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Biomedical subjects

D Fitz

Publications and source records attributed to D Fitz.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

A validity study of the St. Louis Inventory of Community Living Skills.

Clinicians who work with the long term mentally ill often need an instrument which measures the level of community living skills. Independent raters scored 60 clients of the St. Louis Community Placement Program on the St. Louis Inventory of Community Living Skills (SLICLS), a 15-item instrument that requires little training and only a few minutes to complete. There was good inter-rater reliability and internal consistency. Construct validity was demonstrated for clients in three types of residences. Concurrent validity was demonstrated in relation to the longer Missouri Level of Care Instrument.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1992

Discontinuation of a psychogeriatric program for nursing home residents: psychotropic medication changes and behavioral reactions.

Changes in medications and behavior were recorded for residents of three nursing homes where a psychogeriatric rehabilitative program was either absent, maintained, or discontinued. Residents without the program received the greatest number of psychotropics. Discontinuation of the program was associated with two problems: (a) fewer reductions in medications and (b) more behavioral difficulties among clients with medication increases. The nursing home with continuous services was the only one where all types of medication changes were followed by an overall decrease in behavior problems or no problems at all.

Aged↗
PubMed1988

Gangrenous cellulitis associated with gram-negative bacilli in pancytopenic patients: dilemma with respect to effective therapy.

INTRODUCTION: Gangrenous (necrotizing) cellulitis is a progressive bacterial infection of skin and soft tissue; the infection can spread into subcutaneous tissue with involvement of superficial and deep fascia (necrotizing fasciitis). We describe two pancytopenic patients with polymicrobial gram-negative bacteremia and fulminating gangrenous cellulitis. CASE REPORTS: Pseudomonas aeruginosa was isolated from a localized hemorrhagic area of the face in one patient. The chronology of infection in these two patients is documented in a series of dramatic color photographs. Despite appropriate antibiotic therapy, the infections progressed relentlessly and both patients died. COMMENTS: We discuss the dilemma of establishing the correct diagnosis prior to the appearance of the characteristic cutaneous manifestations of hemorrhagic necrosis and gangrene. Once the diagnosis is established, surgical excision is universally recommended. Unfortunately, bleeding diatheses in pancytopenic patients with co-existing coagulation deficiencies pose logistic obstacles in urgent, real-life situations. The timing and conditions for surgery need to be elucidated in these patients. An approach to this infection is proposed. The utility of frozen-section biopsy of the involved tissue and computed tomographic scans of the involved area remains to be evaluated.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Hostility reduction in married and unacquainted couples.

Fifty-two persons (26 married couples) competed in a complex reaction time task and set durations of 100 db noise for either their respective spouses or an opposite sex stranger. Each S's punitive settings were countered by four presequenced counteraggression strategies. Wives were responsive to a broader range of aggression reduction strategies than were husbands. Results suggest that minimum retaliation is most consistently effective across sex and may be a behavior skill necessary to avoid escalation of aggression and to keep communication channels open.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Effects of external incentive and aggressive predisposition on aggression reduction.

Female undergraduates (N = 40) received four counteraggression strategies (0%, 10%, 50%, and 150% retaliation) in response to their aggression in a complex reaction time task. They either were or were not offered a monetary incentive to beat their opponent and were divided into those low and high in their initial predisposition to aggression. Four major findings resulted: 1) escalation of aggression to 150% retaliation supported reciprocity over contingent punishment theory. 2) Ss low in aggression were unaffected by strategies, rather than being most responsive to pacifism, as predicted. 3) Ss high in aggression reduced their aggression most to the intermediate 10% and 50% retaliation strategies. 4) An external (monetary) incentive for beating the opponent did not parallel the aggressiveness personality factor as expected. The external incentive reduced the difference between low and high aggression participants and resulted in a linear relationship between retaliation strategy and aggression reduction. This is the first study showing minimum (10%) retaliation to be more effective than pacifism (0% retaliation), but the effect occurred only among the 25% most aggressive Ss when there was no monetary incentive.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Perception of a non-ill participant in a mental health discussion.

Describing a mental patient's claim to sanity as symptomatic may increase the probability that others will assimilate non-ill behavior into a pathological framework. In two experiments subjects saw a simulated session of group therapy on videotape. Each videotape contained a therapist, four persons role-playing specific disorders, and one person acting normally. After receiving different instructions, all subjects were asked to categorize the five patients. In Exp. 1 no consistent conclusions were possible because only 2 of 59 subjects said the normal person was not ill. Exp. 2 avoided this "floor effect" by the videotape therapist's agreeing with the normal person's claim of not being ill. The subjects precautioned against believing claims of sanity were most likely to categorize the person exhibiting non-ill behavior. A second group of subjects were not precautioned against believing sanity claims. A third group of subjects, informed of one patient's non-illness, were most likely to differentiate the normal person from those portraying pathological behavior.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1977

Effectiveness of counteraggression strategies in reducing interactive aggression by males.

Studies on techniques of reducing aggression have typically examined passive, matching, and punitive strategies of counteraggression and have been remarkably inconsistent in their findings. This research was designed to resolve the contradictory results by reconceptuallzing the strategies in terms of counteraggression/aggression (cA/A) ratios. We predicted that the norm of reciprocity and the tendency to exploit weakness would make a cA/A ratio of less than but close to 1.0 (matching) most effective in reducing aggression. Ten cA/A ratios were used. One hundred male subjects set punishment level set by their opponent (a confederate) on 25 trials, and, on 13 losing trials, received punishment. The most effective cA/A ratios for reducing aggression were the lowest ones. Lower cA/A ratios reduced aggression and ratios greater than 1.0 increased aggresion. Contrary to the results of previous studies, the matching strategy was ineffective in reducing aggresion.

Aggression↗
PubMed1976

A renewed look at Miller's conflict theory of aggression displacement.

The present study is the first to examine Miller's theoretical assumptions of displaced aggression using human subjects. Subjects in the present study either served as nonangered controls, were angered by the experimenter's confederate, or were both angered by and led to fear the confederate. All subjects were then able to three targets: the confederate, a person described as a friend of the confederate, and a person having no association with the confederate. Targets received the most intense aggression from angered subjects. The difference between the aggression gradients for high-anger-low-fear and control subject. Frightened subjects gave their most intense aggression to the displaced targets. Results also support the suggestion that direct aggression is most likely if the aggressor can first extinguish some of his fear by attacking more indirect targets.

Aggression↗