Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “school functioning”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 307 records · Page 17Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Rehabilitation of low back pain patients. A review.

Numerous methods have been developed for the rehabilitation of low back pain patients, including spinal flexion and extension exercises, lumbar spine locking in an intermediate position, enhancement of spinal and pelvic proprioceptive sensibility, swimming pool therapy, back schools, and functional restoration. Each seeks to achieve a goal assumed to be central to the prevention of a first or recurrent episode of low back pain. Goals include short-term pain relief, an improved ability to achieve self-sedation, abdominal and lumbar muscle strengthening, increased hip and lumbar spine mobility, improved lumbar and pelvic proprioceptive sensibility, intervertebral joint stabilization, lumbar posture modification and improved general fitness. Less than 30 studies meeting widely accepted validity and applicability criteria for therapeutic trials have addressed the clinical efficacy of rehabilitation in low back pain patients. Most studies of the back school approach have found no benefit. Spinal flexion and extension exercise programs have yielded short-lived improvements, with no differences across methods. There is evidence that functional restoration programs based on graded activity may provide long-term benefits including better social and occupational outcomes. We have evaluated the physical therapy methods most commonly taught to and used by physical therapists in France.

Back Pain↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Health of the Nation targets: where school nurses find constraints on achievement.

A qualitative research methodology was used to investigate 73 school nurses' perceptions of their contributions towards Health of the Nation targets (1). The inquiry aimed to identify areas in which the school nurses felt that educational assistance was required. The study demonstrated that school nurses function well and have an enormous potential to affect positively the health of the nation's children. Four main areas of constraint, however, were identified by the nurses. These areas, pinpointed as the major obstacles for target achievement, are education, joint planning, resources and perceived value. The author highlights recommendations for the future role of the school nurse.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1995

[Depression in children and adolescents].

The prevalence of major depression in preschool is less than 1 procent, in school-age children about 2 percent, and in adolescents about 4.7 percent. While as no significant sex differences have been reported among preadolescents, studies of adolescents have reported 2 to 3 times higher rates of depression. The most frequent course of depression is chronic and persistent, the mean length of depressive episode being 30 weeks. Depressed children and adolescents have impaired psychosocial functioning and school problems. Relapse occurs at a high frequency for depressed patients. The high recurrence of depression in children and adolescents calls for a long-term management in these age-groups.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

The relation between third graders' after-school care and social, academic, and emotional functioning.

Outcome differences associated with types of after-school care were explored among 150 white, predominantly middle-class third graders from a suburban school system. Children returned home to their mothers, attended day-care centers, stayed with sitters, or returned home alone or with siblings. No differences were found between latchkey and mother-care children in terms of their classroom sociometric nominations, academic grades, standardized test scores, conduct grades, self-reports of self-competence, or parent and teacher ratings of the children. Significant differences were found for children who attended day-care centers after school. These children received more negative peer nominations, made lower academic grades, and had lower standardized test scores than either mother-care or latchkey children. The children who stayed with sitters after school received more negative peer nominations than the latchkey and mother-care children but, in other areas, resembled these groups. These outcome differences were apparent in both divorced and intact families. Factors contributing to these differences are examined.

Achievement↗
PubMed1999

Identification and impact of risk and protective factors for drug use among urban African American adolescents.

Identified 10 risk and 12 protective factors associated with drug use among African American 8th graders (N = 994) in an urban school system. Regression analyses identified 7 risk and 7 protective factors with minimal overlap. The total number of risk factors was significantly related to the prevalence of use for cigarettes, beer or wine, liquor, marijuana, and a composite measure of drug use. The Protective Factor Index (PFI) was a significant moderator of the relation between risk and use of beer or wine, liquor, marijuana, and the composite measure. Longitudinal analyses of data on 650 students across the transition from middle to high school indicated that the sum of risk factors predicted changes in all drug use categories except the composite. The PFI significantly predicted changes in beer or wine, liquor, and composite drug use over this 1-year period. It also moderated risk for cigarette use, but not for other drugs. Results replicated prior studies and highlighted the importance of protective factors such as adaptive functioning in school and family influences.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Neuropsychological differences between juvenile delinquents and functional adolescents: a preliminary study.

This study examines the neuropsychological differences between juvenile delinquents and functional high school adolescents by means of the Bender-Gestalt test and the Luria Neuropsychological Investigation. Forty-one subjects were examined, twenty-eight delinquent subjects (15 female, 13 male, mean age 15.5 years) and thirteen control subjects (8 female, 5 male, mean age 15 years). Of the nine subtests in the Luria Battery, eight were found statistically significant, with cutaneous and kinesthetic functions being the only subtest which did not prove significant (greater than .025). Overall t analysis between the groups displayed significance at the .01 level. As was expected the delinquent group performed significantly higher on those functions requiring complex problem-solving and language abilities. On the Bender-Gestalt test of visio-motor abilities group, significance was displayed at the .05 level.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Clinical correlates of ADHD in females: findings from a large group of girls ascertained from pediatric and psychiatric referral sources.

OBJECTIVE: The scientific literature about attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is based almost exclusively on male subjects, and girls with ADHD may be underidentified and undertreated. The aim of this study was to examine clinical correlates of ADHD in females using comprehensive assessments in multiple domains of functioning. METHOD: Subjects were 140 girls with ADHD and 122 comparison girls without ADHD ascertained from pediatric and psychiatric referral sources of the same age and social class. Subjects were assessed with structured diagnostic interviews, psychometric tests assessing intellectual functioning and academic achievement, as well as standardized assessments of interpersonal, school, and family functioning by raters who were blind to clinical diagnosis. RESULTS: Compared with female controls, girls with ADHD were more likely to have conduct, mood, and anxiety disorders; lower IQ and achievement scores; and more impairment on measures of social, school, and family functioning. CONCLUSIONS: These results extend to girls previous findings in boys indicating that ADHD is characterized by prototypical core symptoms of the disorder, high levels of comorbid psychopathology, and dysfunction in multiple domains. These results not only support findings documenting phenotypic similarities between the genders but also stress the severity of the disorder in females.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

[Guidelines towards examination of the lung function in children (author's transl)].

Examination of the lung function in school children is complicated and necessitates a considerable amount of technical equipment. The general practitioner carrying out the examination should not forget that a detailed clinical examination and a good stethoscope can provide important information for the diagnosis, differential diagnosis and further therapy of the child. The range of so-called simple electronic spirometers with a print-out of data tempts practitioner to use them in the diagnostics of the functioning of the lung. There is, however, considerable danger that these instruments lead more often in wrong results. A simple bell spirograph with a recording unit together with a helium analysis instrument allows the doctor to make a complete spirogram which gives exact information. In addition, the doctor requires a special lung laboratory to which to transfer children for a period of supervision and larger. The doctor should be aware that an absence of clinical symptoms, proved in practice, does not necessarily mean that the lung is working normally. Indication of an extended examination of the lungs can be deduced from a blood gas analysis, which can, with some practice be determined in the office. A reduced pO2 or an increased pCO2 can indeed indicate a disorder even when the child appears on examination to be clinically healthy. Instruments new commonly in use for analyzing the blood gas with capillary blood can also be introduced into the office.

Body Height↗
PubMed1990

[The importance of nonverbal motor examination methods in screening for minimal brain dysfunction].

During screening of disorders of activities ascribed among others to the effect of minimal brain dysfunction (MBD) by means of indirect, questionnaire methods the influence of social conditioning, e.g. overprotection by parents or neglected education, cannot be ruled out. Because in screening of this type the testing part of the diagnostic process is lacking, it is desirable to assess not only disorders of acquired mental functions in school children but to check the course of learning. In order to eliminate verbal transfer and to restrict the influence of previously acquired cognitive strategies which are also socially conditioned, it is expedient to select for tests of learning new unequivocally defined motor patterns. The advantage of motor learning is the possibility to follow up readily observable movements in the course of learning. Contrary to gross cerebral lesions where there are usually disorders of various mental functions, depending on the affection of the right or left hemisphere, in subclinical compensated cerebral affections, e.g. in MBD, it is rather a problem of more difficult cooperation of the two cerebral hemispheres when the demands on attention and integrated activity are increased. In this connection we may also reflect on the relationship with the diffuse polymodal non-specific sensory system. In this respect the difference in performance of learned activities and in tests of motor learning in subjects with MBD is important. It may be assumed that after learning an activity the demands on attention are reduced and thus the differences between healthy children and children with MBD are masked.

Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity↗
PubMed1993

Pre- and postnatal low-level lead exposure and children's dysfunction in school.

The contributions of pre- and postnatal low-level lead exposures to the risk of learning problems were evaluated among 1923 children who were born in one Boston hospital in 1979-1980 and followed to age 8 years. In this relatively privileged group, more than 20% of the children had a mother with some formal postgraduate education. Prenatal lead exposure was estimated with a measurement of umbilical cord blood lead content, and postnatal lead exposure was approximated with measurement of lead in the dentin of an exfoliated deciduous tooth. Information about potential confounders and effect modifiers was obtained from maternal interview shortly after delivery and from a mailed questionnaire completed and returned when the child was approximately 6 years old. An assessment of each child's function in school was provided by the teacher, who completed a questionnaire near the end of the school year in which the child reached the age of 8 years. We considered a learning problem to be related to lead exposure if its adjusted prevalence increased with each loge increase in lead, and if the adjusted prevalence was elevated among children with high levels (i.e., approximating the highest decile) of umbilical cord blood lead (i.e., > or = 10 micrograms/dl) or dentin lead (i.e., > or = 5 micrograms/g). Girls with elevated umbilical cord blood lead levels were more likely than their peers to be dependent and inpersistent and to display an inflexible and inappropriate approach to tasks (defined as the "tasks" cluster). Boys with elevated umbilical cord blood lead levels were more likely than others to have difficulty with both simple directions and sequences of directions. Among girls, elevated deciduous tooth dentin lead content was associated with reading and spelling difficulties, the tasks cluster, and with "not functioning as well as peers." Elevated dentin lead levels were not overrepresented among boys with any of the assessed learning clusters. These findings are consistent with the inference that lead levels still prevalent among children (i.e., blood < 15 micrograms/dl) are associated with some learning problems in girls.

Child↗
PubMed1984

Epidemiological monitoring in the vicinity of a coal-fired power plant.

An epidemiological monitoring program has been designed and put into operation in response to a health monitoring requirement of a permit to build a coal-fired power plant. It will consist of four 350 megawatt units and is being built on the Mediterranean coast about halfway between Tel-Aviv and Haifa; the first unit became operational in 1981. The resident population within a 10 km. radius consists of about 69,000 persons. The permit to build this power plant required the installation of a comprehensive monitoring network including environmental, health and agricultural monitoring. Four types of studies are included in the epidemiological monitoring program: mortality analyses, monitoring of requests for health services, studies of pulmonary symptoms and lung function in school children, and panel studies of children and adults with chronic pulmonary conditions. Areas of maximal expected exposure risk and two other comparable areas of lesser risk were chosen, based on expected emissions, meterological and topographical considerations; baseline data were gathered for a year prior to the operation of the first unit of the power plant. Subsequent data are planned to be collected for another 10 years. The program permits detection of short-term effects based on increases in health service requests, medium-term effects by repeat examination of panelists, and long-term effects based on pulmonary conditions among school children. The initial survey, before plant operations showed, among other things, lower flow rates for children in the area expected to have medium levels of exposure.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Impact of iron supplementation on cognitive functions in preschool and school-aged children: the Indian experience.

Four studies examined impacts of iron supplementation on school children of various ages and both sexes. The first study investigated impact of iron-folic acid supplements for 60 d on cognition in 94 boys and girls aged 5-8 y. Improvement in total scores of the anemics was significantly higher than the nonanemics in 7-8-y-old children only. The second study assessed impacts of supplementation on cognition in 14 pairs of 5-6-y-old anemic boys, with clear beneficial effects on cognitive function. The third study investigated effects of varying dosages of elemental iron on cognitive function in 48 boys aged 8-15 y, with different levels of improvement. The fourth study investigated impacts of iron supplementation on 163 anemic girls aged 8-15 y with treatment and evaluations at 4 and 8 mo, with significantly improved scores in cognitive function after the eighth month.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

The CARE Program: a nurse-managed collaborative outpatient program to improve function of frail older people. Collaborative Assessment and Rehabilitation for Elders.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Frail older adults are especially vulnerable in a health system that is fragmented and fails to focus on preservation or restoration of function. The School of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, together with the School of Medicine and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, established the Collaborative Assessment and Rehabilitation for Elders (CARE) Program to meet the needs of this population. We used the British Day Hospital as a model because it provides a comprehensive approach to care and a bridge between acute, home-based, and institutional long-term care. We have designed our program to provide innovative, interdisciplinary care as well as to be reimbursable under current and future payment structures. This nurse-managed, collaborative practice seeks to maximize independent functioning, promote health, and enhance quality of life for chronically ill, frail older adults living in the community whose needs are left unmet by existing services. The program was certified as a Comprehensive Outpatient Rehabilitation Facility (CORF) in December 1993 to maximize reimbursement of services through Medicare and other third party payers. With a Gerontological Nurse Practitioner as care manager, clients receive an intensive, individualized, time-limited program of nursing, rehabilitation, mental health, social, and medical services in one setting several days each week. Additional geriatric services, such as primary care, are available in the same location when needed. SETTING: The program is housed in renovated space devoted to the care of older people. The academic and clinical offices of the University of Pennsylvania's nursing and medical gerontologic and geriatric faculty are in the same building. PARTICIPANTS: We have targeted those persons older than age 65 who have complex health problems and are living at home. Individuals must need multiple services, including at least one rehabilitation therapy, and they must be unsuitable-for inpatient rehabilitation. DESCRIPTION OF THE POPULATION: In its first 8 months of operation, the program received 97 referrals and admitted 53 clients. Clients were, on average, 78 years of age. Over three-fourths (77%) were women and 58% were black. The average stay in the program was 6 weeks. FIM scores, which improved a mean of 2.4 points, were found to lack sensitivity to the functional improvements achieved by clients. CONCLUSION: Under existing Medicare and third party reimbursement policies, it is feasible to establish a nurse-managed comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation program designed to meet the needs of frail older persons. Preliminary data support the beneficial effects of the program as well as the economic feasibility of this approach.

Academic Medical Centers↗
PubMed1996

Long-term behavioral sequelae of prematurity.

OBJECTIVE: Longitudinal evaluation of the competence and the prevalence of behavior problems in preterm children with serious neonatal complications. METHOD: Prospective follow-up of nonhandicapped preterm children who had been hospitalized in a neonatal intensive care unit (n = 177). The follow-up extended from early school age to early adolescence and was conducted with the help of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) (parent form). RESULTS: The preterm children had lower scores on the Social and School Competence scales than did controls (n = 276). They also were more likely to attend special schools than were children in the general population. With regard to behavior problems, the preterm children had more social problems. The very preterm children and the children who were small for gestational age (SGA) were the ones who contributed to the significant findings. The children who were appropriate for gestational age did not differ from controls. No differential changes in CBCL ratings were found between the preterm and control children. The stability with regard to internalizing problems, attention problems, and social problems was high among the very preterm children and SGA children. CONCLUSION: Very preterm and preterm SGA children are at increased risk of problems in social functioning and functioning at school. These problems persist with age.

Achievement↗
PubMed1989

Interaction of spatial perception, vestibular function, and exercise in young school age boys with learning disabilities.

Form rotation, figure directionality, and figure-ground discrimination were evaluated before and after 10 days of vestibular or aerobic exercises for 30 boys (7 to 12 yr.) who showed problems in learning, reading, and inattention. Eight subjects had normal vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) responses as determined by caloric and rotational testing. They were assigned to a vestibular program (Control Group I). The 22 subjects with abnormal VOR test responses were randomly assigned to either aerobic exercises (Experimental Group II) or a vestibular program (Experimental Group III). Spatial perceptual test scores varied widely, with the majority performing below age-expected norms but no significant differences on vestibular status appeared. Postexercise, only subjects completing the vestibular program made significant gains: Experimental Group III (abnormal VOR) made significant gains in accuracy and normal test responses compared to the other groups, and Control Group I made significantly greater gains in speed of spatial perceptual processing. For boys with problems in learning, reading, inattention, and vestibular function, a vestibular exercise program complementing a traditional or special educational program may enhance the spatial perceptual skills needed for reading.

Attention↗
PubMed1997

Lung function and airway responsiveness in children and adolescents after hyaline membrane disease: a matched cohort study.

Some investigators consider prematurity to be responsible for the lung function abnormalities found in prematurely born children and adolescents who had neonatal respiratory diseases. This study attempts to measure the effect of neonatal respiratory disease on lung function during school age and adolescence, by controlling the confounding effect due to prematurity. Lung volumes, airway resistance and specific airway conductance measured by plethysmography, maximum expiratory flow-volume curves, pulmonary diffusion of carbon monoxide, and the airway responsiveness to a challenge with methacholine, were determined in a cohort of children aged 8-14 yrs, who had suffered from hyaline membrane disease but who did not develop bronchopulmonary dysplasia. The values obtained were compared with those of children without hyaline membrane disease, not ventilated for other causes, and matched for gestational age, sex and age. Thirty six pairs of children were enrolled, of which 26 participated in the methacholine test. Compared to their paired controls, children with hyaline membrane disease had a significantly lower forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), forced mid-expiratory flow (FEF25-75), and maximal expiratory flow when 75, 50 and 25% of the forced vital capacity remained in the lung (MEF75, MEF50 and MEF25, respectively), and a significantly higher airway resistance (Raw). The effect was less in children born more prematurely, who showed less difference in FEF25-75, MEF75 and MEF25. The duration of treatment with steroids in the neonatal period was associated with a reduction in the differences in FEV1, MEF25 and Raw. Independent of prematurity, hyaline membrane disease and its treatment is associated with alterations in long-term lung function, even in children who do not develop bronchopulmonary dysplasia. The effect can be less in more premature children, and neonatal steroids can have a long-term preventive effect.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

[Role of pathology as clinical medicine: experience at Kawasaki Medical School].

The department of Pathology at Kawasaki Medical School was destined, from the outset of its foundation, to be one of clinical departments. To discuss the role of pathology as clinical medicine, the actual state of our department is described here with reference to its organization, principles, and quality assurance program in both surgical pathology service and hospital practice. The department at School also functions as a hospital pathology department and handles 10,000 surgical and 18,000 cytology materials as well as about 180 autopsies per year. Examination of the tissues and organs removed from the patients is wholly entrusted to our department in its full responsibility. All the tissue sections are examined by multiple certified pathologists and reports are returned by the third day. Case reviews are regularly done by peer reviewers and through the conferences held between pathology and relevant clinical departments. The latter conferences serve as a medical audit in the hospital as well. The pathologists sometimes participate in the performance of aspiration cytology, and muscle and nerve biopsy. It is hoped that the description of our experience in surgical pathology will provide some insights on the improvement of the system to concerned readers and cause lively discussion on this matter.

Humans↗
PubMed1978

Quality of life for long-term survivors of end-stage renal disease.

Eighteen children and adolescents who survived two years or longer in an attempt to manage their end-stage renal failure by transplantation were studied. The psychological adaptation of the young person to this form of management of renal disease was assessed by a semistructured interview of the patient and his parents. Fifty percent of the patients functioned at school or on the job and did not have depression. The remaining half did less well. In our institution a satisfactory quality of life required a successful transplant.

Adaptation, Psychological↗