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L J Toedter

Publications and source records attributed to L J Toedter.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Psychological measures: reliability in the assessment of stroke patients.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether acute stroke patients can give reliable responses to standardized psychological measures. DESIGN: Survey design with retrospective review of Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination (NCSE) scores. SETTING: A rehabilitation hospital in Philadelphia. PATIENTS: 106 consecutive admissions to stroke services at a rehabilitation hospital were evaluated according to the following inclusion criteria: Patients at least 65 years of age, English speaking, having a documented history of cerebrovascular accident (CVA), possession of receptive speech comprehension, and the ability to maintain attention adequate for participation in the study interview. Of the 47 eligible for participation, 10 patients refused participation and 13 were discharged before the interview could be completed. Thus 24 patients were interviewed, with one patient unable to complete the second half of the interview. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: In phase 1, the patient's performance on a structured interview (including the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scales (MHLC), Life Orientation Test (LOT), and Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) scales) produced a Total Reliability Score, indicating the overall reliability of the patient's responses. In phase 2, NCSE scores were examined (retrospectively) for their ability to predict the patient's Total Reliability Score on the structured interview. RESULTS: Using Total Reliability Scores, 9 patients were categorized as "passing," 9 were categorized as "uncertain," and 5 were categorized as "failing" the interview. The NCSE was predictive for individuals who had a very low likelihood of being able to respond consistently. The NCSE failed to identify which individuals would respond in a reliable fashion. CONCLUSIONS: It is both possible and important to assess response reliability when using psychological measures soon after stroke. Future research will need to document other potential predictors of interview performance, including combinations of NCSE subscales.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

The effects of gestational age and gender on grief after pregnancy loss.

The roles of gestational age and gender in grief reactions following loss of pregnancy were explored. Parents with losses later in pregnancy reported more intense grief than did those whose losses were earlier. Women expressed higher levels of grief than did men six to eight weeks after the loss; however, this difference had decreased by one and two years after the loss.

Abortion, Spontaneous↗
PubMed1991

Acute versus chronic grief: the case of pregnancy loss.

Conceptual and measurement problems in identifying those at risk of chronic grief are reviewed, and results are presented of a longitudinal study of people who have experienced pregnancy loss. Coping resources, particularly prior mental health and social support, were the best predictors of low scores on subscales of the Perinatal Grief Scale that indicate chronic grief reactions. Results also offer some evidence of delayed grief responses, especially among men and those who experienced early losses.

Abortion, Spontaneous↗
PubMed1988

The Perinatal Grief Scale: development and initial validation.

The theoretical strategy underlying development of the Perinatal Grief Scale is described. The instrument was completed by 194 subjects as part of a longitudinal study of factors affecting the resolution of grief following spontaneous abortion, fetal or neonatal death, or ectopic pregnancy. Variables found to be significant predictors of grief, as measured by this scale, were: overall physical health of mother, gestational age at time of loss, quality of the marital relationship, and pre-loss mental health symptomatology.

Abortion, Spontaneous↗
PubMedDate not supplied

International comparison of studies using the perinatal grief scale: a decade of research on pregnancy loss.

The Perinatal Grief Scale (PGS) has been used in many studies of loss in pregnancy, including miscarriage, stillbirth, induced abortion, neonatal death, and relinquishment for adoption. This article describes 22 studies from 4 countries that used the PGS with a total of 2485 participants. Studies that report Cronbach's alpha for their own samples give evidence of very high internal consistency reliability. Evidence for the validity of the PGS is also reviewed, such as convergent validity seen in its association with measures of mental health, social support, and marital satisfaction. The standard errors of the means for the total scale and for the subscales reveal fairly consistent scores, in spite of very different samples and types of loss; computation of means and standard deviations for the studies as a whole permits us to establish normal score ranges. Significantly higher scores were found in studies that recruited participants from support groups and self-selected populations rather than from medical sources, and from U.S. studies compared with those in Europe.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Satisfaction with hospital care and interventions after pregnancy loss.

Hospital practices after pregnancy loss have changed considerably over the past decade, yet they have not been well evaluated. In a longitudinal study of 194 women and men who experienced miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, stillbirth, or newborn death, the recommended interventions at the time of loss are examined. In most cases, parents were more satisfied if they had experienced an intervention than if they had not, but having experienced more total interventions was not associated with lower grief or greater satisfaction with overall care; the latter was related more to the attentiveness and sensitivity of health care personnel. Three groups identified as in need of greater attention are clinic patients, who were significantly less satisfied and more grief-stricken than the patients of private physicians, those who had spontaneous abortions or ectopic pregnancies, and those who had early fetal losses.

Abortion, Spontaneous↗