Biomedical subjects

J Hewison

Publications and source records attributed to J Hewison.

57 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

Psychological and social outcome of prominent ear correction in children.

The effectiveness of surgery to correct prominent ears in relieving the psychosocial distress of children has been analysed in this prospective study. 30 children and their families were assessed preoperatively and again 12 months postoperatively. It was found that whilst prominent ear correction improved the well-being of 90% of the children, there was a small group of acutely distressed children who remained dissatisfied with outcome. These were children who were socially isolated prior to surgery. Careful screening and referral back to the family doctor of the more distressed children is recommended.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Early parental adjustment to visible congenital disfigurement.

When a baby is born with a visible disfigurement, then parents need to adjust to the loss of the anticipated 'perfect' child and thus accept their baby. The impact of the birth on the parents is described in the context of a measure which identifies areas of potential difficulty. The two groups studied were parents of children with cleft palates and parents of children with congenital hand deficit. A wide range of adjustment was found. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of their overall adjustment, but there were individual differences in adjustment which did not relate to the severity or type of anomaly. The only significant variable found to relate to parental adjustment was perceived family support.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Respiratory illness in children: do deprived children have worse coughs?

Parents of a stratified random sample of 234 children from 21 general practices in North East England were interviewed at home. All these children had been reported in a postal questionnaire as having had a cough between six and ten weeks before the interview. Interviews covered social characteristics of the family, the severity of the child's cough and the reactions of the parents to hypothetical sets of symptoms. The parents of children in materially deprived circumstances appeared to report worse coughs than other parents. We confirmed this finding by constructing a scale of perceived cough severity. However, we found no evidence that the inequality was due to exaggeration of the severity of the cough by materially deprived parents. Our conclusion that materially deprived children suffer worse respiratory illness is the more important because previous evidence suggests that the after-effects persist into adulthood.

Child↗