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Biomedical subjects

D Andres

Publications and source records attributed to D Andres.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Structural equation model of intellectual change and continuity and predictors of intelligence in older men.

This study examined the effects of abilities as a young adult, an engaged lifestyle, personality, age, and health on continuity and change in intellectual abilities from early to late adulthood. A battery of measures, including a verbal and nonverbal intelligence test, was given to 326 Canadian army veterans. Archival data provided World War Two enlistment scores on the same intelligence test for this sample: Results indicated relative stability of intellectual scores across 40 years, with increases in vocabulary and decreases in arithmetic, verbal analogies, and nonverbal skills. Young adult intelligence was the most important determinant of older adult performance. Predictors for verbal intelligence were consistent with an engagement model of intellectual maintenance but also indicated the importance of introversion-extraversion and age. Nonverbal intelligence in late life was predicted by young adult nonverbal scores, age, health, and introversion-extraversion.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

When home caregiving ends: a longitudinal study of outcomes for caregivers of relatives with dementia.

OBJECTIVES: To study caregivers' decisions to end home care for relatives with dementia; to study the changes in caregiver functioning over time. DESIGN: A prospective longitudinal follow-up study. SETTING: Individual homes and chronic care facilities in Montreal. PARTICIPANTS: 157 caregiver-dependent dyads, followed up 2 years later; dependents had been diagnosed as having progressive dementia. MEASUREMENTS: A standard interview and a series of standardized psychological questionnaires were given to caregivers, assessing their functioning and their appraisals of the dependent person in their care. Dependents received the Mini-Mental State Examination. MAIN RESULTS: Caregivers cited patient deterioration as the most common reason for ending home care. Most caregivers did not prepare their relative before institutionalization. Most caregivers were satisfied with having ended home care and believed the decision was positive for themselves and their dependent, but a sizable minority of caregivers and dependents had difficulty adjusting to the end of home care. Repeated measures multivariate analyses indicated that caregivers who had discontinued home care because of placement or death of the dependent had improved functioning and quality of life and better health than caregivers still providing home care. CONCLUSIONS: Caregivers most frequently cite deteriorating patient conditions as the main causes of ending home care. Caregiver exhaustion is the single most frequently given reason. Caregivers who were still providing home care at the end of the study were functioning less well than caregivers who had ended home care, despite having initially functioned at better levels.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

Caregiving and dementia: predicting negative and positive outcomes for caregivers.

A sample of 118 caregivers, maintaining relatives with dementia at home, were interviewed and completed questionnaires at initial and follow-up assessment six months later. All dependents received a cognitive assessment. The results of LISREL analysis of the data supported a model of caregiving in which negative outcomes of burden and impaired health reduced positive outcomes of enjoyment of aspects of caregiving. Caregivers with larger social support networks were more satisfied with their support, reducing feelings of impaired health, although as caregiving became more difficult, satisfaction with support decreased. The retrospective perception of the premorbid relationship as more difficult lead to the appraisal of the patient's symptoms as presently being more extensive and increased burden. Women caregivers reported both greater feelings of burden and more aspects of caregiving as enjoyable.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1994

Personality traits as determinants of burden and health complaints in caregiving.

This study tested predictions specifying the influence of caregiver personality traits on negative outcomes of caregiving, health complaints and burden. Two-hundred and thirteen caregivers, who were caring for family members with dementia, were interviewed and their relatives were assessed on cognitive status and aggression. At follow-up conducted twenty-four months later, forty-five caregivers were still continuing to provide home care for their dependents. Caregivers who scored higher on a measure of neuroticism experienced higher levels of burden and health complaints both at initial and follow-up assessment. Caregiver extraversion-introversion did not influence the experience of caregiving. At both initial and final assessment, the ability to enjoy some aspects of caregiving, recreational activities, and satisfaction with social support from family and friends mitigated negative outcomes of caregiving, while appraising the dependent as more troublesome increased negative outcomes. Caring for more cognitively impaired and more aggressive dependents and being female increased negative outcomes initially. Personality traits and most other study variables demonstrated significant continuity across time for caregivers continuing home care.

Aged↗
PubMed1994

Educational contracts in family medicine residency training.

An educational contract for family medicine residency training and evaluation addresses many of the difficulties and challenges of current postgraduate medical education. This article identifies important principles for developing a contractual approach; describes the contract used in one program and its implementation; and discusses its theory, advantages, and limitations.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed1992

The role of psychosocial context, age, and intelligence in memory performance of older men.

The hypothesis that psychosocial contextual factors contribute to developmental changes in memory was examined using 326 male World War II veterans. Availability of young adult intelligence scores made it possible to separate the contributions of contextual variables and age to maintenance of general intelligence from their direct contributions to performance on 4 memory tasks. Being younger, healthier, more educated, more introverted, more intellectually active, and more satisfied with social support predicted less intellectual decline and, indirectly, better memory performance. Age, personality, locus of control, and extent of social support directly contributed to performance on 1 or more memory tasks. Age contributions were consistent with Craik's (1986) proposed continuum of task demands for self-initiated effort. Possible elaborations of Craik's hypothesis to accommodate contextual variables are suggested.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

A longitudinal study of competence in elderly veterans: the role of alcohol and education.

Follow-up examinations were made of 326 World War II veterans who had served in the Canadian army and for whom enlistment data were available for 1942-45. The veterans were classified into three groups on the basis of their alcohol-related behavior and educational attainments following military service. Eighteen men who had identified themselves as alcoholics were compared to 159 nonalcoholic men who had obtained post-service education and 149 nonalcoholic men who had not obtained post-service education. At time of enlistment the 159 nonalcoholic men who subsequently obtained additional education after their army service had not differed on socioeconomic background but had had significantly more years of education and had scored significantly higher on five of the eight subtests of the Army M test of intelligence than had the other two groups. Examination of current performance revealed that alcoholic and nonalcoholic men with no post-service education continued to function significantly more poorly on the same M Test subtests, and in addition functioned more poorly on socioeconomic criteria, daily functioning, adjustment and personality measures than did the group of veterans with post-service education. Compared to the nonalcoholic veterans who had not gained post-service additional education, the alcoholic group functioned more poorly on measures of health, coping with stress and adjustment. The results are discussed, emphasizing the influence of alcohol and education on psychological functioning in later life.

Achievement↗
PubMed1990

Predictors and consequences of aggressive behavior by community-based dementia patients.

The frequency, nature, context, and caregivers' reactions to aggressive behavior in 213 dementia patients residing in the community was studied. Aggression was reported in 57.2% of the patients and in 10.6% of the caregivers. Predictors of patient aggression were greater frequency of behavior and memory problems, premorbid aggression, and a more troubled premorbid social relationship between patient and caregiver. Patient aggression predicted the decision to discontinue home care.

Aged↗
PubMed1988

Measurement and correlates of verbosity in elderly people.

Two studies were conducted to develop measures of verbosity in elderly people and to determine the social and psychological correlates of verbose speech. In the first study, 346 elderly people were classified into three categories of verbosity on the basis of their verbal behavior during an interview and questionnaire session. Personality variables, stress in daily living, and age differentiated extremely verbose individuals from others. In the second study, frequency and extent of off-target speech were rated quantitatively for the verbal behavior of 203 older men, with a second rater independently making the same ratings for 98 of the men. Classification into the three categories of verbosity was made for 179 of the men. Interrater reliability was established at .76 and .70 for the two measures of verbosity. There was significant agreement between the qualitative classification and the quantitative rating assessments of verbosity. In addition to the previously found associations between verbosity and personality and social variables, higher nonverbal intellectual performance scores obtained in the early adult years combined with poorer current nonverbal scores predicted verbosity in late life.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1987

Self-perception of personality at midlife in elderly people: continuity and change.

This study examined the extent of self-perceived continuity and change in personality in older people. Two visits were made to 362 elderly female and male volunteers, randomly assigned to either an experimental or control condition. In the first visit, the subjects completed a life interview and psychological battery including the Eysenck Personality Inventory. In the second visit, the experimental subjects had their life circumstances at age 40 reviewed and were asked to complete the personality inventory again, this time answering as if they were aged 40. Control subjects completed the personality inventory twice under standard directions. The dominant pattern for individuals in both conditions was one of personality continuity, however, subjects in the experimental group had significant differences between scores in the two test administrations, while the scores of control group subjects did not change significantly. Current personality scores were the major predictors of perceived personality at midlife, although ratings of financial adequacy and subjective age were also significant but minor predictors in the experimental condition.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Cognitive functioning of older people in relation to social and personality variables.

Age differences in performance on memory measures and in subjective ratings of memory adequacy were examined in the context of 12 social, personality, adjustment, and lifestyle measures. Participants were 285 men and women, aged 65 to 93, of middle- and working-class backgrounds. A series of multivariate and univariate analyses revealed that a large proportion of the age differences and virtually all of the social-class differences on memory measures could be accounted for by contextual variables, with education, intellectual activity, extroversion, neuroticism, and lie scores (on the Eysenck Personality Inventory) all accounting for more of the variance in memory performance than did age. Self-rated memory adequacy was not correlated with performance, and although the expected finding of lower ratings by older participants was obtained with the working-class group, the opposite was true for the middle-class group. Implications of these results for understanding age differences in memory are discussed.

Aged↗
PubMed1985

Effect of somatostatin on small intestine enzyme activities in rat and chick.

The influence of somatostatin injection on intestinal disaccharidase and alkaline phosphatase activity in rat and chick was investigated. Disaccharidase and alkaline phosphatase activities of rat and chick homogenates were not modified. In rat the activities of mucosal brush-border maltase and sucrase were significantly increased. In chick brush-border a significant increase of duodenal mucosal activity and duodenal and jejunal sucrase activity is observed.

Alkaline Phosphatase↗
PubMed1985

Personality test reliability: correlates for older subjects.

This study reports the findings of an investigation of psychological and social factors related to test-retest stability and change in scores on the Eysenck Personality Inventory given to 167 older men and women. Higher reliability coefficients on the Eysenck were associated with better scores on a measure of well being and higher levels of education.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Repeat abortion: is it a problem?

As the number of Canadian women who have had induced abortions increases with each succeeding year, the number at risk--and the actual incidence--of repeat abortion also increases. Some researchers have argued that women who have more than one induced abortion are less well adjusted, others that they are less willing to use contraceptives, perhaps because of anxiety about sexuality. Still others have suggested that repeat abortion is unrelated to the psychology or attitudes of individual women, but rather is an inevitable result of imperfect contraceptives, imperfect contraceptive practice and the availability of legal abortion for the termination of unwanted pregnancies. A group of 580 women seeking abortions were interviewed at the Montreal General Hospital and given a number of psychological tests. About one in five of these women were having repeat abortions. The women having repeat abortions were older, less likely to be married and more tolerant of legal abortion than were women having their first abortions. They also had intercourse more frequently than the first-abortion patients. Women obtaining a repeat abortion were slightly more likely to have been using contraceptives at the time they became pregnant, but they did not differ from first-abortion patients in the types of methods that they used. On no other social or demographic characteristics, measures of psychological adjustment or attitudes about sexuality were there any important differences between the groups. A more complex statistical analysis reveals that the two most important factors differentiating first-abortion and repeat-abortion patients are age and coital frequency--both of which are variables that reflect added exposure to the risk of unintended pregnancy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Abortion, Induced↗