Biomedical subjects

Kathleen Scharer

Publications and source records attributed to Kathleen Scharer.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Creativity enhancement: possibilities for successful aging.

Successful aging is of growing importance in the U.S. Many researchers have explored the phenomenon using various approaches, yet we are still lacking practical guidelines on how to promote successful aging in older adults. The Roy Adaptation Model supports the promotion of adaptation to chronic health problems at a time when one's overall health may be declining and is a useful guide for understanding successful aging. Current literature also suggests that functional performance and creativity are important in order to age successfully. This study examined the relationships between functional performance, creativity, and successful aging within the context of the Roy Adaptation Model. Although creativity was not significantly predictive of successful aging, functional performance was a statistically significant predictor of a successful aging indicator, purpose in life. The study was a pretest-posttest experimental design investigating the effects of a creativity enhancement intervention in older adults. Although the intervention did not appear to increase creativity or successful aging, there were some statistically significant results and valuable findings about the possibilities for creativity enhancement.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed2002

What parents of mentally ill children need and want from mental health professionals.

Child psychiatric hospitalization is a time of crisis for the parents of a child with a mental disorder. Prior to hospitalization, the child's problematic behavior has escalated. Parents have various types of contact with mental health professionals prior to, during, and after the hospitalization, which influence their ability to care for their child. This paper reports a qualitative descriptive study of what parents need and want from mental health professionals during this time frame. During the study, parents spontaneously talked about what they needed and wanted from mental health professionals, including nursing personnel. The perspectives of 38 parents of 29 hospitalized children were obtained through interviews. Parents identified needing informational, emotional, and instrumental support most often in the interviews. Specific examples from the data are included in this report.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Child psychiatric hospitalization: the last resort.

The purpose of this study was to describe how parents manage the experience of hospitalizing their school-aged child in a psychiatric unit. Grounded theory methodology was used. Thirty-eight parents participated. Data were collected by interviews. Analysis was done using the constant comparative method. The basic social problem identified was the escalating behavior of the child. The child's behavior included self-injurious behavior or violence toward others. The core concept was "hospitalization, the last resort." Parents' management of the experience varied based on many factors including whether this was the child's first psychiatric hospitalization, the distance from the hospital to their home, their trust of staff members, sources of support, and their definition of the situation.

Attitude to Health↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Emotion processing in borderline personality disorders.

This study examined relationships between the ability to recognize facial affect and affective intensity in women with Borderline Personality Disorder. Women hospitalized with borderline personality disorder and community women without psychiatric disorder (n s = 35/group) were recruited via convenience sampling. The Pictures of Facial Affect and the Affect Intensity Measure were administered to consenting women. Hypotheses related to differences in recognizing facial affect were supported, but further exploration indicated that selected negative emotions accounted for the statistical significance. Implications for practice and research are explored.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

An Internet discussion board for parents of mentally ill young children.

PURPOSE: This paper reports parents' use of electronic bulletin board for social support during a pilot study of an Internet intervention. METHODS: Parents participated for a mean of 13.83 weeks. The convenience sample consisted of six parents. Data were from site access information and parents' postings. FINDINGS: Excluding one mother who checked frequently for messages, mothers have an average of 5.2 postings. Excluding this one mother, the postings/ accesses ratio was greater than 60%. Parents made postings in four categories of "child's illness" having 37 comments and 36 comments for "group maintenance". CONCLUSIONS: While the study findings cannot be generalized, these results suggest that parents will use electronic discussion boards.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Internet social support for parents: the state of science.

TOPIC: Parents of emotionally disturbed young children have expressed the need for more social support but societal constraints limit their ability to obtain adequate social support. PURPOSE: This paper discusses what is currently known about coping, social support and Internet social support. It proposes the use of electronic social support to meet the needs of parents of emotionally disturbed children. SOURCE: Review of literature. CONCLUSIONS: Electronic forms of social support have the potential to meet the identified needs of parents for more social support.

Adaptation, Psychological↗