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Biomedical subjects

M D Franzen

Publications and source records attributed to M D Franzen.

30 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

The establishment of clinical cutoffs in measuring caregiver burden in dementia.

Although several scales have been developed to assess burden, their clinical utility has been limited by the absence of relevant cutoff points. Clinical data from 140 primary caregivers seeking a dementia evaluation for a family member were analyzed to establish the psychometric properties of a caregiver burden screen. Results indicate that the cutoff values were both sensitive and specific to negative caregiving outcomes. These findings suggest that use of a burden screen may assist clinicians when assessing the adequacy of caregiving arrangements in dementia.

Aged↗
PubMed1994

Application of a forced-choice memory procedure designed to detect experimental malingering.

The detection of dissimulated cognitive deficits is an important issue in many clinical assessment situations. Specific procedures designed to aid in this detection can be useful additions to standard assessment protocols. The present study investigates the potential utility of a modification of the forced-choice, symptom validity paradigm to the assessment of memory deficits. Previous research indicated that the procedure could discriminate between college students instructed to malinger memory impairment and college students instructed to perform at their best ability. The present study administered a forced-choice memory assessment instrument to 60 psychiatric patients, 60 normal community volunteers, and 60 neuropsychological patients. Thirty psychiatric patients and 30 community volunteers were given instructions to malinger. Discriminant function analyses yielded an overall correct group classification rate of 90.6%, with 5% of the nonmalingering subjects and 18.3% of the experimental malingerers incorrectly classified.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1993

Impulsivity in suicidal and nonsuicidal adolescents.

Nonsuicidal and suicidal adolescent inpatients were compared to community high school students using behavioral measures of impulsivity. Measures of problem solving ability, hopelessness, and depression were also administered to all groups. The suicidal inpatients were characterized by greater impulsivity, hopelessness, and depression than both nonsuicidal inpatients and community high school students. There were no differences in problem-solving abilities found between the suicidal inpatients and either the nonsuicidal inpatients or the community controls.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Order effects in the administration of the Booklet Category Test and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test.

In order to evaluate the possibility of significant order effects, the Booklet Category Test and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test were administered in counterbalanced order to 20 psychiatric patients, 36 neurological patients, and 30 healthy, elderly individuals. Administering the Booklet Category Test first improved scores on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, although not to a statistically significant degree. Unexpectedly administering the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test first resulted in poorer scores on the Booklet Category Test. The results are discussed in terms of future research and clinical implications.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1992

Neuropsychological performance and suicidal behavior in adult psychiatric inpatients.

Although various studies have shown that suicidal persons exhibit greater cognitive deficiencies than both normals and other psychiatric patients, researchers as yet have been unable to account for the source(s) of the differences. Some of these differences (e.g., cognitive rigidity and impaired problem solving) hint of possible organic involvement. This study explored the relationship of neuropsychological functioning to suicidal behavior by comparing 20 suicidal and 27 nonsuicidal psychiatric inpatients on several tests of neuropsychological functioning. Although results showed no significant differences between the two groups on most measures, both groups showed evidence of notably high levels of cortical dysfunction relative to test norms. Thirty-five percent of suicidal patients and 44% of nonsuicidal patients scored in the impaired range. Implications of this high frequency of impairment for the treatment of suicidal and nonsuicidal psychiatric patients are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

The psychological treatment of memory impairment: a review of empirical studies.

Memory impairment is a frequent effect of many different forms of brain dysfunction. Memory impairment is also a frequent focus of treatment interventions, and there have been many different treatment methods suggested. The suggested methods include direct retraining, the use of spared skills in compensating for the impairment (alternate functional systems), and the use of behavioral strategies to circumvent the manifest memory dysfunction (behavioral prosthetics). Unfortunately, there are very few studies comparing the various suggested treatment methods. The present paper evaluates the empirical evidence related to the treatment of memory dysfunction and suggests directions for future investigations. Although the evidence is not conclusive, it appears that some forms of treatment may be helpful in remediating certain types of memory impairment. An approach likely to be productive would include some consideration of the impaired neurological and psychological mechanisms responsible for the manifest memory deficit as well as a consideration of the etiology of the injury thought to be causally related to the memory deficit. As yet, there have been no rigorous empirical evaluations of these considerations.

Amnesia↗
PubMed1990

The detection of malingering in neuropsychological assessment.

Although malingering, or the manipulation of data by the patient, is a problem commonly faced by neuropsychologists, there has been little systematic investigation of this problem. This paper reviews the literature on the detection of malingering in assessment instruments commonly used by clinical neuropsychologists. Criticism of previous research is discussed, and suggestions are made both for future research and for clinical practice.

Brain Damage, Chronic↗
PubMed1987

An investigation of the test-retest reliability of the Stroop Color-Word Test across two intervals.

The Stroop Color- Word Test is frequently used in neuropsychological settings. However, there has been no rigorous evaluation of the test-retest reliability of the commercially available version of the Stroop. The present study investigated the test-retest reliability of the Stroop across two different time intervals. In addition, the standard error of prediction and the standard error of differences were computed, and applications of the results to the use of the Stroop to document change in cognitive rehabilitation are discussed.

Journal Article↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Effects of unilateral vascular lesions and gender on visual spatial and auditory verbal attention span.

Unilateral cerebral vascular accidents (CVA) produce dominant hemisphere deficits in language and verbal memory, while nondominant hemisphere lesions often impair visual spatial analysis and visual memory. However, effects of unilateral lesions are less specified for visual spatial and auditory verbal attention span. The present study investigated whether tasks of attention span were sensitive to the effects of unilateral strokes. Left CVA females and males were compared to right CVA females and males on these measures. Age and education were not significantly related to performance Significant gender by stroke laterality interactions were found for the visual spatial attention span tasks. Left CVA females performed significantly worse than the other CVA groups on the visual spatial measures. These results suggest that there may be gender related differences in the effects of unilateral CVA on tasks of attention span.

Journal Article↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Delusional reduplication following closed-head injury.

Somatic delusions following brain injury are not uncommon, and have been well documented in the literature. This study documents a case of somatic delusion which was seen in a patient following a head injury secondary to a motorcycle accident. Although perhaps not typical it serves to illustrate an interesting example of a somatic delusion following head trauma. On recovery from coma this patient reported the existence of a 'third arm' adjacent to the limb that had received the greatest impact in the accident. The patient was unreceptive to any counter-persuasions and in fact remained largely unconcerned about this addition to his anatomy. A thorough neuropsychological evaluation was carried out in an attempt to seek an explanation for this phenomenon. The results suggest that the phenomenon has at least a partly psychiatric aetiology rather than a purely neurological foundation.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Neuropsychological rehabilitation: application of a modified multiple baseline design.

The treatment of brain impairment following traumatic injury has proliferated in the past few years. Because many proposed treatment methods have not yet been proven, an important aspect of each treatment attempt is the evaluation of possible gains derived as a result of treatment. A modified multiple baseline design has been suggested as a means of partialing out extraneous influences in the assessment of treatment effects. This paper presents data from the application of a modified multiple baseline design to the treatment of memory and abstraction deficits in a young man who had experienced a closed head injury. Both psychometric-nomothetic and idiographic data are presented and discussed.

Adult↗