Biomedical subjects

K Hux

Publications and source records attributed to K Hux.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2000

Common perceptions about strokes.

The frequency with which strokes occur and the devastating effects they can have make provision of general stroke information an essential element of public health education. This survey study sought to explore the general public's knowledge about various aspects of strokes. A questionnaire consisting of 4 open-ended, free-recall questions and 27 yes/no questions about the physiological processes, risk factors, warning signs, and functional consequences of strokes was administered orally to 190 individuals at a regional shopping mall. Additional items provided information about respondents' ages, ethnicity, educational status, and personal experiences with strokes. Free recall results indicated that approximately two-thirds of the survey respondents could provide correct or partially correct explanations of stroke physiology and could name at least one stroke warning sign; over 90% of respondents could name at least one stroke risk factor and one functional consequence of stroke. Most respondents reported acquiring information about strokes through personal acquaintances, popular media, or general life experiences rather than from professionals or as part of their formal schooling. Suggestions about needed content in general educational programs came from respondents' misconceptions about physiological processes, risk factors, warning signs, and functional consequences of strokes.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed2000

Effect of training frequency on face-name recall by adults with traumatic brain injury.

Many TBI survivors have difficulty recalling the names of people with whom they frequently interact. Researchers have established that mnemonics and visual imagery strategies are often effective in facilitating encoding and recall of such information; however, no research exists pertaining to the frequency that such training should occur. The purpose of this study was to assess the relative effectiveness of three frequencies of intervention sessions--once per day, two times per week, and five times per day--on TBI survivors' ability to recall face-name associations. Results showed that sessions held daily and twice a week were more effective than sessions held five times per day. Mnemonics and visual imagery strategies were effective for four of the seven participants, regardless of frequency of intervention sessions. Implications for treatment and future research are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

Speech recognition training for enhancing written language generation by a traumatic brain injury survivor.

Impairments in motor functioning, language processing, and cognitive status may impact the written language performance of traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors. One strategy to minimize the impact of these impairments is to use a speech recognition system. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of mild dysarthria and mild cognitive-communication deficits secondary to TBI on a 19-year-old survivor's mastery and use of such a system-specifically, Dragon Naturally Speaking. Data included the % of the participant's words accurately perceived by the system over time, the participant's accuracy over time in using commands for navigation and error correction, and quantitative and qualitative changes in the participant's written texts generated with and without the use of the speech recognition system. Results showed that Dragon NaturallySpeaking was approximately 80% accurate in perceiving words spoken by the participant, and the participant quickly and easily mastered all navigation and error correction commands presented. Quantitatively, the participant produced a greater amount of text using traditional word processing and a standard keyboard than using the speech recognition system. Minimal qualitative differences appeared between writing samples. Discussion of factors that may have contributed to the obtained results and that may affect the generalization of the findings to other TBI survivors is provided.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

Special education services provided to students with and without parental reports of traumatic brain injury.

The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency and type of special education services provided to youths who had sustained one or more traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) according to parental report but who did not have verified TBIs according to school records. A parental questionnaire formulated for a related research project served as the basis for data collection. Results indicated the most common special education verification categories both for students with and without reported TBIs were speech-language impairment and specific learning disability. Approximately 29% of children with reported TBIs received special education services--a percentage not differing significantly from students without TBIs. However, students with TBIs whose parents reported long-term consequences were significantly more likely to receive special education services than students with TBIs whose parents did not report long-term consequence or students without TBIs. A chi-square analysis using the number of students whose reported TBIs occurred before versus after special education evaluations revealed no significant difference in the types of services received. However, those evaluated for special education services after sustaining TBIs were more than two times as likely to receive services for behavioural disorders than those evaluated prior to sustaining TBIs.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1998

Parental report of occurrences and consequences of traumatic brain injury among delinquent and non-delinquent youth.

Completed questionnaires from parents of youths attending a public middle school or high school and parents of youths admitted to an institution for juvenile delinquents provided information about incidents of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in their children. Results revealed that approximately 40% of the non-delinquent youth and 50% of the delinquent youth had sustained one or more TBIs during their childhood or youth. The majority of injuries appeared to be mild and had no permanent consequences. However, the parents of more than one-third of the delinquent youth with TBI histories reported long-term effects on academic performance, behavior and emotional control, activity level, and/or interactions with friends and family members; parental reports of long-term effects occurred significantly less frequently among the non-delinquent youth. The most common causes of TBI differed between the two adolescent populations. Non-delinquent youth sustained TBIs most frequently from blows to the head during sporting events, and delinquent youth sustained TBIs with approximately equal frequency from sporting events, fall, motor vehicle accidents and fights.

Accidental Falls↗

PubMed1994

Auditory stimulation effect on a comatose survivor of traumatic brain injury.

The purposes of this case study were (1) to determine whether a comatose patient responded differentially to four types of auditory stimuli--voices of family members and friends, classical music, popular music, and nature sounds--and (2) to determine what physiological measures and behavioral observations best captured changes in responsiveness. The patient participated in 28 sessions that were videotaped for later behavioral analysis. During all sessions, measures were taken of pulse rate, respiration rate, and skin resistance. Visual inspection of the data and Auto Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) analyses revealed greater increases in responsiveness with the presentation of taped voices of family and friends than with other types of taped stimuli. Behavioral observations of body movements and measures of pulse rate were superior to observations of facial expressions and measures of respiration rate and galvanic skin response in revealing changes in responsiveness. Despite extreme diversity among comatose persons, the research findings support the contention that responses to various auditory stimuli differ and are measurable with relatively simple behavioral and physiological observations.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Disclosure analysis procedures: reliability issues.

Performing disclosure analyses to supplement assessment procedures and facilitate intervention planning is only valuable if the observations are reliable. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate and compare four methods of assessing reliability on one discourse analysis procedure--a modified version of Damico's Clinical Discourse Analysis (1985a, 1985b, 1992). The selected methods were: (a) Pearson product-moment correlations, (b) interobserver agreement, (c) Cohen's kappa, and (d) generalizability coefficients. Results showed high correlation coefficients and high percentages of interobserver agreement when error type was not taken into account. However, interobserver agreement percentages obtained solely for target behavior occurrences and Cohen's kappa revealed that much of the agreement between rates was due to chance and the high frequency of target behavior non-occurrence. Generalizability coefficients revealed that the procedure was fair to good for discriminating among persons with differing levels of language competency for some aspects of communication performance but was less than desirable for others; the aggregate score was below recommended standards for differentiating among people for diagnostic purposes.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Female juvenile delinquents' pragmatic awareness of conversational interactions.

Standardized testing has shown that juvenile delinquents have a high incidence of communication problems; however, discourse analyses have failed to confirm pragmatic deficits. This study's purpose was to explore, using qualitative procedures, the pragmatic awareness of female juvenile delinquents concerning conversational interactions. The 45 participants engaged in small-group conversations about communication during multiple class periods. On-line field notes served as the data and were used to determine emerging patterns of verbal and nonverbal communication behaviors. Identified themes included (a) active listening; (b) body position; (c) eye contact, facial expressions, and gestures; (d) utterance types; (e) topics of conversation; (f) politeness and honesty; and (g) conversational management. Results suggested that juvenile delinquents can state many conventions governing conversational interactions; however, some do not always display interactional behaviors consistent with their pragmatic awareness. Discrepancies about pragmatic awareness are discussed in terms of the underlying nature of communication challenges in delinquent populations.

Adolescent↗