Biomedical subjects

L Quine

Publications and source records attributed to L Quine.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1991

Sleep problems in children with mental handicap.

This paper reports on a longitudinal study of sleep problems in 200 children with severe mental handicap. Sleep problems were extremely common: 51% of children had settling problems, 67% of children had waking problems, and 32% of parents said they rarely got enough sleep. Sleep problems were also very persistent: between a half and two-thirds of children who exhibited sleep problems at Time 1 still had them 3 years later. Sleep problems were associated with a number of child characteristics: poor communication skills, poor academic skills, poor self-help skills, incontinence, daytime behaviour problems and epilepsy. There were no relationships with family variables such as social class, income, family composition or housing tenure. However, maternal stress, maternal irritability and perceived impact on the family were related to sleep problems. A Sleep Index was constructed, and path analysis was used to trace the main causal pathways of the child, family and social characteristics. Ten variables explained 50% of the variance in the Sleep Problems Index. Communication skills played a pivotal role. The implications of the findings for intervention strategies are discussed.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed1990

Inequalities in pregnancy outcome: a review of psychosocial and behavioural mediators.

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on psychosocial factors in pregnancy outcome and to present a model which attempts to integrate the findings theoretically. There are four sections. The first presents published data on the incidence of early childhood mortality and low birth weight. Changes over time and differences between countries are noted and attention is drawn to the marked inequalities between occupational groups in the British data. The second section reviews the evidence that a variety of psychosocial risk factors influence pregnancy outcome, notably social, emotional, cognitive and behavioural factors. The third section develops the theme of inequalities and examines theories which have been advanced to account for the differences in adult mortality. We argue that material deprivation goes some way towards explaining inequalities in pregnancy outcome, but that any proper account will have to explain the links between inputs and outcomes--the processes and mechanisms by which material deprivation is translated into observable mortality and morbidity. In the concluding section, we argue that some of the principal links are the psychosocial risk factors described in the second section, and we present a model which traces the pathways of mediation.

Female↗

PubMed1987

First diagnosis of severe handicap: a study of parental reactions.

This paper reports the results of interviews with 190 parents of severely mentally handicapped children. Questions were asked about parents' satisfaction with the way they were first informed of the child's impairment. Most parents were informed by a doctor, and almost two-thirds were dissatisfied with the first information given. Satisfaction was associated with being told early in the child's life. There was a significant association between the time of telling and the diagnostic condition of the child: parents of children with handicap of no known pathology were more likely to be told during or after the second year of the child's life, while parents of children with Down's syndrome were most likely to be told at birth. The authors discuss ways in which parents can be helped through this difficult time and suggest procedures for breaking the news to parents in a sensitive way.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1986

First diagnosis of severe mental handicap: characteristics of unsatisfactory encounters between doctors and parents.

This paper presents data from a study of 190 parents and discusses their reactions to being told that their child was likely to be severely mentally handicapped. Dissatisfaction was related to the child's age when the parents were first told about the impairment, which was itself related to the diagnosis of the child's condition. Parents of children with non-specific handicap were often not informed about the impairment until the second or third year of the child's life, while parents of children with Down's Syndrome were usually informed within a week of birth. The paper compares these two groups of parents and discusses the reasons for their dissatisfaction. The study showed that parents valued early acknowledgement of the problem, a sympathetic approach on the part of medical professionals, and the sharing of information and uncertainty. The reasons why parents of mentally handicapped children may continue to feel dissatisfied are discussed in the light of the theoretical literature on doctor-patient communication.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1986

Behaviour problems in severely mentally handicapped children.

A population study was undertaken in two health districts of children with severe mental handicap. Prevalence figures for behaviour problems are presented. A stratified random sample of 200 families was drawn from the population. Detailed structured interviews were carried out with the children's parents. The children were divided into two groups, comprising those with behaviour problems and those with no problems. There was a significant association between behaviour disorder and incontinence, lack of self-help skills, poor reading, writing and counting skills, and poor communication skills. Environmental correlates were few. There were no differences between groups in family size, birth order, age of parents, marital discord, social class or income. However, behaviour problems were more common in one-parent families. An association was found between maternal stress and problem behaviour. The possible mechanisms underlying this association are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Patterns of take-up of the Family Fund, the characteristics of eligible non-claimants and the reasons for not claiming.

This paper examines application to the Family Fund by families with severely handicapped children and attempts to find out whether eligible families have basic knowledge of the fund, what motivates them to apply and why some eligible families do not apply. Five local registers are used to investigate levels of take-up and a Kent survey of families with severely subnormal children is used to examine the characteristics of non-claimants. The Kent survey is also used to investigate whether extra publicity promotes application and to identify reasons for non-take-up.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Learning to sleep.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Behavior Therapy↗