Biomedical subjects

J R Hanzlik

Publications and source records attributed to J R Hanzlik.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1996

The effects of a prefeeding stimulation program on preterm infants.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the effects of stroking and a perioral and intraoral prefeeding stimulation program on healthy, growing, preterm infants in a Level II special care nursery. Only infants without cardiac, gastrointestinal, or central nervous system problems were included in the study. METHOD: Two groups of nine randomly assigned, medically stable preterm infants, born between 30 weeks and 34 weeks gestation, were selected for the study. All infants were introduced to nipple feeding at approximately 34 weeks postconceptual age. The infants in the control group received a 5-min stroking protocol before feeding; the infants in the experimental group received a 5-min stroking protocol in addition to a perioral and intraoral stimulation program. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the experimental group had a decreased number of gavage feedings, greater weight gain, and fewer days of hospitalization. The experimental group also had higher scores on the Revised-Neonatal Oral Motor Assessment nutritive suck scale than the control group. CONCLUSION: On a preliminary basis, the findings from this study establish the efficacy of occupational therapy in a Level II special care nursery for healthy, growing, preterm infants. Further, the specific treatment strategies conducted with the infants receiving the experimental procedures have also been preliminary established as effective in enhancing the infants' feeding skills, resulting in weight gain and decreased hospital stays as compared with their counterparts in the control group. However, our findings cannot be generalized to preterm infant populations who are at greater medical risk than the infants in our study because of the potentially hazardous effects that could result. Implications of the results for intervention programs and future research are discussed.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed1993

Adaptive computer use for a person with visual impairment.

A single-subject research design that used multiple baselines across behaviors compared traditional adaptations (e.g., the use of readers) to adapted computer technologies for typical reading activities performed by an adult with severe visual impairment. A Macintosh IIci equipped with software that translated information displayed on the monitor into synthesized speech was paired with a page scanner and optical character recognition software to convert scanned images of printed text into computer documents. These computer technologies were applied to three reading behaviors: proofreading of word-processed documents, reading of printed research articles, and reading of common printed materials such as letters and instruction sheets. The findings demonstrated that the use of adapted computer technology, rather than traditional methods, increased the subject's reading efficiency and frequency. The increased functional independence that occurred as a result of the computer technology improved the subject's patterns of adaptation in reading-related tasks and improved the quality of her life.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed1986

Interaction of mothers with their infants who are mentally retarded, retarded with cerebral palsy, or nonretarded.

Mother-infant interaction was observed during 15 minutes of free play in the homes of 40 families with 8- to 36-month-old infants from the following groups: mentally retarded, both retarded and cerebral palsied, nonretarded MA-matched, nonretarded CA-matched. One-way, repeated measures analyses of variance followed by Tukey multiple range tests for the paired contrasts indicated that mothers of both groups of developmentally disabled infants were more directive than the mothers of the nonretarded infants. Developmentally disabled infants were more compliant than both groups of nonretarded infants. They also demonstrated an overall lower level of behavior and engaged in less verbal interaction than the nonretarded CA-matched infants. Physical contact was more frequent for cerebral palsied infants and their mothers than for all other mother-infant groups. The communicative patterns reported for these groups were interpreted according to Bell's (1971) limiting control strategy, which predicts that mothers tolerate infant behavior within their expectations and actively attempt to keep their infants' behavior within these boundaries.

Cerebral Palsy↗