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Biomedical subjects

L D Gilchrist

Publications and source records attributed to L D Gilchrist.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

The double triumph: sustained sobriety and successful cigarette smoking cessation.

Conventional practice wisdom has long shielded alcohol treatment center clients from social and medical pressures to quit smoking. But, recent findings of increased cancer risk are forcing a re-examination of traditional practices. Detailed case histories of 14 recovering alcoholics who successfully quit smoking suggest the feasibility of cessation efforts even in the face of severe substance abuse histories.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Adolescent mothers, stress, and prevention.

Adolescent mothers face problems that can lead to psychological stress. Based on prospective data from the present study, these problems point toward the need for a coping skills prevention approach to help adolescent mothers manage stress. This paper reports data from outcome research on such an approach with adolescent mothers. Subjects were 79 adolescent mothers who were tested before, immediately after, and three months following the provision of coping skills intervention in an experimental condition. Subjects in a test-only control condition received no special intervention. At posttest, experimental condition subjects showed more positive outcomes on measures of social support, cognitive performance, conflict management, and interpersonal competence. At three-month follow-up, experimental condition subjects had more positive outcomes on social support, cognitive performance, parenting ability, child care self-efficacy, and measures of psychological well-being.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1986

Preventing tobacco use among young people.

Preventing tobacco use in youths may be an easier task than helping adults break the habit of smoking and overcome its ill effects. Using experimental procedures based on social work techniques, this study suggests that social work efforts are an effective tool in programs and services that focus on primary prevention.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Skills methods to prevent smoking.

School health educators have devoted much attention to cigarette smoking. Recent years have seen the testing of interventions to prevent smoking. To date, controlled studies have not evaluated the added value of skills methods for preventing smoking. This article describes such an evaluation with sixth-grade students from two schools. Subjects were pretested and randomly assigned to receive conventional health education methods or to receive skills intervention. Both conditions included films, peer testimonials, discussions, and homework. Health education condition subjects additionally participated in oral quizzes, games, and debates. Skills condition subjects additionally learned problem-solving, self-instruction, and interpersonal communication methods. At postintervention, skills condition subjects, more than health education condition subjects, had better scores on measures of smoking-related knowledge, attitudes, and intentions. In addition, reported cigarette use, validated by biochemical data collection, was lower in the skills condition than in the health education condition at all postintervention measurements, including a 24-month follow-up. The article discusses the strengths, limits, and implications of the study for other smoking prevention efforts in schools.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMed1985

Skills-building methods to prevent smoking by adolescents.

This study evaluated cigarette smoking prevention methods with a sample of adolescent females and males. Arranged by school, 331 informed and consenting sixth graders were randomly divided into four groups: 1) pretest, skills-building methods, posttest; 2) pretest, discussion methods, posttest; 3) pretest and posttest; and 4) posttest only. All subjects were followed for 6 and 15 months after the posttest. Outcome results on measures of non-smoking intentions, attitudes, predictions, problem-solving abilities, and peer interactions favored subjects in the skills-building group when compared with subjects in the discussion and pretest-posttest control groups. Smoking rates at posttest and at both follow-ups were lower in the skills-building group than in the other three groups. Results from posttest-only subjects did not support pretest reactivity. The study's strengths and limits are discussed along with directions for future smoking prevention research.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

The relationship of cognitive and behavioral skills to adolescent tobacco smoking.

This study examined an assumption held by many smoking prevention programs that social skills can affect the onset of tobacco smoking. Data from 129 sixth graders were used to predict smoking behavior 15 months later in seventh grade. Five skill variables emerged as the best predictors of future smoking. By analyzing discriminant scores based on individual levels of social skills, the investigators were able to accurately classify 80% of the students surveyed as smokers or nonsmokers. Measures of social skills accounted for 29% of the variation in adolescent smoking behavior.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Skills intervention to prevent cigarette smoking among adolescents.

Skills intervention to prevent cigarette smoking was evaluated with 689 adolescents. At 24-month follow-up, youths who received health information and skills intervention had lower intentions to smoke and less cigarette use than youths who received health information alone and youths who received no intervention. Conclusions about the effects of skills intervention are strengthened by the common preparation and random assignment of intervention leaders and by process measurement data.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Urging the alcoholic client to quit smoking cigarettes.

Cigarette smoking is highly correlated with alcohol abuse. Yet information regarding smoking cessation for alcoholics is largely absent. To begin addressing this gap, 311 alcohol treatment professionals staffing 23 inpatient facilities in Washington state reviewed a list of 8 different time points, including "never," at which an alcohol-involved adult could be urged to quit smoking cigarettes. Respondents first selected those time points at which they favored and then those at which they personally encouraged smoking cessation. One year after the onset of sobriety emerged as the preferred time point. Responses were analyzed according to the treatment staff's self-reported alcohol and smoking status. Staff who described themselves as alcoholics and smokers were significantly less likely than nonalcoholic-nonsmokers to urge smoking cessation efforts.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed1983

Primary prevention of tobacco smoking.

Sixth-grade students (N = 56) were assigned randomly to one of four experimental conditions: pretest and primary prevention; primary prevention; pretest; and neither pretest nor primary prevention. In eight group sessions, primary prevention students learned facts, problem solving, decision making, self-instructions and interpersonal skills to help keep them from using tobacco. All students completed posttests and a six-month follow-up. Compared with untrained controls, trained students had greater knowledge of smoking, more perspectives on tobacco problems, better linkages between problems and solutions, more insights on the consequences of nonsmoking decisions and greater nonverbal and verbal competence in tobacco use situations. Follow-up data showed trained students with stronger commitments to tobacco abstinence, more frequent refusals of tobacco, and less smoking than controls. Midway through seventh grade, 8% of trained students and 37.5% of controls had smoked in the most recent month.

Child↗
PubMed1983

Survey and evaluation methods: smoking prevention among children and adolescents.

Past behavioral research on the special characteristics of tobacco smoking among children and adolescents is fraught with definitional ambiguities. More precise benchmarks of these age groups will facilitate mutually advantageous investigations. Researchers ought to agree on their target age cohorts. Too, investigators should account for the peculiar tobacco smoking patterns of children and adolescents who are research subjects. Finally, researchers should reach a consensus on how they categorize various kinds of young nonsmokers, smokers, and exsmokers. Recommendations put forth here are an attempt toward common parameters for researching tobacco use among American children and adolescents.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Role of communication in the prevention of teenage pregnancy.

Traditional intervention with young women has done little to reduce the incidence of unwanted teenage pregnancy and childbearing. A new, more promising approach helps at-risk teenagers learn the interpersonal skills necessary to communicate effectively and use contraceptives successfully.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Adolescent pregnancy: an interpersonal skill training approach to prevention.

The research literature reports numerous negative consequences of adolescent pregnancy. Unfortunately, contemporary approaches to preventing teenage pregnancies have been largely unsuccessful. Recent evidence, however, suggests that interpersonal communication skill training may represent an important step in helping adolescents deal with their sexual and contraceptive behavior. This describes a pilot study of an interpersonal skill training model for sexually active inner-city teenagers. Results show that this training model is a feasible and attractive approach to modifying the youths' communication patterns. Findings indicate that such training is a fruitful direction for future pregnancy prevention research with the adolescent target population.

Adolescent↗