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Biomedical subjects

R E Helfer

Publications and source records attributed to R E Helfer.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

Undiagnosed abuse in children younger than 3 years with femoral fracture.

We retrospectively evaluated 138 children younger than 3 years with femoral fractures who presented to the emergency departments of three major Michigan hospitals between 1979 and 1983. Patients were classified into one of the following four subgroups based on presenting history: accident (22%), bone pathology (8%), abuse (10%), and uncertain origin (60%). Distribution of common fracture types among the four subgroups was similar. Of the uncertain group, 22 cases of abuse were identified during admission and 7 additional cases were found at a later date. The total number of femoral fractures secondary to abuse was 43 (31%) of 138. Children younger than 3 years presenting with a femoral fracture should evoke a high suspicion for abuse.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1990

The neglect of our children.

When we consider all the manifestations of the effects of not meeting the basic needs of our children, we can feel nothing short of alarm and concern. The scope of the problem of child neglect, when the responsibility for this neglect is expanded beyond that of the parents or guardians, extends to inadequate health care, poor education, the ineffectiveness of the law, inadequate housing, and other adversities resulting from our social selection policies.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

The perinatal period, a window of opportunity for enhancing parent-infant communication: an approach to prevention.

The perinatal period, broadly defined, encompasses the time frame from one year before to 18 to 24 months after the birth of the child. This period constitutes a window of opportunity through which parent-infant interaction may be reinforced, offering the possibility of decreasing the risk of family dysfunction. This review article clarifies the relationship between the enhancement of parent-infant interactions and the prevention of child abuse and neglect. It contains a detailed discussion of the capabilities of the newborn and places in perspective the difficulty experienced when parents who were themselves mistreated in childhood struggle to establish a system of communication with their own newborn children. The perinatal intervention program, a program intended to teach new parents the skills of interaction with their newborns, is described and placed into perspective with other perinatal programs which have been reported to be capable of augmenting the capacity for communication. The authors review the research data demonstrating the efficacy of these perinatal parent-infant programs. The paper concludes with a review of effective interventions, a discussion of what can be expected of each, and suggestions for the practical application of the programs during the perinatal period. The authors recognize that no program taken in isolation is sufficient; taken together they have the ability to improve parent-child relations, and they thus constitute a multifaceted approach to the prevention of child abuse and neglect.

Child Abuse↗
PubMed1985

Perinatal coaching: program development.

Perinatal Coaching is a training/educational program introduced to new parents in the first days following the birth of their baby. This program provides support while teaching new parents skills to communicate and interact with their newborn following birth. The article gives an overview of the content of the Perinatal Coaching Program, a review of the newborn's capabilities and their relationship to perinatal coaching, important features of some ongoing programs, early identification and selection of parents, and speculation for future development.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Pediatric interviewing skills taught by nonphysicians.

We cannot assume that medical students develop, through unstructured educational happenings, the skills of interviewing a mother about her child. Teaching these skills requires extensive one-to-one faculty-student involvement, which is almost prohibitive if pediatricians are expected to do this teaching. This article describes (1) a current pediatric interviewing teaching program that uses nonphysicians as teachers; (2) the selection and training of nonphysicians to teach the skill of pediatric interviewing to third-year medical students; and (3) an assessment of these teachers by comparing their techniques with those of three pediatric faculty members. The nonphysician teachers fared most favorably when their teaching methods were compared with those of three pediatricians. Acceptance of the program by the students, faculty, and administration has been most encouraging.

Education, Medical, Undergraduate↗
PubMed1975

A comparison of pediatric interviewing skills using real and simulated mothers.

In order to allay concerns about using simulators as opposed to real mothers for teaching and evaluating interviewing skills, a study was designed to test for differences in students' approaches when interviewing simulated and real mothers. Three mothers were trained to give their own children's histories consistently and two mothers trained to simulate a history. Thirty third-year medical students conducted two interviews which were audiotaped. Students were told the nature of the study and whether the mother was real or simulated. One half of the time the mothers were presented as simulators and one half of the time the simulators were presented as mothers. The variable of order was controlled. An objective checklist containing 70 to 80 bits of organic and personal data per case and an interaction analysis (with an average of 285 interactions per interview) were utilized to measure the content material gathered and the approach used by the students. The data were analyzed using an analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique. All but 1 of the 55 null hypotheses were accepted, i.e., no significant differences were found. The Use of Simulation for Teaching and Evaluating Interviewing Skills Provides a Valid Experience.

Child↗