships; leisure; worries; material security; employment. The findings revealed that the respondents were most fulfilled in the areas of family/social relationships, getting help with problems, leisure and housing. Health concerns seemed to be the prime source of non-fulfillment, with employment, marriage and money also appearing problematic. When factors associated with variations in overall life fulfillment were examined, unemployment, seizure predictability, polytherapy and living with a spouse/partner seemed to be of particular significance. The study findings are discussed and the need to pursue medical and vocational goals alongside each other in intervention strategies is emphasized.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed1994

Correlates of employment history and employability in a British epilepsy sample.

This study examined the inter-relationships between employment status, employment experiences, background, educational and epilepsy-related variables in a community sample of 1709 people with epilepsy in England and Wales. A postal questionnaire yielded information which included attitudes to careers advice, experiences with fellow employees and management when in work, experiences of being questioned about epilepsy, and the perceived effect of having epilepsy on employment prospects. In a principal components analysis, a factor of 'employability' was identified that had high loadings for educational qualifications, socioeconomic status and employment history. Good employability was found to be related to perceptions that epilepsy had little or no effect on job prospects, good experiences with work colleagues and management, low seizure severity and good seizure control. Further data analyses which focused on people's actual employment histories confirmed the importance of past experiences in employment, educational qualifications, seizure severity and seizure frequency for distinguishing between groups. The study findings are discussed and, taken together, they imply that quality of medical care, employability and good employment history are interconnected in important ways.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

International differences in psychosocial well-being: a comparative study of adults with epilepsy in three countries.

Whilst studies from several countries illustrate the universality of psychosocial difficulties connected with an epilepsy diagnosis, there is a marked lack of empirical research findings on the subject of how different national populations compare on the same measuring instruments. This study reports on comparisons of the psychosocial well-being of samples of adults with epilepsy drawn from Britain (n = 392), the United States (n = 420) and New Zealand (n = 138) using scales assessing self esteem, life fulfilment, social and interpersonal difficulty, general physical health, worries and emotional well-being. The Americans with epilepsy revealed significantly lower levels of well-being than both the New Zealanders and the British. Using the multivariate statistical methods of discriminant and cluster analysis, the scales which were especially predictive of nationality were shown to be life fulfilment, worries, negative affect, and (to a lesser extent) general physical health. Differences between the three national groups were not apparent with regard to self esteem, social difficulty and positive affect. Some possible explanations for the results obtained are put forward. The findings imply that nation-specific variables should be addressed in studies of quality of life and epilepsy, and their effect alongside intra-individual factors within other quality of life domains be ascertained.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1990

Correlates of wellbeing in a New Zealand epilepsy sample.

This study examined the association between social, psychological, and physical wellbeing and a range of epilepsy related and sociodemographic variables in a sample of 138 people with epilepsy. A survey questionnaire method was used, and 90% of the sample was drawn from a New Zealand Epilepsy Association support group sampling frame and 10% from a hospital clinic. The mean age of respondents was 38.4 years (SD 14.9), the sample was very broadly based. Individuals were assigned to high, medium, or low, wellbeing groups, depending on their scores on an overall wellbeing scale. The technique of multiple discriminant analysis was used to identify significant correlates of wellbeing, and a function emerged which separated the wellbeing groups clearly. The function accounted for almost 95% of the variance. A variable which measured the degree of correspondence between current self perceptions and anticipated self without epilepsy correlated--0.62 with the function, and this was by far the most important discriminator. Other significant correlates of wellbeing identified were--employment status (+0.37), seizure control (-0.30), certainty over diagnosis (-0.25), and age (+0.19). In clinical practice it would be profitable to examine people's perceptions of themselves and of their circumstances alongside measures of epilepsy.

Adult↗

PubMed1990

Epilepsy and well-being.

This study examined the association between social, psychological and physical well-being and a range of epilepsy-related and socio-demographic variables in a sample of people with epilepsy. A questionnaire method was used and the sample of 392 people with epilepsy was drawn from urban and rural epilepsy support groups in several regions of Great Britain and Ireland, and a hospital out-patients' population. The findings revealed that people's perceptions of themselves and of their epilepsy were the variables most strongly related to overall well-being, and that seizure frequency, time since diagnosis, a diagnosis of absence seizures and being employed full-time also seemed of some importance. The study's findings have implications for the management of people with epilepsy and suggest that ratings of subjective experience could be usefully incorporated into future research on social and psychological aspects of seizure disorders and other disabilities.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Psychosocial well-being and epilepsy: an empirical study.

The study examined the self-esteem, life fulfillments, social and interpersonal difficulties, general physical health, worries, and happiness of 392 adults with epilepsy using various psychometric instruments. A questionnaire method was used, and the sample was drawn from urban and rural epilepsy support groups in several regions of Great Britain and Ireland and a hospital outpatient population. The findings indicated general low well-being among the epilepsy sample when compared with a nonepilepsy sample matched for age and sex. Factors associated with high and low well-being within the epilepsy sample were also investigated. People's perceptions of themselves and of their epilepsy were strongly related to overall well-being, and seizure frequency, ratings of certainty of diagnosis, time since diagnosis, and a diagnosis of absence seizures also seemed of some significance. From a range of background factors, only employment status showed any significant association with well-being. The research findings have implications for the management of people with epilepsy and suggest that ratings of subjective experience could be usefully incorporated into future research into the quality of life of people with epilepsy.

Adolescent↗