Biomedical subjects

R Doonan

Publications and source records attributed to R Doonan.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1997

Physical attractiveness in schizophrenia. The mediating role of social skill.

The role of social skill in mediating perceived physical attractiveness among individuals with chronic schizophrenia was investigated. Twenty five inpatients participated in an unstructured role play. The physical attractiveness of the individuals was rated both before and after observation of the role play by two pairs of raters. Social skill was rated by a third pair of raters. The two ratings of physical attractiveness were only weakly correlated with one another. Social skill contributed variance independent of initial attractiveness to post-role-play attractiveness. Practical implications of the findings (i.e., stigma issues and social skills training) are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1996

Emotion recognition and social competence in chronic schizophrenia.

This study evaluated (a) whether chronic, medicated schizophrenia patients show deficits in emotion recognition compared to nonpatients, and (b) whether deficits in emotion recognition are related to poorer social competence. Two emotion recognition tests developed by S. L. Kerr and J. M. Neale (1993) and Benton's Test of Facial Recognition (A. Benton, M. VanAllen, K. Hamsher, & H. Levin, 1978) were given to patients with chronic schizophrenia and nonpatient controls. Patients' social skills, social adjustment, and symptomatology were assessed. Like Kerr and Neale's unmedicated patients, these patients performed worse than controls on both emotion recognition tests and the control test. For patients, facial perception was related to the chronicity of illness and social competence. Chronicity of illness may contribute to face perception deficits in schizophrenia, which may affect social competence.

Adult↗

PubMed1996

Clock drawing in schizophrenia.

The Clock Drawing Test, a task sensitive to cognitive decline in neurological groups, was administered to 27 patients with schizophrenia. Clock drawings were scored for over-all global performance and the frequency of specific qualitative errors. Mean global performance scores indicated a small proportion of the sample was below the threshold typically used to identify dementia, and the patients displayed qualitative Clock Drawing deficits not fully represented in the global performance measure. Qualitative analyses indicated that size errors, graphic difficulty, and spatial planning problems were most common. Lastly, duration of illness was not related to global performance, suggesting that the latter might not reflect deterioration but the stable trajectory of impairment that may be constant through the schizophrenia illness.

Adult↗

PubMed1995

Relations between social skills and ward behavior in chronic schizophrenia.

The relationship between social skills and ward behavior among chronic schizophrenia patients was investigated. Twenty-eight inpatients participated in an unstructured role play test and were rated by staff members on a number of indices of ward behavior (e.g., social interactions, inappropriate behavior). Overall, there was a relationship between social skill on the role play and social behavior on the ward. Speech clarity was the social skill most strongly related to ward behavior, even when controlling for symptomatology. However, several other social skill variables (e.g., gaze, affect) were not related to social adjustment. The results are discussed in terms of the validity of social skill assessments in patients with chronic schizophrenia, and their implications for psychosocial treatment of this population.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1980

The selection of paraprofessional telephone counselors using the California Psychological Inventory.

Comparing groups of 36 veteran telephone counselors with 36 matched age and sex control subjects on the CPI revealed substantial differences on a number of scales. Subsequent development of weighted formulae via regression analysis led to very accurate predictions as to which individuals were telephone counselors or controls. Various cutoff scores and their uses are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A study of bedside screening procedures for cognitive deficits in chronic psychiatric inpatients.

The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Trail Making Test, part B (TMT-B) were compared for screening cognitive deficits in a sample of 104 psychiatric inpatients at a long-term hospital. The TMT-B classified 84% of the patients as impaired. The classic MMSE cutoff score (< or = 23) using serial sevens and spelling classified 42% and 24% of the patients respectively, as impaired. The new MMSE cutoff classified 71% as impaired. Education, gender, and medication may influence impairment when using the MMSE classic cutoff scores. In TMT-B only, impairment was influenced by chronicity. The TMT-B was able to distinguish patients impaired in the MMSE. The TMT-B, therefore, may be more useful than the MMSE to screen for cognitive deficits in chronic psychiatric inpatients.

Adult↗