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Biomedical subjects

J R Clayer

Publications and source records attributed to J R Clayer.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

Psychiatric morbidity following a natural disaster: an Australian bushfire.

This study investigated the prevalence of mental health problems after a major bushfire in Australia and examined the validity of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) (Goldberg 1978) against the Anxiety, Affective and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder modules of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS; Robins et al. 1981). Study 1 was carried out 12 months after the Ash Wednesday bushfires and sought to include all the victims of the fires. Study 2 was conducted 20 months after the fires and included a sample of victims who had experienced major losses in the fires. Twelve months after the fires, 42% (n = 1,526) of the victims were defined as a potential psychiatric case using the GHQ. This rate indicated a significantly greater level of morbidity than found in communities that have not experienced a natural disaster. Twenty months after the fires, 23% (n = 43) were defined as "cases". The 28-item GHQ was found to be a valid instrument for defining the presence of psychiatric disorder in a disaster-effected community. The findings demonstrated that lasting psychiatric morbidity is associated with natural disasters.

Australia↗
PubMed1995

Prevalence of psychiatric disorders in rural South Australia.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of psychiatric disorders and use of medical services in a South Australian rural community. DESIGN: Survey based on structured self-administered questionnaires. SETTING: Riverland region of South Australia, between May and November, 1991. SUBJECTS: A probability sample of 1009 residents (71.1%) response stratified for age and sex (with replacement) aged 18 years and over from the State electoral roll. OUTCOME MEASURES: DSM-III-R-defined psychiatric disorders diagnosed by means of the University of Washington's Diagnostic Interview Schedule Screening Instrument (DISSI), physical disorders and use of health and allied services. RESULTS: Twenty-six percent had at least one psychiatric disorder in the six months before interview. Prevalence did not differ with sex or age, but was higher in the unemployed (P=0.0001). Those with a current psychiatric disorder were significantly more likely to report a lifetime physical disorder (p=0.0001). The most common disorders were major depression and dysthymia (10.8%), anxiety disorder (9.8%), phobic disorder (7.8%), alcohol abuse and dependence (7.0% and somatisation syndrome (5.3 During the year before interview, 88.5% of those diagnosed with a current psychiatric disorder had consulted a general practitioner and 4.2% a psychiatrist or psychologist. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of psychiatric disorders in the Riverland region was comparatively high. General practitioners were the primary care-providers for those with psychiatric disorders. These issues need to be addressed by service providers and health planners.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Epidemiology by computer.

Collecting epidemiological data from a large community sample has, in the past, been a costly and time-consuming exercise. This paper outlines a methodology for undertaking such research by using a set of standard psychiatric questionnaires, including a computerised version of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule Screening Interview on a portable laptop computer. The study of 1009 country South Australian subjects found that this technique provided prevalence estimates similar to those obtained from the more established Diagnostic Interview Schedule, with the added benefit that all interviews were successfully carried out by lay interviewers under minimal supervision, in the subject's home.

Computers↗
PubMed1991

Suicide by aboriginal people in South Australia: comparison with suicide deaths in the total urban and rural populations.

OBJECTIVE: To ascertain the number of recorded deaths by suicide of Aboriginal people and non-Aboriginals in South Australian urban and rural areas over the period 1981-1988. METHOD: The South Australian Coroner's records were examined by one of the authors and an Aboriginal research officer in consultation with members of the South Australian Aboriginal community (who identified Aboriginal suicides wrongly recorded as non-Aboriginal suicides). RESULTS: There was a major increase in suicide by Aboriginal people, both urban and rural, over that period, not marked by a similar increase for non-Aboriginal South Australians. CONCLUSIONS: A comparison can be drawn with reports of suicide by American Indians. It is possible that Aboriginal deaths by suicide can be ascribed to "anomie" (a concept first developed by Durkheim of social disintegration affecting tribal peoples under colonisation). The paper highlights the need for the development of successful intervention programmes in Aboriginal health.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

The evaluation of illness behaviour and exaggeration of disability.

The evaluation of illness behaviour can be complicated by subjective influences in either the patient or the clinician; these often arise in the evaluation of persons seeking compensation for injuries in which the symptoms are apparently exaggerated. The present study attempts to assess the usefulness of the CE Scale in determining the degree of conscious exaggeration by compensation claimants. Comparisons were made between psychiatrists' clinical evaluations of claimants and the scores obtained on this scale. The relationship between these two measures was found to be significant at the 1% level and specificity and sensitivity for less than 25% exaggeration on psychiatrists rating with a CE Scale cut-off of 11.69% and 100% respectively: for less than 34% exaggeration, they were 88% and 83%.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Some health consequences of a natural disaster.

A survey of the health and psychosocial problems of all victims of the 1983 South Australian Ash Wednesday Bushfires was carried out 12 months after the disaster. A total of 1526 victims completed an extensive questionnaire that included the 28-item General Health Questionnaire and a self-reporting check-list of specific health problems. The data received indicated a significant increase in stress-related conditions, including hypertension, gastrointestinal disorders, diabetes, and mental illness, while the prevalence of nonstress-related conditions such as cancer or urological disease were not increased significantly. Health problems increased during the 12 months following the bushfire and diminished toward the end of that period, but a large number of difficulties remained. Certain disaster experiences, particularly the type of loss suffered, were found to be significantly related to health.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Neurosis and conscious symptom exaggeration: its differentiation by the Illness Behaviour Questionnaire.

In an attempt to develop an instrument to differentiate conscious exaggerators of symptoms from normals and neurotics, the Illness Behaviour Questionnaire (IBQ) was administered to 164 members of a public utility, half of whom were instructed to fill it out as conscious exaggerators, and 82 individuals who presented at a hospital pain clinic with pain considered to be neurotically determined. Four IBQ subscales differentiated the three groups, and a new 21-item scale (CE-scale) was developed which achieved wide separation between the conscious exaggerators, neurotics and normals. It is suggested that the CE-scale may have considerable utility in assessing conscious exaggerators and compensation neurotics, and that further studies should assess its predictive value.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMed1984

Parental rearing and transient thought disorder in young adults.

85 students and 72 medical and surgical patients, aged between 16 and 24, and 48 mature-aged clerical and executive workers, aged between 29 and 60, were administered a written version of a scale measuring transient thought disorder, the Eysenck personality questionnaire and the EMBU questionnaire on parental rearing methods. It was found that there were differences between samples on frequency of depersonalisation, and that a majority of the young adult sample had had two or more depersonalisation experiences. Those who had experienced the greater degree of transient thought disorder had had fathers who were more intolerant, unaffectionate and unstimulating, and mothers who were more intolerant, unstimulating and rejecting. Transient thought disorder was related significantly to both psychoticism and particularly to neuroticism on the EPQ in the young, but not the mature adult, sample. It is suggested that it arises as a function of remote and uninvolved parents and is related to uncertainty about identity.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Dimensions of child-rearing practices. Factor structure of the EMBU.

Measurement of the dimensions of parental-rearing practices was undertaken using an English form of the EMBU inventory, which was administered to 282 non-clinical subjects. Results indicated that eight of the 14 subscales of the EMBU could be identified on oblique factor analysis, and that six other dimensions were specific to Mother or Father. Results suggest that method of factor extraction plays an important part in number of dimensions of child-rearing practices identified, and that it may be appropriate to assume that dimensions of parental rearing are correlated rather than independent.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Parental rearing patterns and suicidal thoughts.

In an attempt to investigate the parental rearing patterns associated with presence of suicidal thoughts, a measure of child rearing patterns (EMBU) and the EPQ measure of personality dimensions were administered to 85 university students, 72 medical and surgical patients, and 125 employees of a state department, along with two questions tapping suicidal thoughts. Results indicated that those with suicidal ideation had parents who had separated more often than controls, and that parental rearing of those with suicidal thoughts included parents who favoured siblings rather than subject, were unstimulating, guilt-engendering, rejecting and unaffectionate. Fathers were more abusive and punitive. These findings suggest that suicidal thoughts may be related to rejection and lack of self-esteem, and that therapy which focuses on resolving parental rejection may be of some use in patients with suicidal ideation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

New inventory for measurement of parental rearing patterns. An English form of the EMBU.

Despite the importance of measurement of parental rearing patterns in psychiatric research, there are almost no acceptable standardised inventories available. An English-language version of the Swedish EMBU Inventory is presented, which has subscales measuring the degree to which each parent was abusive, depriving, punitive, shaming, rejecting, overprotective, overinvolved, tolerant, affectionate, performance-oriented, guilt-engendering, stimulating, favoured siblings, and favoured the subject. Results indicate high and comparable reliability and item-factor structure. It would appear that the EMBU has both cross-cultural reliability and stable structure in the English translation.

Adolescent↗