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Biomedical subjects

K L West

Publications and source records attributed to K L West.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1988

The impact of education about schizophrenia on relatives varying in expressed emotion.

The demand for information by relatives and the success of family intervention programs with an initial didactic component has resulted in a proliferation of educational interventions in schizophrenia. The present study assesses the impact of a single educational session on relatives of recent-onset schizophrenic patients. Results suggest that relatives who participated in family education experience an increased sense of support from the treatment team and a nearly significant tendency toward a decrease in self-blame regarding the schizophrenic illness. Despite findings in previous studies suggesting information acquisition immediately after education and retention after 6 months, the present study found no information retention after a 2-month period. After family education, relatives rated as high in expressed emotion (EE) reported a significantly increased sense of understanding of the illness and expressed increased feelings of support from the treatment team, whereas low EE relatives did not change significantly in these attitudes as a function of the educational session. Low EE relatives demonstrated more actual information about the illness and were less likely to perceive the symptoms as being done intentionally to bother them.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

The subacute hospital treatment of the borderline patient. II: An integrated focus on splitting.

A psychiatric inpatient unit with expertise in family treatment has developed an integrated effort to provide a one to three month treatment program for hospitalized borderline patients. Treatment goals are more ambitious than those obtainable by simple crisis intervention. Appreciation of staff splitting is enhanced by an intergenerational family systems approach. Early and sustained focus on splitting is aided by the use of a 15 minute educational tape and a weekly therapy group required for all nonpsychotic patients and recommended for their families. Cases illustrating the family perspective and a group therapy session are presented in detail. The therapy group, run by an interdisciplinary team (the authors) requires active staff initiative and confrontation to avoid responsibility-evading patient coalitions. Diagnostic considerations and impact of the program on patients and on staff are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Parental communication deviance and affective style. Predictors of subsequent schizophrenia spectrum disorders in vulnerable adolescents.

In an attempt to assess the contributory role of family factors to the development of schizophrenia-like disorders, measures of parental communication deviance and affective styles of communication were obtained for a sample of families of disturbed but nonpsychotic adolescents. Outcome was assessed five years later. Absence of a pathologic affective style was associated with a benign outcome, but neither parental variable alone allowed precise identification of the schizophrenia-spectrum cases. However, an index using a combination of both variables was statistically predictive of subsequent psychiatric status at follow-up. Thus, adolescents whose parents had both a pathologic affective style of communication and a high level of communication deviance had schizophrenia-like disorders develop in young adulthood. Adolescents of parents who had both lower levels of communication deviance and a benign affective style had offspring with healthier outcomes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Parental transactional style deviance as a possible indicator of risk for schizophrenia.

The presence of a pattern of parental transactional style deviance on the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) (a significant attribute of parents of offspring with schizophrenia spectrum disorders) was used to identify a group of disturbed nonpsychotic adolescents hypothesized to be at high risk for subsequently developing schizophreniform psychopathology. High-risk male adolescents came from two symptom groups, withdrawn adolescents and adolescents in active family conflict, which are symptom patterns similar to the premorbid pictures of two schizophrenia subtypes. High-risk parents also tended to show transactional style deviance in direct interaction with their child and in a written statement describing their child's problem. The degree of risk was significantly related to the amount of therapy in which the family was subsequently engaged and, at a four-year follow-up, to the level of adjustment of the adolescents seen earlier in the project.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1970

Ethylene oxide resistance of nondesiccated and desiccated spores of Bacillus subtilis var. niger hermetically sealed in various polymeric films.

The resistance to destruction of spores of Bacillus subtilis var. niger hermetically sealed in various polymeric films and exposed to ethylene oxide with and without relative humidity was determined. The effect of desiccation was also determined. The order of increased resistance to sterilization with regard to type of polymeric film was found to be: polyethylene equal to polyvinyl chloride, less than nylon, less than cellophane/polyethylene laminate, less than phenoxy, less than mylar/polyethylene laminate. Desiccated spores sealed in various polymeric films were much more resistant to ethylene oxide sterilization than nondesiccated spores. Relative humidity was an important factor in ethylene oxide sterilization with spores not sealed in polymeric films. However, with spores hermetically sealed in polyethylene, added relative humidity was an insignificant factor in the sterilization process.

Bacillus subtilis↗