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Biomedical subjects

M J Eliason

Publications and source records attributed to M J Eliason.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Cross-cultural comparison of clinical samples of Norwegian and Iowan women with substance-related disorders.

The purpose of this study was to compare two clinical samples of women substance abusers, one from Iowa and one from Norway, along several dimensions: "substance abuse" history, current "abuse" pattern, parental and spouse drinking history, symptoms of psychological distress, and "vulnerability" to relapse. A higher percentage of women substance abusers from Iowa were divorced and lived alone, were "vulnerable" to relapse, and reported more life problems secondary to their substance use than women from Norway. The Iowa women had used more substances in addition to alcohol than had the Norwegian women. The Norwegian women reported greater intensity of emotional distress than the women from Iowa.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Drug & alcohol intervention for older women: a pilot study.

Pretest and posttest information was gathered from 26 older women attending educational programs related to alcohol and drug use. The goals of the study were to determine current knowledge about alcohol and drugs among older women and to gather some initial information about the potential for alcohol and drug interactions and misuse. The intervention included a 60-minute presentation on the metabolism of alcohol and drugs in the aging body, the potential for alcohol-drug interactions, and a discussion of healthy lifestyles (e.g., diet, exercise). Older women, especially those who were moderate to heavy drinkers, were found to have many misconceptions about alcohol and drug use, but their knowledge improved dramatically after the brief educational intervention. This finding may suggest that most of the women had knowledge deficits rather than deeply entrenched attitudes about alcohol and drug use or alcohol dependence. Therefore, simple educational interventions may be very effective with this subset of women.

Aged↗
PubMed2000

Substance abuse counsellor's attitudes regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered clients.

PURPOSE: The attitudes of substance abuse counselors can have significant effects on their client's recovery. This study examined the attitudes and knowledge of substance abuse counselors regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) clients. METHODS: 242 substance abuse counselors in Iowa completed mail-in questionnaires. RESULTS: The counselors reported very little formal education regarding the needs of these clients, and nearly half had negative or ambivalent attitudes. Respondents had the greatest negativity regarding transgendered clients and reported knowing the least about this group. Counselors frequently lacked knowledge about the legal issues of these clients, the concepts of domestic partnership and internalized homophobia, and family issues. IMPLICATIONS: Substance abuse counselors require more education about LGBT clients.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Experiences and comfort with culturally diverse groups in undergraduate pre-nursing students.

A sample of approximately 200 undergraduate students beginning their nursing education responded to questionnaire items concerning experience and levels of comfort working with diverse client groups. Students reported little discomfort with racial/ethnic groups, but reported they would have considerable difficulty working with lesbian, gay, or bisexual clients, and patients with human immunodeficiency virus. Their reasons for discomfort were examined.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Identification of alcohol-related problems in older women.

The stereotype of an alcohol or drug abuser rarely elicits an image of an older woman. However, if an expanded definition of alcohol abuse is considered, many older women are at risk because of normal changes in the body due to aging and the high number of prescription and over-the-counter medications they use. This article reviews current knowledge about alcohol-related problems in older women.

Aged↗
PubMed1998

Correlates of prejudice in nursing students.

Nursing is still a predominantly White profession, and many nursing students have had little experience with people of diverse races or sexual identities. The purpose of this study was to examine racial awareness and attitudes toward sexual minorities in incoming nursing students. The findings indicated that students had a low awareness of race issues but stated that they felt comfortable working with people of other races. Attitudes toward lesbian, gay, and bisexual people were more negative and fewer students reported feeling comfortable working with sexual minorities. Low racial awareness and negative attitudes about sexual minorities were related. Parental attitudes toward sexual minorities were related to student level of comfort working with sexual minorities, but parental attitudes about racial minorities were not related to student level of comfort with people of other races. The correlates of low racial awareness and negative attitudes about sexual minorities were similar.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

The prevalence and nature of biphobia in heterosexual undergraduate students.

Little scientific attention has been paid to bisexuality or to societal attitudes about bisexual people. Often, biphobia has been assumed to be identical to homophobia. In this study, 229 heterosexual undergraduate students rated their degree of agreement to stereotypical statements about bisexuality and provided information on their attitudes about the acceptability of bisexual, gay, and lesbian people. Although there was a high degree of correlation between biphobia and homophobia, negative attitudes about bisexuals, men in particular, were more prevalent than negative attitudes about lesbians or gay men. Biphobia and homophobia should be considered related, but distinct, phenomena.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Caring for the lesbian, gay, or bisexual patient: issues for critical care nurses.

Critical care nurses have a moral obligation to provide quality care for all of their patients. Many nurses lack information about lesbian, gay, and bisexual patient issues or feel uncomfortable working with such clients. This article explores some of the stereotypes that create negative attitudes about lesbian, gay, and bisexual people and offers suggestions for critical care nurses who wish to become better educated about these clients.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1996

Identity formation for lesbian, bisexual, and gay persons: beyond a "minoritizing" view.

There is considerable controversy regarding the means by which lesbian, gay, and bisexual persons achieve a sense of sexual identity. In this paper, the concepts of identity and sexual identity are reviewed, and the literature on lesbian and gay "coming out" processes are critiqued. Major limitations of these studies include their narrow samples, their narrow focus on sexuality, their linear nature, and their lack of attention to the larger sociohistorical context. They tend to "minoritize" sexual identities. A more comprehensive cyclical model of identity development would put sexual identity into a context that includes other important facets of identity such as gender, race, and class-a more universalizing approach.

Bisexuality↗
PubMed1993

Cultural diversity in nursing care: the lesbian, gay, or bisexual client.

This paper examines the gay, lesbian, and bisexual persons as subcultures of the dominant Anglo-American culture in the United States of America in relation to influences on their access to and use of health care systems and resources. Nurses need to be aware of the unique health needs of such clients, and examine their own cultural belief systems about same-sex relationships. Negative attitudes or misinformation can lead to poor quality of care and disrupt nurse-client relationships.

Attitude↗
PubMed1991

Factors that influence ratings of facial appearance for children with cleft lip and palate.

This study examined the influence of familiarity and gender of raters on judgments of facial appearance for individuals with repaired cleft lip and palate. Forty professionals familiar with cleft lip and palate and forty individuals unfamiliar with the disorder were asked to examine photographs of 24 adolescents and rate them for facial appearance. The familiar judges assigned more negative ratings of facial appearance than did the unfamiliar judges. In addition, males responded more negatively than did females. There was also a significant gender by familiarity interaction, with familiar males assigning more negative ratings of appearance than any other group.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Cleft lip and palate: developmental effects.

Children with cleft lip and/or palate are at risk for societal disapproval and/or discrimination and emotional adjustment problems due to facial disfigurement, speech impairment, and learning difficulties. This article reviews the potential psychosocial problems from a developmental perspective and offers suggestions as to the role of nurses at each developmental stage. Nurses may be prone to the same negative attitudes and biases as the general population and may engage in subtle discrimination against children with cleft lip and/or palate.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1989

Immediate memory functions in reading disability subtypes.

This study examined immediate memory processes in specific reading disability subtypes. Three subgroups (n = 15 in each subgroup) of reading disabled children were examined: (a) perceptual-motor disorder, (b) verbal disorder-general, and (c) verbal disorder-specific (memory). The three groups were matched for age and full scale IQ. All children received a memory-for-colors task (Color Span Test) designed to evaluate intra- and intermodal serial memory functioning. Comparison of memory profiles for the three reading disability subtypes revealed that patterns varied depending on mode of stimulus presentation or response. Although all three groups performed considerably below normative levels on each of the four subtests of the Color Span Test, all subjects performed significantly better on verbally presented items than on visually presented items. The findings were interpreted to suggest that these reading disabled children may not consistently utilize verbal strategies for coding or retrieval of information when stimuli are visually presented.

Child↗
PubMed1988

Neuropsychological patterns: neurofibromatosis compared to developmental learning disorders.

A group of 32 children with von Recklinghausen's neurofibromatosis (VRNF) and school learning problems were compared to a matched sample of learning-disordered (LD) students without known genetic or medical disorders. VRNF children were found to differ from LD children on the frequency of WISC-R verbal-performance IQ discrepancies, on Kaufman's perceptual organization factor, and on specific measures of visual-perceptual functioning. Measures of visual perception were found to be the best predictors of group membership and accurately classified 96% of the LD group and 63% of the VRNF group. VRNF subjects also differed from LD subjects on reading achievement and error patterns on the Continuous Performance Test. It is suggested that the learning problems associated with VRNF might represent a form (or forms) of LD distinct from the category of learning deficits usually associated with 'learning disabilities'.

Adolescent↗