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Biomedical subjects

R A Cummins

Publications and source records attributed to R A Cummins.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Moving from the quality of life concept to a theory.

BACKGROUND: The Special Interest Quality of Life Group has updated its set of statements defining the quality of life (QOL) construct to reflect emerging areas of agreement and the framework for understanding better the QOL construct. METHOD: This article examines the major areas currently under discussion involving the objective-subjective dichotomy, needs, and core domains. RESULTS: It is concluded that while the new statements constitute a significant advance, further progress requires testable theory. In order to facilitate such future research, a conceptual model is proposed that distinguishes causal and indicator variables within the framework of a homeostatic management system. CONCLUSION: Several lines of empirical investigation are suggested to test this and similar theoretical models with a view to taking our conceptualization of QOL to the next level.

Affect↗
PubMed2003

Defining quality of life for Chinese elderly stroke survivors.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to identify the constituents and conceptual characteristics of the quality of life (QOL) of Chinese elderly stroke survivors, living in the community in Hong Kong. METHOD: A triangulated approach was used to identify the QOL components for this population. This process involved a comparison of QOL components gathered from three different methods, namely, focus group interviews, review of the literature and the contents of the generic Hong Kong Chinese version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale (CWHOQOL-HK). Five health professionals were involved in the comparison process. A percentage of inter-judge agreement was used to determine the reliability of the comparisons made between the judges. RESULTS: This study identified 36 components considered to contribute to the QOL of Chinese elderly stroke survivors in Hong Kong. The conceptual characteristics of their QOL generally concurred with those identified in the literature. CONCLUSION: Both similarities and differences were found in the QOL components identified in this study when compared to those identified in studies of Western populations who are elderly and had a stroke. The contents of the CWHOQOL-HK scale were found to lack adequacy in representing the QOL of Chinese elderly stroke survivors in Hong Kong. Recommendations are given, based on the findings of this study, to overcome this limitation for its application as a QOL measure for this population.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2001

Living with support in the community: predictors of satisfaction with life.

Ensuring that people with an intellectual disability have normative levels of life satisfaction is increasingly considered a worthy goal for service providers. This review concerns the determinants of such satisfaction and embeds this literature within the Homeostatic Theory of Subjective Well-Being. This posits that life satisfaction is under considerable endogenous control and, as a consequence, does not normally vary in sympathy with changes in the external environment. This situation changes, however, if the environment is sufficiently aversive to defeat such homeostatic control. Under these conditions the circumstances of living correlate with life satisfaction as they wrest control away from the homeostatic system. One important implication is that the measure of life satisfaction may or may not be a sensitive indicator for changes in service provision, depending on the functional status of the homeostatic system. MRDD Research Reviews 7:99-104, 2001. (c) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Forecasting↗
PubMed1999

An Italian-Australian comparison of quality of life among people with intellectual disability living in the community.

This paper reports the measurement of both objective and subjective quality of life in samples of people either with intellectual disability or from the general adult population, drawn from Australia and Italy. Measures were made using the Comprehensive Quality of Life Scale. Generally, it was found that the scores for all groups were comparable. This finding is consistent with the provision of generally decent objective living conditions in both countries and subjective well-being homeostasis, wherein subjective quality of life is held within a predictable range. These results are discussed in the context of measurement difficulties imposed by the need for simple Likert scales and subjective data which are strongly negatively skewed.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Sexuality and quality of life among young people.

Associations between quality of life and attitudes toward, and experience of, sexual activities during adolescence were investigated in a sample of 240 Australian university students. Sexuality was explored using the Sexual Knowledge, Experience and Needs Scale (SexKen). Both objective and subjective quality of life were evaluated in seven domains using the Comprehensive Quality of Life Scale (ComQol). The findings demonstrated the importance of relationships and sexual experience to satisfaction with life. The results are discussed in terms of the significance of sexuality for general well-being during adolescence.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Self-reported fears: a comparison study of youths with and without an intellectual disability.

Normal fear plays an essential role in human development and experience, and much research attention has been devoted to its study in the general population. In contrast, the normal fears of youths with intellectual disabilities have largely been ignored. The present paper reports the normative fears of 187 youths with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities. Data were also gathered from 372 youths of average intelligence for comparison purposes. All respondents were aged between 7 and 18 years. Fear was assessed using the Fear Survey Schedule for Children-II (FSSC-II), an instrument which has been psychometrically validated in samples with and without disabilities. The youths with disabilities reported significantly higher levels of fearfulness and a greater range of fears than youths without disabilities. The content of their fears was also more likely to resemble those of younger children without disabilities. The fears that best discriminated between the two samples were those related to supernatural phenomena or animals. Included were fears of bees, lizards, ghosts or similar eerie things, and cemeteries. Nevertheless, there was considerable similarity between the two samples. For both samples, females reported a higher level of fearfulness and a greater range of fear than males, and fears of death and danger were endorsed as arousing the strongest fear for all respondents. The theoretical and applied implications of these results are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Sensory integration and learning disabilities: Ayres' factor analyses reappraised.

Between 1965 and 1987 Ayres published eight papers that contain among them 10 multivariate analyses that bear upon her conception of sensory integration. These analyses purport to have identified factors that emerge from the scores of children with learning disabilities but not from the scores of academically nondisabled children. A reappraisal of these analyses in combination finds no support for this claim. As a consequence, these data provide no validity for either the diagnostic procedures or the remedial programs for children with learning disabilities that have been derived from this work.

Child↗
PubMed1982

Cortical depth changes in enriched and isolated mice.

The occipital cortical depth was determined in laboratory mice at both 14 and 20 days of age and after various periods of postweaning exposure to enrichment or isolation. The depth was found to be maximal at 20 days of age. It declined thereafter, irrespective of environment, but the isolate cortical depth decreased faster than the enriched. The postweaning depth of the occipital cortex appears to be determined by an inevitable age-related decrease whose rate of decline may be attenuated by sensory stimulation. The postweaning cortical depth may reflect the extent of cortical neuronal development and associated metabolic activity.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1981

The menstrual cycle, personality, and academic performance.

Considerable research supports the widespread complaint of mood and behavioral changes during the menstrual cycle. However, there is little evidence of effects on intellectual performance, even though students commonly complain of it. We studied the results obtained by 244 female medical and paramedical students in all examinations taken during one year. In view of suspected correlations between personality characteristics and degree of dysmenorrhea, an Eysenck Personality Inventory, measuring extroversion and neuroticism, was administered. The examination results of high and low scorers on these personality scales and of those women with prolonged (greater than or equal to six days) menses were reanalyzed. Not one of these analyses revealed significant menstrual-cycle effects on examination performance. Thus, while some persons may suffer, it does not seem that menstrual cycle effects are sufficient to handicap significantly the examination performance of the majority of female students.

Achievement↗
PubMed1979

Enrichment-isolation, cortex length and the rank order effect.

In a previous paper we have proposed a developmental theory to account for the neurological changes which result from differntially rearing animals in either enrichment or isolation. On the basis of brain weight measurements we suggested that the primary cause of the differential development could be traced to retarded neurological growth in the isolated animals. The present 9 studies test the generality of this theory by applying it to the cortex length changes induced in rats by differential rearing periods of between 18 and 160 days. In the light of this new data the theory has been revised to the extent that the developmental ceiling for the dependent variable is now considered to change with age instead of being fixed. Two major consequences of this revision are as follows. Firstly that the environmentally induced changes in cortical development are seen as persistent. Secondly that the Rank Order Effect is shown to be transitory phenomenon which exists only when some, but not all of the isolate values have been restricted in their development.

Aging↗
PubMed1979

Changes in hippocampal neuronal nuclei in response to environmental stimulation.

The diameter of cortical neuronal nuclei has been reported to increase when animals are reared in enriched, as opposed to deprived, sensory environments. The present study investigated whether analogous neuronal changes occur in the hippocampus. Male Wistar rats were reared in either an enriched or a deprived environment for 80 days after weaning. At the completion of this rearing period both brain weights and hippocampal neuronal nuclear diameters were measured. The enriched subjects exhibited a greater forebrain:hindbrain ratio (3.7% p less than 0.05) when compared to the isolated subjects. No significant differences in mean hippocampal nuclear dimensions could be detected but variability in nuclear size was greater in the stratum granulosum of the isolated subjects (p less than 0.01). It is proposed that this increased variability reflects an environmentally restricted development of these neurons.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Drug-modulated behavioural responses to environmental enrichment.

The home-cage activity of mice housed in either social or enriched sensory environments was continuously recorded for 23 days. During this period the mice were given daily injections of either strychnine, chlorpromazine, or saline. Both chlorpromazine and social rearing depressed home-cage activity. Strychnine also depressed activity, but only in the social group.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

A developmental theory of environmental enrichment.

The differential brain development induced by sensory enrichment or deprivation is most apparent in rats with low brain weights. These differences are hypothesized to represent the retarded development of environment-dependent neurons in the isolated animals.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Student test type preference and its relation to personality and achievement.

1. Test type preference of 227 medical students was investigated by means of a questionnaire. 2. A majority of students believed that MCQ examinations gave rise to less advance anxiety than other forms of examination. 3. There was a highly significant correlation between preference and performance, probably as a result of reciprocal reinforcement between them. 4. A multiple linear regression analysis revealed than the scales stability/neuroticism, extraversion/introversion, general mental ability and native language had a significant influence on test preference. There was a significant trend for confident, stable students to demonstrate preference for MCQ while tense, anxious students tended to prefer other test types. 5. We conclude that a mixed examination format is desirable not only on theoretical grounds, but was also preferred by these students.

Achievement↗