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Biomedical subjects

D A Alexander

Publications and source records attributed to D A Alexander.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1990

Do relatives of terminally ill patients also benefit from hospice care?

An analysis was carried out on the extent to which staff responded to the relatives of cancer patients who had been admitted to the Consie Walters Hospice Care Centre, and the Pain Centre, both located in Kingston, Jamaica. Although no relationship was found between frequency of intervention and relatives' (caregivers') health, grief reactions were found to be related to a need for staff interaction. The more caregivers reported that they needed staff emotional support and practical assistance, the more intensely they reported grief, and the greater were their reports of anxiety and insomnia. Age was found to influence the relationship between adjustment and receiving intervention.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1990

Psychological intervention for victims and helpers after disasters.

Disasters can have long term and damaging effects on survivors. In addition, those who are involved in disaster work, such as rescue and medical personnel, may become hidden victims. Different kinds of psychological assistance can be provided but this must be systematic and well organized. Professional help should supplement and facilitate community, personal and social resources rather than supplant them. This paper provides guidelines for providing such help.

Counseling↗
PubMed1989

Which neurotic patients are treated with psychotherapy?

Of 336 newly referred cases of neurosis 170 (51%) were offered psychotherapy. The factors associated with being offered this treatment were: a diagnosis of anxiety neurosis or phobic neurosis, not having had a history of deliberate self harm, living not more than 20 miles from the hospital, being less than 51 years of age, and being either married or single. Sex, duration of disorder, socio-economic status, employment status, a history of alcohol abuse and a family history of mental disorder had no significant bearing on whether or not patients were offered psychotherapy.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Which neurotic patients do psychiatrists treat?

Of 336 newly referred neurotic patients, 80 were not offered continuing psychiatric treatment. The factors associated with patients' not being offered continuing treatment were: short duration of illness; history of alcohol abuse and/or deliberate self-harm; age over 50 years; being widowed; and living more than 20 miles from the main hospital complex. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Attitudes of men and women medical students to psychiatry.

The attitudes of men and women medical students to psychiatry were compared using an attitude scale, before they began their psychiatry training. Major differences between the sexes were obtained, with the women students consistently displaying more positive attitudes to many aspects of psychiatry. The implications in terms of teaching and recruitment are considered.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1986

A survey of paramenstrual complaints by covert and by overt methods.

A covert method of assessing perception of health in relation to menstruation was applied prospectively to a group of women aged 20 to 40 years. Of the 1386 randomly selected women contacted, 838 (60%) provided information for the full study period of six weeks and 608 of these respondents menstruated during that time. A clear excess of women demonstrated premenstrual deterioration in perceived health. This rose to a peak at the onset of menstruation and subsided rapidly during menstruation, thus reflecting the conventionally defined pattern of the premenstrual syndrome.When, on completion of prospective recording, the same women were asked to return an overt and retrospective assessment of paramenstrual symptoms, the overall pattern of results was similar but, for individual women, there was little correspondence between similar data obtained by the two different methods.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Attitudes of general practitioners towards premenstrual symptoms and those who suffer from them.

General practitioners' views about premenstrual symptoms and about the women who suffer from them were sought by means of a postal questionnaire. An hormonal aetiology was favoured by the majority of the doctors and significantly more female than male doctors held this view. There was a diversity of opinion about the most appropriate management; the most favoured treatments were with progesterone analogues, pyridoxine and diuretics. Approximately half of the practitioners thought that women who suffer from premenstrual symptoms are no different from women in general. Those practitioners who felt that differences do exist claimed that sufferers from such symptoms are more likely than women in general to be more hypochondriacal, introverted and intelligent, as well as being more likely to be married, to have small families and to be from a higher social class. In general, the views of the doctors were not related to their years of experience, their practice base (that is, rural or urban) or their sex.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1981

Medical education: the observations of pre-clinical and clinical teachers.

A questionnaire was distributed to staff who teach medical students at some stage in their 5-year course. Their views were sought on various aspects of medical education, including staff-student relationships and student problems. Differences between clinical and pre-clinical teachers were identified and their implications discussed. The views of the clinical teachers, when different from those of their pre-clinical colleagues, were frequently consistent with those of medical students.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1981

A medical curriculum: evaluation by final-year students.

Seventy-five students, at the end of their final year, responded to a postal questionnaire designed to assess their views on their medical curriculum. The responses of those intending to enter general practice were compared with those of intending hospital doctors and comparison were also made between respondents who had enrolled for a 6-year course and those who had enrolled for the newer 5-year course.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1981

The medical secretary: her views and attitudes.

Secretaries and doctors share one primary objective-patient care. Common aims are usually achieved most effectively by working together. This demands a willingness to respect the views and feelings of one another. This paper argues that it is important to determine the opinions and attitudes of the medical secretary if the whole practice or team is to function efficiently.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1980

Medical education: the discontinuers' view point.

A postal questionnaire was distributed to all students who had discontinued, for any reason, their studies at Aberdeen Medical School. Opinions were sought about their experiences while there, as well as their reactions to the discontinuation therefrom. Claiming that learning to cope with stress was an essential aspect of their professional development, these students were dissatisfied with the extent to which the staff responded to students in need and took their problems not to professional welfare agencies but mainly to family and friends. Almost unanimously they supported the notion of a Student Counselling Service. Problems of adaptation and content of studies were the two items regarded as having made the greatest contribution to their discontinuation. For some of these students and their families, discontinuation had been a distressing experience, but all but one student agreed that they had gained something from their period at medical school, however brief. The medical school can learn much from those who pass out prematurely and not only from those successful on the final day.

Counseling↗
PubMed1980

Medical education: assessment of a regent scheme.

As part of a project concerned to identify the emotional and psychological problems experienced by medical students in the Medical School of Aberdeen University and to evaluate the services organized to respond to these, the present study is an assessment of one of these services, the regent scheme. The results of a questionnaire issued to current regents and to students in the second and third years of their course, show discrepancies in the views of the members of the two groups about selection of regents, the matching of regents and regentees, guidance offered about the use of the scheme, assessibility of regents and payment to regents. Comments from both groups indicate dissatisfaction with the scheme and also the wish to see it continue. This study explores some of the reasons for these opinions and for the use of the scheme by only a minority of students; and shows the need for a revision of the scheme.

Counseling↗
PubMed1979

Medical education: a student perspective.

Discussions with a sample of final year students generated a questionnaire designed to elicit a phenomenological account of their experiences at medical school. Sources of dissatisfaction and stress were identified and the students also offered recommendations for improving the system.

Attitude↗