PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

T L Boaz

Publications and source records attributed to T L Boaz.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Risk adjustment of Florida mental health outcomes data: concepts, methods, and results.

This article discusses outcome evaluation systems for mental health programs. It reviews and critically evaluates design and analysis methods for strengthening the validity of such uncontrolled comparisons. The article examines methods for statistically adjusting preexisting groups, now referred to as risk adjustment or case-mix adjustment, and offers guidelines for determining when this procedure is appropriate. Then, analyses on two dependent variables--a global rating of functioning and a consumer satisfaction measure--available from an outcomes evaluation system currently underway in Florida are used to demonstrate the proposed method of risk adjustment. Results for 24 providers of mental health services showed that while risk adjustment only made a small difference in the overall provider rankings, the ranking of some specific providers changed considerably. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of this research.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

HIV risk factors for persons with serious mental illness.

HIV risk factors were assessed among 120 persons in treatment for serious mental illness. Although subjects had good general knowledge regarding HIV, many engaged in high risk behaviors. Condom use was infrequent among those who had multiple sexual partners, and sharing needles was common for those who used i.v. drugs. Clearly, factual knowledge about HIV was not sufficient to prevent risky behavior. Nearly half of the sample was categorized as at medium to high risk, and almost half of the participants, especially those at medium risk, underestimated their own level of risk. The results suggest that education and intervention strategies should focus on increasing the accuracy of the individual's risk assessment as well as changing attitudes towards condoms and improving skills in using condoms. Assessing personal risk and adopting risk-reduction strategies are the keys to successful AIDS prevention for persons with serious mental illness.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Assisting clients of community mental health centers to secure SSI benefits: a controlled evaluation.

The entire caseloads of three Community Mental Health Centers were screened on variables normally assessed in the SSI application process. These data were then used to classify each individual as Possibly Eligible for SSI benefits, or as Probably Not Eligible. The Possibly Eligible subjects were randomly assigned to either the Experimental condition, in which subjects were helped to apply for SSI, or the Control condition, in which no intervention was provided. Results showed that the Experimental subjects were almost twice as likely to secure SSI benefits as the Control subjects. The usefulness of the screening form was supported in that control subjects were almost five times more likely to be awarded SSI, compared with subjects who had been classified as Probably Not Eligible.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1993

Speed of scanning in primary memory in persons with dementia of the Alzheimer type.

The nature of the search of primary memory by persons with a presumptive diagnosis of mild Alzheimer's disease (DAT) was compared with that of normal elderly and young persons using the Sternberg (1966) paradigm. DAT subjects evidenced a substantial deficit in the speed of scanning in primary memory and a deficit in at least one other stage of processing. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the decline in memory performance evidenced by persons with DAT may be attributable to an increase in the time requirements of mnemonic processing.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

An evaluation of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory as a discriminator of primary organic and primary psychogenic impotence in diabetic males.

The ability of the MMPI to discriminate between primary psychogenic impotence and primary organic impotence in males with diabetes mellitus was assessed. In order to provide the MMPI with the optimal situation to discriminate between the two groups, we attempted to form a homogeneous sample in terms of physical conditions. Thirty impotent diabetic males were classified as primary organic or primary psychogenic based on nocturnal penile tumescence data. Beutler et al.'s MMPI decision rules yielded a 63% misclassification of the two groups. Possible explanations for the lack of discriminative power of the MMPI with this sample of diabetic males were discussed in relation to previous findings. The power of nocturnal penile tumescence to classify men as having primary organic or primary psychogenic impotence was examined with reference to other vascular and endocrine variables.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Brain potentials related to seeing one's own name.

Subjects were assigned an assumed name and then shown a series of statements of the form, "My name / is / X", where X was the assumed name, their own first name, or one of a set of other false names. Their task was to respond positively to the "assumed" name and reject as false all other names, including their own. An N380 feature of the averaged task-related brain potentials, considered to be inversely related to the degree of contextual priming, was greatly enhanced for the false names compared to the assumed name. The N380 to one's own name was more similar to that of the false than the assumed name, indicating that the sentence context's priming of various names was under the subjects' attentional control, and that the late negativity could be modulated by this attention. In contrast, a large P510 feature distinguished one's own name from the false name, and this difference was unaffected by practice. Even in cases, then, where the context allows anticipation of one verbal event (here, the assumed name), a highly overlearned and salient stimulus such as one's own name continues to produce a distinctive neural response.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

MR monitoring of MR-guided radiofrequency thermal ablation of normal liver in an animal model.

The purpose of this study was to determine the suitability of MRI to accurately detect radiofrequency (RF) thermoablative lesions created under MR guidance. In vivo RF lesions were created in the livers of six New Zealand White rabbits using a 2-mm-diameter titanium alloy RF electrode with a 20-mm exposed tip and a 50-W RF generator. This was performed using a 0.2T clinical C-arm MR imager for guidance and monitoring. Each animal was sacrificed and gross evaluation was performed. Histologic correlation was performed on the first two animals. The MR-compatible RF electrode was easily identified on rapid gradient-echo images used to guide electrode placement. A single lesion was created in each rabbit liver. Lesions ranged from approximately 10 to 17 mm in diameter (mean, 13.5 mm). T2-weighted and short T1 inversion recovery (STIR) images demonstrated lesions ranging in diameter from 12 to 18 mm (mean, 14.6 mm). Lesion dimensions determined from images closely correlated with those determined at gross examination with the discrepancy never exceeding 2 mm, for an r2 value of .87. MRI performed at the time of MR-guided RF ablation accurately demonstrated created lesions. This modality may provide a new option for the treatment of local and regional neoplastic disease.

Animals↗