SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “peer functioning”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

PubMed1988

Topic manipulation and conversational participation as a function of familiarity in school-age language-impaired and normal language peers.

This study investigated the topic manipulation skills and conversational participation of school-age language-impaired children (LI) in interactions with normal language peers. The subjects consisted of eight dyads of a normal language child and a language-impaired child balanced for approximate age and sex. They ranged in age from 5.11 to 7.11 years of age. The subjects participated in two conversations in order to explore the effects of familiarity on conversational participation. The subjects were unfamiliar with each other before the study began. Fifteen to twenty minutes of discourse were taped, transcribed, and analyzed for the number and proportion of topics maintained, topics introduced, topics reintroduced, topics shaded, and the number and proportion of back channel responses produced in Session 1 and Session 2. A behavioral measure was included to clarify whether conversational nonassertiveness was related to a behavioral style of interaction. No significant differences were found between the LI children and the normal children for the number and proportion of topics maintained, topics introduced, or topics shaded. However, the LI subjects did produce significantly more topic reintroductions than the normal subjects. The number and proportion of back channel responses was not found to differ significantly between the two groups. A familiarity effect was demonstrated by a reduction in the number of utterances produced in Session 2 as compared to Session 1 as the children interacted less in the second conversation. Several interpretations of the results are discussed.

Child↗

PubMed1991

Controlling extremely dangerous aggressive outbursts when functional analysis fails.

This article describes and illustrates a treatment program aimed at addressing intermittent extremely dangerous aggressive behavior in an 11-year-old girl who was blind, multiply handicapped, and profoundly mentally retarded. In the month preceding treatment she had injured a peer, a paid careprovider, and her mother. Functional analysis produced no clear antecedents to aggression. Punishment was used to introduce a superordinate contingency. Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior combined with contingent restraint reduced, then eliminated aggression. Follow-up at an age equivalent of 4 years, 6 months indicated a continued absence of aggression. Results are discussed in regards to the balance between research methodology, agency policy, right to effective treatment, and social validity.

Aggression↗

PubMed1992

Neuropsychological efficiency measures in male and female alcoholics.

The role of time in performance on many neuropsychological tests has been relatively neglected in the literature to date. Neuropsychological functioning in 90 male and female alcoholics and 65 peer controls was examined using both accuracy and time measures for four basic types of neuropsychological functioning: verbal skills, learning and memory, problem-solving and abstracting, and perceptual-motor skills. Alcoholics had significantly lower efficiency ratios (accuracy/time) than controls in each of the four areas, and had significantly lower overall accuracy and time scores. There were no significant Group x Gender interactions for efficiency, speed or accuracy scores, indicating that male and female alcoholics have similar deficits as a result of chronic alcoholism. The study is the first to apply systematically an empirical measure of neuropsychological efficiency to different areas of cognitive function; the results have implications for neuropsychological testing procedures.

Adult↗

PubMed1990

A comparative study of the psychosocial assets of adults with cystic fibrosis and their healthy peers.

Psychosocial assets of 37 adults with cystic fibrosis (CF) and 46 of their healthy peers were assessed by mailed questionnaire. Major sociodemographic variables did not differ significantly between the two groups, nor did indices of emotional social support, social network density, self-esteem, or current life satisfaction. This study revealed adults with CF to function on a par with their healthy peers in nearly all respects, a finding at odds with those from uncontrolled studies and which suggests to us that many previous conclusions about the psychosocial health of adults with CF have been unwarranted. Future psychosocial studies involving patients with CF should include control groups and inferences about the effect of these patients' physical illness on their psychosocial health should not be made in the absence of normative data.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1987

Developing positive intimacy cognitions in males with a history of nonintimate sexual experiences.

Traditional male sexual socialization is based on assumptions and cognitions which are antithetical to adult intimate relationships. The double standard scenario, initial sexual experiences, the way of talking about sex with peers, cognitions around automatic and autonomous functioning, the criterion of perfect performance, orgasm-orientation, and emotional separateness from females are strongly overlearned and reinforced in the young male subculture. A cognitive-behavioral strategy is used to increase intimacy among couples as well as males without partners. The focus is on increasing comfort, self-disclosure, and increasing the range of emotional and sexual expression.

Cognition↗

PubMed1987

Temporal and social contexts of heroin-using populations. An illustration of the snowball sampling technique.

Snowball sampling is a method that has been used in the social sciences to study sensitive topics, rare traits, personal networks, and social relationships. The method involves the selection of samples utilizing "insider" knowledge and referral chains among subjects who possess common traits that are of research interest. It is especially useful in generating samples for which clinical sampling frames may be difficult to obtain or are biased in some way. In this paper, snowball samples of heroin users in two Dutch cities have been analyzed for the purpose of providing descriptions and limited inferences about the temporal and social contexts of their lifestyles. Two distinct heroin-using populations have been discovered who are distinguished by their life cycle stage. Significant contextual explanations have been found involving the passage from adolescent peer group to criminal occupation, the functioning of network "knots" and "outcroppings," and the frequency of social contact. It is suggested that the snowball sampling method may have utility in studying the temporal and social contexts of other populations of clinical interest.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed1991

Determinants of dental health behaviors in Nordic schoolchildren.

As part of the comprehensive study "Health Behavior in Schoolchildren. A WHO Cross National Survey", this paper set out to identify determinants of four dental health behavioral dimensions in Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish schoolchildren aged 11, 13, and 15. The data were collected by means of self-administered questionnaires, and the results are considered to be representative of each country. The total sample size approximated 3000 pupils in each country. The four dependent variables, fluoride, interdental cleaning, sugar, and brushing behavior, were all based upon sum-scores of several questions, and were subsequently regressed upon five predictors: school achievement, sex, time spent with friends, educational plans, and family meal pattern. This model provided a far better fit to the data on sugar and brushing behavior than to fluoride and interdental cleaning behavior. However, brushing seems to be different from sugar behavior, being influenced by different factors. While brushing is closely linked to the prevailing sex-role pattern, sugar behavior is stronger related to peer group norms. Thus, the symbolic function of sweet consumption of the youth culture should have implications for the design of intervention strategies. For example, the provision of alternative behaviors will only be successful if the behaviors serve the same function as sugar consumption.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1992

Heritable disorders of connective tissue and disability and chronic disease in childhood.

The heritable disorders of connective tissue encompass a broad range of diseases, many of which occur in childhood and present to the pediatric rheumatologist's attention. The underlying theme of these disorders is fragility of connective tissue components such as bone, cartilage, and blood vessels. Over the past few years, investigations of patients with the major forms of heritable disorders of connective tissue, osteogenesis imperfecta, Marfan syndrome, and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome have revealed genetic mutations of collagen genes as the cause of the diseases. Review of the newest genetic information in these three disorders is presented. The rheumatic disorders of childhood present a paradigm for the effects of chronic disease on children and families. New work, discussed in this review, continues to suggest changes in psychosocial adaptation in children with chronic rheumatic diseases and their families, but these data are conflicting. The development of arthritis impact measures may help workers in pediatric rheumatology care to have a broader and more in-depth understanding of the effect of this chronic disease on functioning, psychosocial development, and family and peer interactions.

Arthritis, Juvenile↗

PubMed1991

Changes in cognitive and language functioning of preschool children with autism.

Preschool children with autism and their normally developing peers were compared on the Stanford-Binet IV and Preschool Language Scale before and after 1 school year. Both measures showed that although the children with autism functioned at a lower level than their normally developing peers, the children with autism had narrowed this gap after treatment, making a nearly 19-point increase in IQ and an 8-point gain in language quotient. The IQ measure remained stable for the normally developing peers while their language showed a 7.73-point increase. The data support the notion that young children with autism can make very significant developmental gains.

Autistic Disorder↗

PubMed1992

Self-perceived social function among disabled children in regular classrooms.

Disabled children represent an important "at-risk" group for emotional and behavioral problems. This study determined how they assess their own social function in regular classrooms and compared them with their able-bodied peers. School principals identified 60 visibly disabled children who were integrated into regular classes for at least 50% of the time. A comparison group of 56 randomly selected, same-gender classmates was identified. Children completed the Perceived Competence Scale and a classroom sociometric scale. Parents and teachers were asked to rate each child's social function. Disabled children rated themselves lower on physical competence (mean = 2.53 vs 2.92, p = .002) but not on social or cognitive competence. However, disabled children had fewer friends and scored lower on the classroom sociometric measure than did their able-bodied classmates (mean = 2.06 vs 2.39, p = .01). There was no difference between disabled and control children when social function was assessed by parents or teachers. For all children two variables were significantly associated with the child's self-perceived social competence: the child's self-perceived physical competence (R2 = .27) and the peer sociometric rating (R2 = .13). Teacher perception (R2 = .35) and self-perception (R2 = .10) of social function were most strongly associated with the perception of peers. In both cases whether the child was disabled contributed little to the observed association. These findings support the importance of peers in the successful social function of children and suggest that teachers can have an impact on how children are perceived by other children.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed1989

Communicative performance of adolescents with severe speech impairment: influence of context.

The communicative performance of 4 preoperational-level adolescents, using limited speech, gestures, and communication board techniques, was examined in a two-part investigation. In Part 1, each subject participated in an academic interaction with a teacher in a therapy room. Data were transcribed and coded for communication mode, function, and role. Two subjects were found to predominantly use the speech mode, while the remaining 2 predominantly used board and one other mode. The majority of productions consisted of responses to requests, and the initiator role was infrequently occupied. These findings were similar to those reported in previous investigations conducted in classroom settings. In Part 2, another examination of the communicative performance of these subjects was conducted in spontaneous interactions involving speaking and nonspeaking peers in a therapy room. Using the same data analysis procedures, gesture and speech modes predominated for 3 of the subjects in the nonspeaking peer interactions. The remaining subject exhibited minimal interaction. No consistent pattern of mode usage was exhibited across the speaking peer interactions. In the nonspeaking peer interactions, request predominated. In contrast, a variety of communication functions was exhibited in the speaking peer interactions. Both the initiator and the maintainer roles were occupied in the majority of interactions. Pertinent variables and clinical implications are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1989

Social competence and behavioral adjustment of children who are long-term survivors of cancer.

Relatively little is known about the special needs of long-term survivors of childhood cancer or the factors that make this growing population vulnerable to chronic psychologic disorders. We therefore surveyed 183 children who had been treated for cancer at St Jude Children's Research Hospital and were free of the disease for greater than or equal to 2 years after completing therapy. Parental responses to the Child Behavior Checklist, a standardized inventory of social competence and behavioral problems, were analyzed in relation to demographic and medical variables, as well as the children's appearance and functional status. School-related problems and somatic complaints of undetermined origin were increased fourfold relative to age- and gender-adjusted rates for peer groups in the general population. The presence of functional but not cosmetic impairments increased the risk of academic and adjustment problems. An older age at evaluation, treatment with cranial irradiation, and residence in a single-parent household were also associated with an increased risk of psychologic problems. General pediatricians must eventually assume responsibility for the extended follow-up care of children who have survived a malignancy. Their awareness of the high-risk groups described in this report should facilitate more timely identification of problems and referral of the children to appropriate services.

Achievement↗

PubMed1977

Peer sex education training and evaluation.

Human sexuality has been recognized as an important developmental, emotional, and medical concern on the college campus. The Peer Sex Education Program at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst has been developed as a model for the use of trained students in an educational, referral, and counseling role. This paper describes the program and outlines the methodology used in the documentation and evaluation of various program aspects. Aspects described include the program's rationale and background, the recruiting process, roles and responsibilities, training and supervision models, community development, and delivery of service. Categories of documentation and evaluation considered include effort, performance, adequacy of performance, efficiency, and process. These are related to consumer acceptance and satisfaction, outcome measures of knowledge, attitude, and behavior, effectiveness of referral and other functions, and effect of program on the peer educators' growth and development. The allocation of energy and resources between program development, service delivery and evaluation needs is highlighted.

Humans↗

PubMed1992

The relationship between attitude to disabled siblings and ratings of behavioural competency.

The impact of maturation factors and functioning level on the relationship between disabled and non-disabled siblings was examined. Two groups of adults, distinguished by level of functioning of their mentally retarded sibling, completed a Schaefer Sibling Behavior Inventory (SBI) and participated in a semi-structured interview. The latter explored a number of dimensions of the relationship including degree of warmth, contact and involvement. Judgements about involvement and comfort as remembered from the past and judgements about the present were obtained to derive hypotheses about possible changes with time. Data from the SBI indicated that significantly more competent siblings tended to be involved in relationships with a higher degree of reciprocity. In contrast, measures of attitude derived from interview data did not appear to relate to the functioning level of the sibling in any systematic manner. The results suggest that level of discomfort with peers may decrease significantly over the years with neither level of functioning nor gender being important variables. The extent to which non-disabled individuals expressed a preparedness to participate in the life of their disabled sibling may relate to the life-stage of the two. Males in particular anticipated increased future involvement. Although higher-functioning siblings were described as more active in the relationship, this did not appear to influence perceived positiveness of regard. The implications of these results are discussed briefly.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed1975

Relation between quality assessment and utilization review in a functioning PSRO.

The Utah State Medical Association, through its peer-review foundation, the Utah Professional Review Organization, has implemented an integrated system of utilization reveiw and quality assessment linked to a program of continuing education. Nurse co-ordinators, employed by the Organization, screen all hospitalized patients covered by Titles XVIII, XIX and V as well as by subscribing private insurers. Approximately 10 per cent of hospitalized patients do not meet peer-generated criteria for admission review or length of stay and are screened out for peer review, The nurse co-ordinators collect data for retrospective quality assessment, identifying targets for continuing medical education. Preliminary data support the cost effectiveness of such a review program. Continuing qualtiy audit will test the effectiveness of education programs.

Education, Medical, Continuing↗

PubMed1992

Breast and cervical cancer screening in minority populations: a model for using lay health educators.

Although mammography and the Pap smear have significantly reduced US deaths related to breast and cervical cancers, screening prevalence and survival rates for both diseases are disproportionately lower among minority women. This model program outlines techniques for recruiting and training minority women to serve as lay health educators who can effectively deliver preventive health care information to their peers. Lay health educators have three primary functions: to serve as mediators between minority women and health agencies, to establish a social network, and to offer social support. When properly recruited and trained, these educators can bridge the gap between health professionals and the community as well as help health professionals to better understand community and individual concerns about cancer. The goal is to increase the detection, prevention, and treatment of breast and cervical cancers in minority communities and thus decrease related deaths. An ongoing intervention by the Arizona Disease Prevention Center, targeting Yaqui Indian and Mexican-American women aged 35 and older, illustrates specific elements of the model.

Arizona↗

PubMed1985

Parent interview findings regarding the impact of cystic fibrosis on families.

An assessment of the impact of cystic fibrosis (CF) was conducted with 43 families. Semistructured parental interviews on family functioning, parent-child interactions, sibling and peer relationships, and medical issues were coded by two independent raters to identify "major," "minor", or "no" problems. Of the 62 questions presented, only 8 were viewed by more than 10% of parents as "major problems." The impact of hospitalization upon parents was the most prevalent "major problem." Parental communication was a "major problem" for 28% of the mothers but for only one father. Ten to 15% of the parents described "major problems" related to: their marital relationship, accepting the illness, feeling they should do more for their child with CF, feeling their other children had been deprived or complained about inattention, or their relationship with the ill child's grandparents. While most families were generally coping successfully, health care professionals should be alert to specific areas of potential problems.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1992

Functional status as an overall measure of health in adults with cystic fibrosis: further validation of a generic health measure.

We studied the validity of a generic health measure in a population with a chronic, life-shortening illness. Thirty-seven adults with cystic fibrosis (CF) and 46 of their healthy peers completed a questionnaire which included 12 questions on functional status from the RAND Health Insurance Study. For the CF group, the questionnaire and a medical chart review yielded data on 7 additional health variables, including pulmonary function. After data collection, members of the CF group were followed for 5 years, by which time 11 had died. The functional status of the CF group was significantly lower than that of the comparison group. Within the CF group, functional status correlated significantly with 6 of the 7 other health variables. Analysis using the Cox proportional hazards model showed that functional status alone was a significant (p less than 0.001) predictor of a CF subject's survival time; in a multivariate model a non-significant trend suggested that lowered functional status may be associated with an increased risk of early death even after adjustment for pulmonary function and percent ideal body weight. These results extend previous findings and suggest that functional status can be used as an overall measure of health in a wide variety of studies.

Activities of Daily Living↗