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Biomedical subjects

M A Godkin

Publications and source records attributed to M A Godkin.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1994

Screening for mental health using adolescent-reported parenting.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Little is known in primary care practices about the relationship between parenting and adolescent mental health. In addition, current parenting measures have a narrow focus or do not lend themselves to clinical intervention. This study examined the clinical utility of a new instrument measuring adolescent-reported parenting, the Parenting Assessment Scale (PAS), to predict adolescent mental health. METHODS: A total of 147 adolescents regularly attending an inner-city clinic were asked to complete the Youth Self Report (YSR), a standard scale measuring mental health, and a PAS for each biological parent. Global scores on the PAS and YSR summarized the reported parenting quality and the adolescents' mental health status. RESULTS: Receiver Operating Characteristics and discrimination analyses showed that the global parenting index was highly predictive of mental health using a z score of .73 (sensitivity = 92.3%, specificity = 88.9%). CONCLUSIONS: The PAS may be useful as a screening tool in older, black adolescent females, although further research is needed to clarify its role in the clinical setting.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

A successful research assistantship program as reflected by publications and presentations.

BACKGROUND: Many family practice programs operate student research assistantship programs, but little information is available about the outcomes of these programs. Our summer assistantship program has trained 60 students, all of whom received training in the basic steps of the research process and were required to develop and execute a research project. METHODS: To objectively measure the outcomes of our program, we recorded the number of publications and national presentations achieved by students enrolled in our family practice summer research assistantship program. RESULTS: Nine students have published articles in refereed scientific journals. Nine students have presented research findings at national meetings. Three students have won prestigious student research awards. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest students in a research assistantship program can learn basic research skills and execute effective research projects.

Family Practice↗
PubMed1991

Production and related variables in bovine leukaemia virus-infected cows.

A newly developed milk dot blot test was used to detect anti-bovine leukaemia virus (BLV) antibody in milk samples from 2079 lactating adult cows from among 61 herds. The milk dot blot test was highly repeatable; the concordance rate, compared with the agar gel immunodiffusion test performed on serum, was 83.5%. All herds contained BLV-positive cows; the prevalence rate was 36%. BLV-positive cows tended to come from larger herds and were older and more often later in lactation. Fourteen production and related variables (herd size, age, days open, days in milk, milk somatic cell count, milk, fat, and protein produced in the current lactation, projected production of milk, fat, and protein, and breed class average deviations for milk, fat, and protein) were compared between BLV-positive and BLV-negative cows. Although somatic cell count, milk produced, and projected production of milk and protein were related significantly to BLV status using simple tests of association, once the variables herd size, age and days in milk were controlled, these differences were removed. Further analyses using logistic (outcome: individual cow BLV status) and least-squares regression (outcome: herd proportion of BLV-positive cows) failed to show an association between any of the measured production or related variables and BLV-positivity. We concluded that the effect of BLV on production and related variables in dairy cows was below the sensitivity of our analytical techniques or was non-existent.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

A case-comparison analysis of elder abuse and neglect.

This study examines factors which contribute to elderly abuse and neglect by caregivers in a domestic setting. Methodological and conceptual variations and problems in previous studies have led to considerable confusion as to the determinants of this important social problem. A more rigorous research design was used in this study than has been previously employed. Fifty-nine abused elders from a model project site for the study of elderly abuse were compared with forty-nine non-abused clients from a home care program in the same agency. Using a research instrument designed by the authors, data related to the following aspects of the lives of the elders and their caregivers were collected: psychological status, stressful life events, social networks, mutual dependency, and the nature of their relationships. The study indicates that members of abusive families are more likely to have emotional problems which contribute to interpersonal difficulties. Abused elders are not more dependent on caregivers for many of their daily needs. However, the abused elderly and their caregivers have become increasingly interdependent prior to the onset of abuse because of the loss of other family members, increased social isolation, and the increased financial dependency of the perpetrator on the elderly person.

Aged↗
PubMed1981

Relationship of physician continuity to type of health problems in primary care.

The objective of this study was to determine if the level of continuity of medical care was related to the type of health problems (chronic or acute) presented by patients at four family health centers during a one-year period. Patients with chronic diagnoses encountered significantly fewer physicians and had a higher mean Continuity Index than patients with acute illness diagnoses, even though these two groups made the same number of health center visits for their respective problems during this period. These findings indicate that the prioritizing of clinical problems (whether planned or fortuitous) with respect to the importance of providing continuous care may already be taking place at these health centers. These activities are appropriate if one accepts the premise that, other things being equal, longer illnesses are treated more effectively if there is a consistent knowledge base about a patient and his/her illness, and that this consistency of knowledge is related to the number of providers encountered by that patient.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1980

Methodological, technical, and ethical issues of a computerized data system.

This report examines some methodological, technical, and ethical issues which need to be addressed in designing and implementing a valid and reliable computerized clinical data base. The report focuses on the data collection system used by four residency based family health centers, affiliated with the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. It is suggested that data reliability and validity can be maximized by: (1) standardizing encounter forms at affiliated health centers to eliminate recording biases and ensure data comparability; (2) using forms with a diagnosis checklist to reduce coding errors and increase the number of diagnoses recorded per encounter; (3) developing uniform diagnostic criteria; (4) identifying sources of error, including discrepancies of clinical data as recorded in medical records, encounter forms, and the computer; and (5) improving provider cooperation in recording data by distributing data summaries which reinforce the data's applicability to service provision. Potential applications of the data for research purposes are restricted by personnel and computer costs, confidentiality considerations, programming related issues, and, most importantly, health center priorities, largely focused on patient care, not research.

Computers↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The impact of hospice care on families.

The impact of a hospital-based Hospice service for late-stage cancer patients, on the families of fifty-eight bereaved spouses was studied, retrospectively. Hospice care in general was rated significantly higher when compared to the prior care (p less than .001) received by patients and families. Hospice care contributed to improved family functioning and well-being, with the vast majority of spouses reporting feelings of increased support, improved coping by all family members and increased closeness, when compared to prior care. Consequently, over three-quarters of the families reported being emotionally prepared, and prepared in a practical sense, for the death of their loved one. Families appear to be coping reasonably well during bereavement especially those who reported feeling emotionally prepared for the death. Health problems were reported as a large problem in 15 percent of the respondents, which compares favorably to previously documented research on bereavement and illness. These findings indicate that a Hospice mode of care, with its support of families during terminal and bereavement stages, impacts significantly on families' abilities to cope with the terminal phase and adapt afterwards.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Evaluation of two AIDS prevention interventions for inner-city adolescent and young adult women.

Two hundred and fourteen young women received acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) prevention interventions at an inner-city family health center serving minority patients predominantly. The community in which the health center is located has a high incidence of intravenous (IV) drug abuse. Either a peer or a health care provider delivered the intervention. In the peer-delivered intervention, a trained peer educator reviewed with patients an AIDS "Rap" videotape and several AIDS brochures, which imparted information about human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), its transmission, and prevention. In the provider-delivered intervention, family practice residents, attending physicians, and nurse practitioners used a patient-centered counseling approach to convey the same information. Questionnaires administered immediately before and after the intervention and at one month follow-up evaluated changes in knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. Analyses of data from both combined intervention groups revealed significant improvements in several areas of knowledge, including the effectiveness of using a condom and cleaning IV drug implements with bleach to prevent transmission of HIV. Many improvements were retained at the one-month follow-up. In addition, subjects in both groups who were sexually active stated immediately after the intervention that asking a sexual partner about past sexual experience would now be less difficult, and at one-month follow-up they reported a significant decrease in the frequency of vaginal sex. Our findings suggest that counseling by physicians can achieve more changes in knowledge of sexual risks, whereas peer education can achieve greater changes in knowledge about IV drug use. Results show that both approaches to AIDS prevention used in this study can significantly affect knowledge, attitudes, and sexual behavior.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗