Evaluated effectiveness of three strategies for delivering relaxation training to cancer chemotherapy patients who were experiencing treatment-related side effects. Professionally, as opposed to paraprofessionally, administered or audiotaped progressive muscle-relaxation training and guided relaxation imagery reduced emotional distress and…

Suggests that the issue of group psychotherapy being harmful to some inpatients, although significant, is meaningless in the absence of further specification of what is being done with whom. Emphasizes the need to address therapeutic "casualties." Questions the clinical folklore regarding patients who must be protected from group psychotherapy,…

Explored attitudes toward the elderly of nursing personnel (N=101) employed in long-term care settings. Also investigated the impact of an experiential education program on the attitudes of nursing personnel providing daily care for the aged. Results tend to contradict several popularly held beliefs. (Author/ABB)

Indicates a vertical flow of influence from health professional to consumer, but questions the assumption that physicians are perceived as the most appropriate interpersonal sources for all health matters. Finds that sources of information and advice vary with the type and characteristics of the medication and the characteristics of the…

Attempts to identify and describe perceived stress and coping responses of family and nonfamily significant others of cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. Significant others were asked to identify stressful events related to treatment factors, relationship factors, and perception of the patient's condition. Coping responses were categorized in…

Examined patients (N=14) with mild Alzheimer's dementia (DAT), patients with major depression (N=10), and normal control subjects (N=14), for rate of forgetting. Suggests that some form of deficient consolidation contributes to memory loss in DAT but not in depression. Implicates the disruption of different psychobiological mechanisms in these…

Draws from the work of A. Jonson to discuss ways ethics and communication occur together in health care and the communication aspects in the interaction of doctor and patient. (VLC)

Examined the rating behavior of Black and White judges within the context of a social skills training program for patients (N=12) diagnosed as schizophrenic. Results indicated that Black and White judges may rate various social behaviors differently. (LLL)

Scores for measures of empathy on four instruments (hornblow scale, Hogan's empathy scale, the Carkhuff-Truax emphathic understanding scale, and the Barrett-Lennard relationship inventory) were found to be highly intercorrelated when based on observed student behavior. (Author/MLW)

Summarizes some events in the use of medical technology in relation to the spoken word and doctor-patient communication. Reports on a new computerized diagnostic system (PROMIS-the Problem Oriented Medical Record System) and discusses its impact on health communication and medical education. (PD)

A factor analysis of Hispanic, Black, and Caucasian patient request data generated three conceptual factors, which account for 13 reasons for coming to a psychiatric outpatient clinic. The relationship of these factors with selected demographic and therapy outcome variables was tested statistically, and implications for therapy with low income and…

Compared hospital-based psychological interventions for improving the physical, psychological, and life-style status of patients after myocardial infarction with routine medical and nursing care. Follow-ups showed intervention groups performed significantly better on measures of psychological and life-style functioning; they also reported fewer…

A study to determine whether any previous training had been received in death counseling, to assess the need for resident physicians to provide such counseling, and to define the self-perceived confidence level of resident physicians in providing psychosocial support to dying patients and their families is described. (Author/MLW)

Medical students in a course that included instruction in patient interviewing participated in an experiment devised to alert them to sources of bias that might influence their judgments and management of patients. Suggestions are made for incorporating such sensitization experiments in the medical curriculum. (Author/LBH)

On June 26, 1975, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled unanimously that mental patients cannot be confined against their will without treatment if they are not dangerous and are capable of surviving outside the institution. The ruling was in behalf of Kenneth Donaldson and this interview is the story of his experiences in a state mental…