Biomedical subjects

K L Fuchs

Publications and source records attributed to K L Fuchs.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1999

The Community Integration Questionnaire revisited: an assessment of factor structure and validity.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the factor structure and concurrent validity of the Community Integration Questionnaire (CIQ), using a large sample of persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI). DESIGN: Principal components analysis with varimax rotation was performed on CIQ items completed through interview with patients at 1 year after injury. Correlational analyses compared CIQ scores to scores on other widely used outcome measures. SETTING: Outpatient clinics affiliated with four TBI Model System rehabilitation centers funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. PARTICIPANTS: Three hundred twelve patients with medically documented TBI who were enrolled in the TBI Model Systems Project. The majority of patients were Caucasian males with severe TBI. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: CIQ; Functional Independence Measure (FIM); Functional Assessment Measure (FAM); Disability Rating Scale (DRS). RESULTS: Three factors emerged: Home Competency, Social Integration, and Productive Activity. The financial management item was moved from Social Integration to Home Competency, and the travel item was moved from Productive Activity to Social Integration. Each CIQ scale score showed significant correlations in the expected direction with the FIM+FAM and DRS items. CONCLUSIONS: The results provide further evidence for the validity of the CIQ and improve the scoring system. The factor structure is clinically and theoretically meaningful. The subscale and total scores show significant relationships with other widely used measures of outcome. Future research should focus on increasing the range of questions, accounting for changes from preinjury functioning, and obtaining normative data on the new factors.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed1999

Construct validity of the Continuous Recognition Memory test.

A principal factor analysis was performed on variables derived from a neuropsychological battery administered to 100 healthy young adults in order to investigate the construct validity of the Continuous Recognition Memory test (CRM). It was hypothesized that CRM "hits" and "false alarms" would load on different factors. The factors that emerged in the analysis were labeled "Verbal Ability", "Divided Attention", "Attention to Visual Detail", "Visuomotor Integration and Planning", and "Learning and Memory". As expected, CRM hits had a significant loading on the Learning and Memory factor. However, CRM false alarms did not have a significant loading on the Divided Attention factor as expected and, instead, loaded significantly on the Attention to Visual Detail factor. A second analysis was performed using variables from the delayed condition of the memory measures. In this analysis, the CRM delayed recognition variable had significant loadings on both a "Nonverbal Memory" factor and a "Verbal Memory" factor. These analyses support the construct validity of CRM hits as a measure of learning and memory and suggest that false alarms provide a measure of attention to visual detail.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1998

Quality of life perception in patients with intractable epilepsy or pseudoseizures.

OBJECTIVES: To contrast and compare self-reported quality of life in patients with intractable epilepsy and pseudoseizures and to examine the relationship between self-reports and objective measures of cognitive functioning in both of these groups. DESIGN: Case series using profile analysis and analysis of covariance. SETTING: University epilepsy surgery program. PARTICIPANTS: Forty-three patients with intractable complex partial seizures of unilateral temporal lobe origin and 25 patients with pseudoseizures. MEASURES: Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory-89; neuropsychological tests assessing verbal memory, nonverbal memory, naming, and attention; and the Depression Scale (2) of the MMPI-2 (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory). RESULTS: Patients with pseudoseizures described themselves as more limited in the physical health domain than patients with complex partial seizures. Self-perceptions of cognitive functioning were similar between groups, despite the superior performance of patients with pseudoseizures on objective measures. Self-perception of cognitive dysfunction was related to mood disorder in the pseudoseizure group only, and there were no relationships between subjective and objective measurements of cognitive status within this group independent of mood disorder. For the complex partial seizures group, relationships between subjective and objective measures of cognitive function were dependent on the side of seizure onset. CONCLUSIONS: Results are consistent with hypotheses that suggest that patients with pseudoseizures focus on physical rather than psychological explanations for stress, and that this focus is related, at least in a subgroup of patients, to mood disorder. Results also provide support for the validity of the Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory-89 in populations with intractable seizure disorder, although there is evidence for a possible floor effect on some of the subscales.

Adolescent↗