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Biomedical subjects

B Gurland

Publications and source records attributed to B Gurland.

47 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1976

Aims, organization, and initial studies of the Cross-National Project.

The US-UK Cross-National Project is conducting a series of trans-Atlanti comparisons of psychiatric practice and psychiatric disorders. The inital studies investigated the large US-UK cross-national differences reported in the public mental hospital statistics on adult admission rates of schizophrenia and the manic-depressive disorders. Three general strategies were adopted: (1) semi-structured interviews with hospitalized patients aged 20-59 years; (2) rating of videotapes by samples of psychiatrists; and (3) systematic examination of case records. The results showed that routine hospital diagnoses were based on differing criteria in the two countries and it was this that accounted for the reported cross-national differences in admission rates. A method of making internationally reliable diagnoses was demonstrated.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

The performance test of activities of daily living.

A structured-performance test requiring patients to demonstrate selected activities of daily living was designed to objectively measure the self-care capacity of geriatric psychiatric patients. The background, rational, usefulness, and specific administration and scoring procedures are presented. The test is simple to administer and promises to be a useful diagnostic and prognostic tool.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1976

Assessment of the older psychiatric inpatient.

Instruments, whether used in psychometrics or in other fields, must have a practical application if they are to repay the care spent in their use and development. The Geriatric Mental State schedule was developed in response to the need to answer the question whether functional psychiatric disorders were being misdiagnosed as organic brain syndrome and, if so, to what extent this influenced treatment and outcome. In the hospitals studied it was found that American psychiatrists were more likely to diagnose organic brain syndrome than British psychiatrists. Although elderly patients with affective disorder were less likely to be given American patients was as good, if not better, than the outcome in the British patients.

Affective Symptoms↗
PubMed1975

Cross-national study of diagnosis of the mental disorders: a comparative psychometric assessment of elderly patients admitted to mental hospitals serving Queens County, New York, and the former borough of Camberwell, London.

In a cross-national comparison of the frequency of occurrence of various diagnoses among elderly psychiatric patients admitted to public mental hospitals in London and New York, a short battery of psychological tests was administered to all patients independently of psychiatric examination. The psychological assessment was focused on the differentiation between dementing and affective disorders. The test performance showed a highly significant difference between the two groups as diagnosed, and when patients were allocated to groups on the basis of tests alone these allocations showed a high rate of agreement with initial psychiatric diagnosis. There was a similar high rate of agreement between test allocation and hospital diagnosis in the U.K., but this was not so in the U.S. No significant differences were found between the test performance of U.K. and U.S. patients, except on the WAIS Vocabulary and the Angles Error measurement of the Bender-Gestalt test. When the effects of age and Vocabulary score were eliminated these differences disappeared. The hypothesis that the diagnosis of affective disorder would be confirmed by a relatively greater improvement in test performance over time in this group of patients was not upheld by the non-parametric analysis of change scores. However, an analysis of covariance utilizing age and initial score did indicate the expected differential improvement.

Affective Symptoms↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The Comprehensive assessment and Referral Evaluation (CARE)--rationale, development and reliability.

The Comprehensive Assessment and Referral Evaluation (CARE) is a new assessment technique which is intended to reliably elicit, record, grade and classify information on the health and social problems of the older person. The CARE is basically a semi-structured interview guide and an inventory of defined ratings. It is designated comprehensive because it covers psychiatric, medical, nutritional, economic and social problems rather than the interests of only one professional discipline. The style, scope and scoring of the CARE makes it suitable for use with both patients and non-patients, and a potentially useful aid in determining whether an elderly person should be referred, and to whom, for a health or social service. The CARE can also be employed in evaluating the effectiveness of that service if given.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Assessment of the older person in the community.

The Cross-National Geriatric Community study is being conducted by the United States-United Kingdom Cross-National Project. Semi-structured interviews have been completed with over 850 community residents over the age of sixty-five years randomly selected from the metropolitan regions of New York and London. The assessment techniques described in this section may be of interest not only to other research workers conducting geriatric community surveys but also to health professionals concerned with the clinical examination of the older ambulatory patient and the early detection and appropriate referral of the need for health and social services.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Home health care and quality of life of patients with Alzheimer's disease.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the quality of life (QOL) of people with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The formal home care sector plays an increasingly large role in care for this population, but home care agencies do not routinely collect QOL information or use this information in care planning. METHODS: A series of roundtable discussions with representatives of the home care industry were held to document current practices by home care providers regarding the elicitation, recording, and use of QOL information; to derive indicators of QOL in AD patients; and to develop standardized procedures for using QOL information. Results from this investigation were incorporated into an epidemiological investigation of community-dwelling AD patients, comparing formal sector home attendants to family caregivers regarding efforts to enhance patient QOL. RESULTS: Twenty representatives of the home care industry met over three sessions to discuss these issues. Patient QOL indicators were derived, showing divergence of patient and caregiver perspectives. A survey of 240 AD patients compared family and formal home attendant caregivers and showed that home attendants underutilize opportunities to enhance patient QOL, as referenced by patient participation in activities that require supervision. CONCLUSIONS: Collaboration with home care agencies allowed a better understanding of quality of life for this vulnerable patient population. More research will be required to refine QOL outcomes and develop quality assurance tools for dementia care. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH): Alzheimer's disease, quality of life, home care, paraprofessional care.

Aged↗