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A self-image profile analysis of spina bifida adolescents in Louisiana.

With the growing number of spina bifida children reaching adolescence and adulthood and the national thrust toward "mainstreaming" disabled children, there is increasing need for research on the problems of social and psychological adaptation. The goal of this study was to obtain a normed, psychosocial self-image profile of Louisiana's adolescent spina bifida population. Offer's self-image scale was administered to a sample of 50 Louisiana spina bifida adolescents, ranging from 11 to 21 years of age. The sample's self-image profile was statistically compared to a normal profile, as a group, by age, by gender, and by level of vertebral disability. With the exception of the sexuality dimension, which was significantly below normal, especially in females, 10 of the 11 dimensions were statistically within normal limits. Correlations of self-image subscales with gender, age, and disability revealed several curious and potentially important findings.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Anticipatory guidance in elective ophthalmic surgery.

With respect to the preoperative ophthalmic patient, anticipatory guidance is a technique of informing the patient in a detailed way about all aspects of the upcoming intervention, including the need for surgery, the degree of pain and disability to be expected, type of anesthesia to be used, some information about the postoperative course, and the expected disability following surgery on either a temporary or a permanent basis. The purpose of anticipatory guidance is to permit the patient to make a better psychologic adaptation to a crisis situation and to relieve preoperative anxiety through information, resulting in easier postoperative recovery. In addition, anticipatory guidance and improved understanding between physician and patient may go far to reduce those misunderstandings that lead to malpractice actions subsequent to surgical procedures.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Social and psychological determinants of adaptation.

Social and psychological frameworks used to explain adaptation are examined. Findings from a study of three ethnic groups, Irish, Italian, and Polish Americans, aged forty to eighty are presented to test the effects of life stage, social surround, and personality on adaptation.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Acculturation attitudes, need for cognitive closure, and adaptation of immigrants.

The author validated Berry's model of acculturation (J. W. Berry, 1990a, 1990b, 1991; J. W. Berry, U. Kim, S. Power, M. Young, & M. Bujaki, 1989) and examined the relation between acculturation attitudes and sociocultural and psychological adaptation among Croatian and Polish immigrants to Italy, 2 groups whose cultures are not very different from the Italian culture. Moreover, the author investigated the relation between the need for cognitive closure (NCC; M. D. Webster & A. W. Kruglanski, 1994) and psychological and sociocultural adaptation. The participants completed a questionnaire including measures of sociocultural adaptation, psychological adaptation, social relationships, acculturation attitudes, and NCC. The results of a multivariate analysis of variance revealed main effects of acculturation strategies for both forms of adaptation and a main effect of NCC for psychological adaptation. The Croatian and Polish immigrants differed in the level of sociocultural adaptation but not in the level of psychological adaptation.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Social support after the loss on an infant child: a long-term perspective.

The article presents findings from a survey among 251 parents whose infant child had died. For most of the parents, the loss occurred several years ago. The survey assessed the amounts of instrumental, emotional and informational support received by these parents from various sources in connection with the death. The findings revealed that different sources provided different kinds of support. There was only one significant difference between bereaved males and females with regard to amount of support: females received more emotional support from their friends than males did. Furthermore, large amounts of support received by one spouse was associated with a similar level of support received by the other spouse. Social support in connection with the death was to some extent related to long-term psychological adaptation. Particularly support from neighbours and professionals was consistently associated with psychological adaptation. In general, however, the findings with regard to long-term effects of social support were ambiguous.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

A framework for the adaptation of psychological questionnaires for epidemiological use: an example of the Bortner Type A scale.

A model for the systematic adaptation of psychological questionnaires for epidemiological use is presented. Application of the model is illustrated using variants of the Bortner Type A scale in a representative age/sex stratified sample of 256 persons. Through the application of the model the Bortner scale was adapted to compare the effects of scale direction, scale format and example position. Overall the Bortner scale was shown to provide robust measurement which was little affected by response rate, age, sex or by the adaptations of the scale. An association was found of sex with response rate. Interaction effects of sex and scale direction on mean Type A scores, and of example position and scale format on both response rate and Type A score variability were also found. In identifying critical aspects of questionnaire performance, and in providing a coherent framework for their interrelationship, the model acts as a guide to the systematic assessment of questionnaire performance. The use of this model will, therefore, facilitate greater confidence in the interpretation of questionnaire data in epidemiological studies.

Adult↗

Reactions to hand cooling in workers occupationally exposed to cold.

Ten men occupationally exposed to cold and ten office workers participated in the study. Reactions to immersion of the hands in cold water (+ 10 degrees C) for 2 min were studied during the following 30 min at two different ambient temperatures, 10 and 20 degrees C. Hand skin temperature was recorded in thermograms, and the subjects rated cold sensation and pain. Considerable interindividual differences in hand skin temperature reaction were found in both groups. On the average the occupationally exposed workers had a somewhat higher hand skin temperature than the office workers during the recovery period in the 10 degrees C ambient temperature, although the difference did not reach significance. The office workers rated significantly greater cold sensation as a result of the cold immersion, especially during an ambient temperature of 10 degrees C, and the frequency of pain ratings was higher for this group. The results suggest that cooling among the occupationally exposed workers at work was not severe enough to produce physiological adaptations, although some psychological adaptation was indicated.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Mental traits as fitness indicators. Expanding evolutionary psychology's adaptationism.

According to most evolutionary psychologists, human psychological adaptations can be recognized by criteria such as high efficiency, high complexity, high modularity, low phenotypic variance, low genotypic variance, low heritability, universality across cultures, and universality across individuals. These criteria are appropriate for adaptations that have been shaped through stabilizing selection for survival utility. However, they are often inappropriate for adaptations that have been shaped by sexual selection through mate choice as reliable signals of heritable fitness. If some psychological adaptations evolved as sexually selected fitness indicators of this type, we should expect them to violate many standard criteria used by evolutionary psychology to distinguish adaptations from non-adaptations. This paper addresses the problems raised by new developments in sexual selection theory and animal signaling theory for evolutionary psychology's adaptationism. It suggests that our adaptationist criteria must recognize two typical kinds of psychological adaptations: naturally selected survival mechanisms and sexually selected fitness indicators.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Chronic insomnia in workers poisoned by inorganic mercury: psychological and adaptive aspects.

Insomnia is one of the symptoms of inorganic mercury poisoning (IMP). The objective of this study is to analyze the chief psychological aspects in the adjustment of workers with chronic insomnia associated with IMP. For this purpose the Preventive Clinical Interview and the Ryad Simon Operational Adaptive Diagnostic Scale (Escala Diagnóstica Adaptativa Operacionalizada-EDAO) were utilized. Fifteen subjects with mean age of 40 years (10 males and 5 females) were studied. Nine were diagnosed with High Adaptive Inefficacy, five with Moderate Inefficient Adaptation and only one with Mild Inefficient Adaptation. Impairment occurred in four adaptive sectors: affective relationship, social-cultural, productivity and organic. Adaptive efficiency indicated that in all the 15 subjects studied the adaptive solutions were frustrating and led to psychic suffering and/or environmental conflict confirming the severity of the involvement in chronic IMP.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

[Functional status of very old people in urban area: the Itabashi Oldest-Old Study I].

It is predicted that the future increase in the oldest-old (85 years and older) population will have a marked influence on society. However, little is known about the features of various functions in the oldest-old. The purpose of this study was to clarify the functional status of the oldest-old. We surveyed all oldest-old residents in a small area of Itabashi ward in metropolitan Tokyo to clarify their living conditions. The oldest-old themselves and their family members were invited to participate, and 235 out of 311 residents (75.6%) agreed to do so. Forty-two percent of the participants were dependent and needed care from others. The ADL status measured by the Barthel Index showed that 30% of independent participants also had some deterioration of physical function. These results are indicative of increased frailty in the oldest-old. Comparison between independent and dependent (need care from others in daily living) showed that the functional status was lower in dependent group. However, the psychological well-being was the same in this two groups. These results indicate progressive functional deterioation and psychological adaptation to it, in the oldest-old. Further research to elucidate the process of psychological adaptation to frailty is necessary in order to promote the well-being among the oldest-old, in whom functional limitation is evident.

Activities of Daily Living↗

On the universality of human nature and the uniqueness of the individual: the role of genetics and adaptation.

The concept of a universal human nature, based on a species-typical collection of complex psychological adaptations, is defended as valid, despite the existence of substantial genetic variation that makes each human genetically and biochemically unique. These apparently contradictory facts can be reconciled by considering that (a) complex adaptations necessarily require many genes to regulate their development, and (b) sexual recombination makes it improbable that all the necessary genes for a complex adaptation would be together at once in the same individual, if genes coding for complex adaptations varied substantially between individuals. Selection, interacting with sexual recombination, tends to impose relative uniformity at the functional level in complex adaptive designs, suggesting that most heritable psychological differences are not themselves likely to be complex psychological adaptations. Instead, they are mostly evolutionary by-products, such as concomitants of parasite-driven selection for biochemical individuality. An evolutionary approach to psychological variation reconceptualizes traits as either the output of species-typical, adaptively designed development and psychological mechanisms, or as the result of genetic noise creating perturbations in these mechanisms.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

[Cross-cultural adaptation and mental disorders].

Recently, it has not been rare for psychiatrists to treatment disorders and provide consultation on mental health problems for people from different cultures. The following is a brief outline of mental disorders and mental health problems of the people who immigrated in culturally different societies. In reviewing the literature, most of the reports demonstrate that the admission rate for schizophrenia is higher among immigrants than among people remaining in their original countries or among native-born people of the host countries. Furthermore the prevalence of mood disorders in community surveys is reported to be higher among immigrants than among native-born people of the host countries. In regard to gender difference of vulnerability to cross-cultural immigration, the prevalence rate for mental disorders is reported to be higher in female immigrants than male immigrants. Psychological adaptation of Japanese war orphans returned from Mainland China four decades after WWII revealed that psychological problems became exacerbated three months after resettlement in Japan and took three years to recover. Three major psychological symptoms that manifested in resettlement were obsession, somatization and depression. It is hypothesized that the acculturation process can be divided into four layers: the behavioral level, intellectual level, representative level and emotional level. The study of the acculturation process of Japanese war orphans demonstrated that it gradually proceeded from a surface level to deeper levels, namely from the behavioral level-->intellectual level-->representative level-->emotional level. The relationship of psychological adaptation and acculturation process is reported to be complicated. The acculturation process does not necessarily accompany psychological adaptation and vice versa. Impact of immigration on psychological manifestation revealed the following vicissitude: the asymptomatic phase for two months after resettlement-->hypochondriacal phase-->depressive phase-->paranoid phase. The vicissitude of psychological manifestations of the impact of immigration may be a reflection of the four layers of adaptive mechanisms (G. Vaillant).

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Stress and adaptation in later life.

The effects of five major life events, and of three types of resources, on the physical and social-psychological adaptation of 375 participants in a longitudinal study were examined. As expected, medical events had the most impact on physical adaptation, but they had surprisingly little impact on social-psychological adaptation. Retirement had the most negative social-psychological effects, but had little effect on physical adaptation. The other three events had even less effects, although multiple events tended to cumulate in impact. Better physical resources helped only physical adaptation, and better psychological and social resources mainly helped satisfaction. It appears that most of these potential stressors have less serious long-term outcomes than the crisis orientation would suggest.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Psychological and behavioral health issues of long-duration space missions.

It will be the responsibility of the long-duration space flight crew to take the actions necessary to maintain their health and well-being and to cope with medical emergencies without direct assistance from support personnel, including maintaining mental health and managing physiological and psychological changes that may impair decision making and performance. The Behavior and Performance Integrated Product Team at Johnson Space Center, working within the Space Medicine, Monitoring, and Countermeasures Program, has identified critical questions pertaining to long-duration space crew behavioral health, psychological adaptation, human factors and habitability, and sleep and circadian rhythms. Among the projects addressing these questions are: the development of tools to assess cognitive functions during space missions; the development of a model of psychological adaptation in isolated and confined environments; tools and methods for selecting individuals and teams well-suited for long-duration missions; identification of mission-critical tasks and performance evaluation; and measures of sleep quality and correlation to mission performance.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

The psychosocial consequences of short stature: a review of the evidence.

The advent of biosynthetic growth hormone (GH) has been accompanied by a transformation in the clinical management of youths with short stature. An important--if not always explicitly stated--goal of endocrine therapies is an improvement in the psychological adaptation of individuals with short stature. Negative stereotypes regarding short stature constitute a potential source of psychosocial stress for the affected child and, in turn, the entire family. Nevertheless, studies have demonstrated that the psychological adaptation of individuals who are shorter than average is largely indistinguishable from others, whether in childhood, adolescence or adulthood. "Short stature" as an isolated physical characteristic appears to hold little value as a predictor of the individual's psychological adaptation or quality of life. In order to avoid the unwarranted medicalizing of healthy short stature, clinicians would be well advised to incorporate factors beyond auxology in the decision-making algorithm when selecting and preparing patients for possible growth-promoting therapies.

Body Height↗

[Biological rhythms associated with sleep and psychological adjustment].

Because of their influence on psychological adaptation, biological rhythms associated with sleep have received growing attention during the last two decades. We are presenting an outline of (1) the ultradian rhythms of rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep and of slow wave sleep (SWS), (2) the circadian rhythms of sleep/wake, body temperature and melatonine secretion, and (3) the infradian rhythms of the menstrual cycle and seasonal affective disorders emphasizing their importance in psychological adaptation. Particular attention is given to the consequences of the desynchronization of the circadian phase of sleeping and waking with that of core body temperature observed in the cases of abrupt time zone changes, shift work and some forms of insomnia and depression. New methods of intervention, such as the use of exposure to bright lights are discussed. A case is made for increased attention to a new form of hygiene, that of the biological rhythms associated with sleeping and waking.

Activity Cycles↗

Influence of erectile dysfunction on health related quality of life of male kidney transplant patients.

The objective of the present study was to investigate if a psychological adaptation capacity exists in kidney transplant bearers, even with ageing, in relation to erectile dysfunction (ED). We studied ED using IIEF-5 and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) using the SF-36 Health Survey, in a large sample of male renal transplant patients (n=242), searching for the influence of ED on HRQoL. Patients included 199 patients (82%); the median age was 52 y (43-62); 106 patients (54.9%) presented ED. These patients were divided into four groups according to median age. SF-36 scores were worse for ED vs non-ED patients in the first three age groups, but not in age group 4. SF-36 Mental Component Summary was similar for patients with ED and without ED in all age groups. We confirm the hypothesis that a psychological adaptation occurs in renal transplant patients in all age groups, when suffering ED.

Adaptation, Psychological↗