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Biomedical subjects

Paul T Clements

Publications and source records attributed to Paul T Clements.

32 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2004

Dying patients' thoughts of ending their lives: a pilot study of rural New Mexico.

Forty-nine hospice patients in rural New Mexico were directly interviewed concerning their thoughts about ending their lives. Thirty-one patients (63%) did not have thoughts of ending their lives, whereas 18 patients (37%) reported having suicidal thoughts. There were no differences between patients with and without thoughts of suicide related to gender; ethnicity; age; education; disease; religion; importance of religion; location of hospice agency; remaining financial, family, or spiritual issues; satisfaction with hospice care; sum of hospice personnel seen; or sum of medical equipment used. There were significant differences between patients with and without thoughts of suicide related to the number of household members (p = .02); the symptoms of trouble sleeping (p = .04) and nervousness (p =.03); and Medicare insurance coverage for hospice care (p =.01). No other symptom, including pain and hopelessness, was significant. Seven (39%) of the 18 patients who thought of ending their lives told someone about these thoughts. There were no variable differences between patients who did and did not tell someone about these thoughts.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2004

Shaken baby syndrome: assessment, intervention, & prevention.

Child abuse and neglect continue to be parts of a disturbing reality in both the United States and the world. Despite significant advances in the identification and treatment of child abuse, health care professionals are still attempting to grasp the extent of the physiological and psychological effects of child maltreatment and injury. Child abuse, in all of its forms, is preventable, and more must be done to decrease its incidence. Shaken baby syndrome is one of the most deadly and devastating forms of child abuse and is characterized by a traumatic brain injury caused by the violent shaking of an infant. Recognition of high-risk families, combined with education of parents and other caregivers are key to prevention of shaken baby syndrome.

Awareness↗
PubMed2003

Child and adolescent homicide survivors. Complicated grief and altered worldviews.

The act of homicide may influence the worldviews of children and adolescents. Problematic beliefs of uncertainty, inadequacy, perceiving the world as dangerous, self-denial, and lack of control can contribute to complicated grief in children and adolescents, and can potentially disrupt their normal psychosocial growth and development. Mental health professionals' understanding of grief after the homicide of a family member enhances their ability to intervene with and support young people struggling to cope with and adapt to a sudden loss.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2003

Benefits of community meetings in the corporate setting after the suicide of a coworker.

When an employee commits suicide, his or her coworkers are confronted unexpectedly with issues related to the sudden traumatic death. Being inundated with questions, grappling with acceptance of the loss, and exploring how this could have happened are factors that can complicate the bereavement process and delay a return to workplace homeostasis. Understanding the dynamics and issues related to grief and bereavement after sudden traumatic death potentially can accelerate the recovery process and promote restoration of workforce normalcy for employees and organizations. This can be significantly important to corporate managers and administrators who must maintain ongoing productivity despite such disruption, while promoting adaptive coping for their employees.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2003

Cultural perspectives of death, grief, and bereavement.

The cultural makeup of the United States continues to change rapidly, and as minority groups continue to grow, these groups' beliefs and customs must be taken into account when examining death, grief, and bereavement. This article discusses the beliefs, customs, and rituals of Latino, African American, Navajo, Jewish, and Hindu groups to raise awareness of the differences health care professionals may encounter among their grieving clients. Discussion of this small sample of minority groups in the United States is not intended to cover all of the degrees of acculturation within each group. Cultural groups are not homogeneous, and individual variation must always be considered in situations of death, grief, and bereavement. However, because the customs, rituals, and beliefs of the groups to which they belong affect individuals' experiences of death, grief, and bereavement, health care professionals need to be open to learning about them to better understand and help.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2002

Children's responses to family member homicide.

Homicide is a significant behavioral deviation resulting in a sudden and unexpected loss of life and can leave children in the chaotic wake. Interviews conducted with 13 children ages 9 to 11 years during the initial 1 to 3 months after a family homicide provided insight into themes of bereavement. A major finding in the study was that the witnessing or hearing the news of a family member homicide was a powerful associative factor for childhood posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and for complicated bereavement.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2002

When, catastrophe happens. Assessment and intervention after sudden traumatic death.

The goals of grief after sudden traumatic death is to acknowledge the loss, identify the changes the loss will have in the co-victim's life, and reinvest in life within the new structure. Although these goals seem simple, there is no definitive timeline for when these tasks will be engaged and completed by each of the family members. The pathway and time frame for each co-victim may differ.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2002

Talking as a primary method of peer defusing for military personnel exposed to combat trauma.

1. Humanitarian relief missions and military operations are unquestionably stressful and clearly have potential to affect the mental health of soldiers. 2. After being exposed to traumatic events, soldiers may develop acute stress reactions, a historically known phenomenon better recognized and understood today. 3. Although organized resources exist, they may not be accessible or appropriate. Soldiers are the most precious asset the military forces have and their peers may be the best and only resource available to them. 4. The need to ventilate and the relief that follows after talking about distressing events are evidence that defusing by talking should be encouraged after exposure to a traumatic event.

Combat Disorders↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Support for bereaved owners of pets.

TOPIC: The bond that exists between people and their pets and its impact on physical and mental health. PURPOSE: To review the current literature and explore the clinical implications of bereavement related to pets. SOURCES: A comprehensive review of the bereavement, veterinarian, and agricultural literature related to attitudes and response patterns to pet and animal death. CONCLUSIONS: The death or loss of a beloved pet can be a life-changing event.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Life after death: grief therapy after the sudden traumatic death of a family member.

TOPIC: Survivors of the sudden traumatic death of a family member are at increased risk for complicated grief and bereavement. PURPOSES: To present the complicating factors inherent to sudden traumatic death in order to promote adaptive grieving in the survivors. SOURCES: A comprehensive review of the existing bereavement literature, clinical anecdotes, and therapeutic experiences. CONCLUSIONS: Grief is a process and not an endpoint. The goal of grief is not to forget about the loss, a commonly stated goal of survivors; rather, the goal is to remember the decedent, understand the changes created by the loss, and determine how to reinvest in life.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Cries from the morgue.

TOPIC: Family member homicide. PURPOSE: To explore the unique facets of bereavement for a family member of a homicide victim in order to assist clinicians during assessment, evaluation, and intervention with children. SOURCES: The authors' experience in working with children at a child grief center and published literature. CONCLUSIONS: Children experience grief uniquely and use differing methods of coping and adaptation. Knowledge of these differences can assist clinicians with promotion of adaptive coping and grieving in children who have been exposed to murder.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Workplace violence and corporate policy for health care settings.

Incidents of workplace violence have been of significant concern to health care employers and the public at large. Many employers now find themselves confronted with sentinel events in the workplace, such as assault; property damage; racially, ethnically, or religiously motivated violence; sexual assault; employee suicide; or homicide. Regardless of a health care agency's size or mission, when employees are unexpectedly confronted with workplace violence, they are typically overwhelmed with shock and multiple questions surrounding how the event could have occurred in the safety of the workplace. It is difficult to imagine returning to work only minutes after hearing such news and, yet, in this modern era of corporate health care, this is what usually happens. Awareness of the dynamics and issues related to workplace violence can guide policy development and related interventions to promote safety, stability, and provide a platform for adapting to the devastation of such a disturbing event.

Adaptation, Psychological↗