M.A. / This qualitative study will research five children's experience of long-term play therapy, from the perspective of the child. In exploring and describing the children's experience, the study will be a tentative delving into the 'inner workings' of one approach to play therapy, developed by this researcher in her private clinical practice. The research will aim to begin to make explicit the 'sub-text' of play therapy; that is, to give a voice to the child patient's usually unarticulated experience of the helping process. By directly researching the child's experience of play therapy from the perspective of the child, the study will represent a departure from the emphasis clinicians and researchers have historically placed on their theories and professional roles in therapeutic practice and discourse: Gardner, (1993) for example, in his account of the development of play therapy techniques in the twentieth century, reviews a broad range of classical and contemporary texts, all of which promote the central role of practitioners and their theories. Further, as noted by Spinelli (1994:77), "somewhat amazingly, given the large amount of studies dealing with therapy and therapists, there exist very few exhaustive studies that focus exclusively on the client's experience of therapy.'

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Uppsala University, 1989. / In English. Includes bibliographical references (p. 582-592).

No description available.

Data sets from research in clinical practice professions often do not meet assumptions necessary for appropriate use of parametric statistics (Lezak and Gray, 1984). When assumptions underlying the use of the parametric tests are violated or cannot be documented, the power of the parametric test may be invalidated and consequently, the significance levels inaccurate (Gibbons, 1976). Much research has investigated the relative merits of parametric versus nonparametric procedures using simulation studies, but little has been done using actual data sets from a particular discipline. This study compared the application of parametric and nonparametric statistics using a body of literature in clinical occupational therapy. The most common parametric procedures in occupational therapy research literature from 1980 - 1984 were identified using methodology adapted from Goodwin and Goodwin (1985). Five small sample size data sets from published occupational therapy research articles typifying the most commonly used univariate parametric procedures were obtained, and subjected to exploratory data analyses (Tukey, 1977) in order to evaluate whether or not assumptions underlying appropriate use of the respective parametric procedures had been met. Subsequently, the nonparametric analogue test was identified and computed. Results revealed that in three of the five cases (paired t-test, one factor ANOVA and Pearson Correlation Coefficient) assumptions underlying the use of the parametric test were not met. In one case (independent t-test) the assumptions were met with a minor qualification. In only one case (simple linear regression) were assumptions clearly met. It was also found that in each of the two cases where parametric assumptions were met, no significant differences in p values between the parametric and the nonparametric tests were found. And conversely, in each of the three cases where parametric assumptions were not met, significant differences between the parametric and nonparametric results were found. These findings indicate that if cases were considered as a whole, there was a one hundred percent agreement between whether or not parametric assumptions were violated and whether or not differences were discovered regarding parametric versus nonparametric results. Other findings regarding (a) non-normality, (b) outliers, (c) multiple violation of assumptions for a given procedure, and (d) research designs employed are discussed and implications identified. Suggestions for future research are put forth. / Ph. D.

Nomen est Omen: Mit dem Titel der neuen Zeitschrift VERHALTENSTHERAPIE möchten wir signalisieren, daß sie ein Forum für alle verhaltenstherapeutisch arbeitenden Kolleginnen und Kollegen in Forschung und Praxis werden soll. Aus diesem Grunde erfolgte auch der Verzicht auf Untertitel wie «kognitive», «integrierte», «experimentelle» Verhaltenstherapie oder den Begriff «Verhaltensmedizin». Verhaltenstherapie ist im deutschsprachigen Raum seit langem als Psychotherapieverfahren in fast allen Bereichen der Gesundheitsversorgung für ein breites Spektrum psychischer und organischer Erkrankungen, Störungen und Probleme bei Patienten aller Altersgruppen fest etabliert. Nach mehreren Jahren der schrittweisen Vorbereitung ist sie seit 1987 auch Bestandteil der «Richtlinien-Psychotherapie» in der kassenärztlichen Versorgung - wobei das Delegationsverfahren für Diplom-Psychologen allerdings umstritten ist.

The Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) rat was used as a model of human retinal degenerative disease, and for studying the efficacy of cell transplanation treatments. In order to characterize the spatial vision of the RCS strain, the visual acutiy and contrast sensitivity of adult non-dystrophic RCS rats was measured. The acuity and contrast sensitivity of these rats was normal. The acuity of dystrophic RCS rats was alos characterized to determine how photoreceptor degeneration affects vision. These rats progressively lost visual acuity from one month of age until elevn months of age when they were judged to be blind. The degeneration of vision in these animals was more protacted than would be predicted from previous anatomical and electrophysiological measures. Subretinal transplantation of human-derived Retinal Pigment Epithelial (RPE) cells and human Schwann cells into the dystrophic RCS rat significantly delayed the loss of visual acuity. These studies show that cell transplantation may be a viable method of limiting loss of vision in humans with retinal degenerative blinding diseases. / vii, 77 leaves ; 29 cm.

This study examined the effects of music on improving quality of sleep. Participants were randomly assigned to either a music assisted relaxation or a relaxation alone condition. Individuals in both groups were taught varying relaxation methods and were provided with a relaxation script which incorporated each of the methods. Those in the music assisted relaxation condition were allowed to select their top two pieces from a list of relaxing music. The selections were placed on a CD being played in the background while a relaxation script was read. Those in the relaxation alone condition received a CD with the same relaxation script heard by those in the music assisted relaxation condition. Global sleep scores (as measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index) were taken on the first and last days of the experiment. Examining individual and group scores showed no statistically significant difference between music assisted relaxation and relaxation alone. Discussion focuses on the implications for future research in the area of music's effect on sleep quality.

Nomen est Omen: Mit dem Titel der neuen Zeitschrift VERHALTENSTHERAPIE möchten wir signalisieren, daß sie ein Forum für alle verhaltenstherapeutisch arbeitenden Kolleginnen und Kollegen in Forschung und Praxis werden soll. Aus diesem Grunde erfolgte auch der Verzicht auf Untertitel wie «kognitive», «integrierte», «experimentelle» Verhaltenstherapie oder den Begriff «Verhaltensmedizin». Verhaltenstherapie ist im deutschsprachigen Raum seit langem als Psychotherapieverfahren in fast allen Bereichen der Gesundheitsversorgung für ein breites Spektrum psychischer und organischer Erkrankungen, Störungen und Probleme bei Patienten aller Altersgruppen fest etabliert. Nach mehreren Jahren der schrittweisen Vorbereitung ist sie seit 1987 auch Bestandteil der «Richtlinien-Psychotherapie» in der kassenärztlichen Versorgung - wobei das Delegationsverfahren für Diplom-Psychologen allerdings umstritten ist.

Clinical research has been identified with key occupational therapy issues such as professionalization and establishing the efficacy of practice within the competitive health care marketplace. The natural clinical practice setting provides the optimum environment for conducting research pertaining to practice, and a small but growing number of practitioners have managed to integrate research and practice in such an environment. While there has been a significant amount of literature advocating research involvement for practitioners primarily involved in clinical practice, no formal studies existed of the complex factors affecting a therapist's ability to integrate research with practice. This exploratory, descriptive study investigated an emerging role in occupational therapy: therapists who combine practitioner and researcher roles in their daily work with patients in clinical settings. Four major research questions were posed: (a) How does an occupational therapy practitioner adopt the practitioner /researcher role? (b) What activities constitute research in clinical settings? (c) How does the clinical environment affect research activities? and (d) What educational experiences do practitioner /researchers describe as important for accomplishing research in clinical settings? Goals were to develop an understanding of the emerging role by identifying personal, environmental, and educational factors, and determining their importance for current practitioners while obtaining recommendations for others. A custom-designed questionnaire was sent to the practitioner /researcher population (N = 116); the response rate was 89% (103). Quantitative analyses included measures of central tendency and variability. The Number Cruncher Statistical System computer program assisted with quantitative analyses and the Ethnograph computer program assisted written questionnaire analyses. Demographic information was collected to enhance data interpretation. Major findings include: (a) learning circumstances focusing on performance and application of clinical research were important for adopting a dual practice/research role; (b) research activities reflected the evolving character of the role; (c) support from facility administration and a personal commitment to research were critical for success; (d) formal courses were important for current research, but so were informal discussions regarding application and problem solving. A lack of opportunities for continuing education in research was reported. Implications for university curricula, continuing education, and clinical environments are discussed. Recommendations for future research are presented. / Ed. D.

D.Litt. et Phil. / A problematic aspect of the latter half of the twentieth century in the South African health context, has been the change of the incidence of hypertension amongst black South Africans from being barely. endemic to being a virtual epidemic. This change in hypertension has had several negative components, notably the development of malignant hypertension wherein a markedly accelerated rate of development in hypertension has led to severely high incidences of morbidity and mortality amongst black South Africans notably in urban areas. Many researchers have cited the rapid process of urbaniztion as being the major cause, of this rapid rise in the relative incidence of hypertension amongst black South Africans. Whereas previously, the rapid rise of hypertension in urbanizing black South Africans has been attributed to the social readjustment, associated with urbanization, recent research have suggested that it is not only stressrelated, but also related to a change in basic lifestyle. Basic lifestyle changes have been found to include a change in work ethic from being a rural, cooperative work ethic, to being an urbanized firstworld type A, aggressive, competitive workstyle. This has led also to changes in eating habits with the ingestion of more salt, fats and oils, and has led to a hurried, but non exercised lifestyle. Because of the rapid increase of incidence of hypertension amongst black South Africans, the treatment of this condition has become problematic~ While black South Africans do not respond as well to traditional pharmacological interventions in this condition, they also show side-effects which make it very difficult for them to continue taking this medication. The cost aspects have also been noted to be prohibitively high and the availability of medicines because of the cost aspects has been projected to decline in the coming century. For this reason it would be "important to address other adjunctive measures to treat hypertension amongst black South Africans. In addition to standard harmacological interventions , it appears that there has been mention in the Iiterature of. lifestyle changes to be an efficacious intervention method in stabilizing and reducing blood pressure amongst hypertensives. This has however not been investigated individually or systematically amongst black South Africans. It was therefore the purpose of this study to investigate the effectiveness of lifestyle intervention programs, notably an aerobic exercise intervention, a dietary intervention, and an intervention to increase assertiveness and therefore reduce the aggressiveness associated with the competitive working style acquired by black South Africans. In order to test the efficacy of these treatment measures, a large group of black mineworkers were selected on a basis of meeting the diagnostic criteria for essential hypertension. These black mineworkers were then systematically sUbjected to an aerobic exercise intervention, a dietary intervention, and anger management by means of assertiveness training. Various measures were performed on a pretest and posttest basis. All three interventions were shown to have moderate efficacy. It was found that aerobic exercise, the dietary intervention and the anger management to be associated with a decline in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and to be associated with a reduction in the taking of hypertensive medication as ordered by the attending physicians. The aerobic exercise intervention also indicated that black South African mineworkers are relatively unfit and a ch~nge in fitness resulted in a decline in systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The dietary intervention proved to be efficient in terms of changing lifestyle eating habits. Of note is the fact that there was a substantial decrease in the taking of medication when compared to a· control group. It would appear from this research that the specific forms of lifestyle change in black hypertensives noted in this study would be an efficient adjunct or even a substitute for present treatment of hypertension amongst black mineworkers.