Robin L. Dutra

Rightward orienting bias, wheelchair maneuvering, and fall risk

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether rightward orienting bias, without neglect of left hemispace, increased accident risk. DESIGN Case-control study. SETTING Inpatient rehabilitation unit of department of government medical center. PATIENTS Successive right-cerebrovascular accident (CVA) admissions were reviewed over a 2-year period. Only patients with left hemisphere damage, recent abusive drinking, dementia, or inpatient stays of less than 3 weeks were excluded. Fifty-five right-CVA subjects were divided into three groups, based on starting point and omissions in left hemispace on the Rey-Osterreith Complex Figure Drawing and Random Letter Cancellation test. Thirty-two patients were placed in the L-OMIT group (omitted stimuli in left hemispace), 11 patients were placed in the R-BIAS group (began tasks to the right without omissions), and 12 patients were placed in the Non-Neglect Stroke group (no evidence of unilateral neglect). Twenty male inpatients with no history of brain damage served as controls (Normal Control). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Frequency of hospital falls and wheelchair obstacle course contacts. RESULTS Both the L-OMIT and the R-BIAS groups had more inpatient falls than the other groups F(3,71) = 6.11, p < .001. On the wheelchair obstacle course, the L-OMIT group made more left-sided wheelchair collisions than any other group. However, the R-BIAS group also made more errors than the Non-Neglect Stroke and the Normal Control groups, F(3,55) = 5.72, p < .01). CONCLUSIONS Results suggest that rightward orienting bias has clinical significance, even without more serious symptoms of unilateral neglect.

Child resiliency in inner-city families affected by HIV: the role of family variables.

This study examined the role of family variables in child resiliency within a sample of African-American, inner-city children whose mothers are HIV-infected. Variables from three dimensions of the family were included: family structural variables, maternal variables, and mother-child (parenting) variables. The participants were 82 children between the ages of 6 and 11 and their HIV-infected mothers. Correlational analyses indicated that resiliency was associated only with three parenting variables: parent-child relationship, parental monitoring, and parental structure in the home. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated a multiplicative relationship between parental monitoring and parent-child relationship and between parental monitoring and parental structure in the home, suggesting that parenting variables potentiate each other. Clinical implications of the findings are considered.

Child abduction: aged-based analyses of offender, victim, and offense characteristics in 550 cases of alleged child disappearance.

Crimes against children, particularly cases involving abduction and/or homicide, continue to be problematic as both a social phenomenon and judicial responsibility. Such cases routinely receive immense community and media attention and rapidly overwhelm investigative resources. Research in the area of childhood victimization, however, has only recently gained national prominence. While numerous studies on child abuse and neglect have been conducted, research on child abduction and homicide remains scant. Previous studies examining child abduction suffer from limited geographical scope or fail to base predictive analyses on victim characteristics. The current study reports the results of a nationally representative sample (47 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico) of 550 cases of alleged child abduction obtained from Federal Bureau of Investigation files for the period 1985 through 1995. Study results demonstrate that both offender and offense characteristics vary significantly according to victim age, gender, and race. Such differences appear critical to crime reconstruction, criminal profiling, and investigative resolution. Additionally, these data suggest that current child abduction prevention programs may emphasize inaccurate offender traits.

Digit span performance and unilateral neglect.

This study tested the alternative hypotheses of Weinberg et al. (J. clin. Psychol. 28, 361, 1976) and Robertson (Neuropsychologia 28, 217-222, 1990) regarding the nature of dysfunctions underlying impaired backward digit span among patients with unilateral neglect. Results support the Weinberg et al. hypothesis that visual imagery plays a primary role in performance of Digits Backward. The findings also indicate a unilateral component to the Digits Backward task. Both neglecting and non-neglecting patients with high digit span discrepancy (DD) evidenced attentional bias to right space and a specific impairment in rotating objects in left space. Results were not consistent with Robertsons hypothesis that high DD arises from a general attentional deficit. In fact, patients with low DD evidence greatest impairment on tests of attention.

Psychometric properties of the rey-osterrieth complex figure: Lezak-osterrieth versus denman scoring systems

Abstract This study computes and compares interrater and internal consistency reliabilities of the Lezak and Denman scoring systems using three independent raters (N = 318; copy and recall phases). In general, interrater and internal consistency reliabilities for both scoring systems were high and equivalent. Based on the levels of discriminant indices, one item in the recall phase of both scoring methods failed to meet inclusionary criteria for scale retention. However, exclusion of the item would not meaningfully improve the reliability of either system; therefore, no changes in the present protocols are warranted. Selection of scoring method should be based on criteria such as availability of appropriate normative data, cost, or time in scoring.

Tactual Performance Test: internal consistency reliability of the memory and location scores.

Internal consistency reliabilities were computed for the Tactual Performance Test Memory and Location scores (N = 602). After adjusting for unequal item difficulty, the reliabilities for Memory and Location were .69 and .79, respectively.

SPEECH-SOUNDS PERCEPTION TEST: ANALYSIS OF ERROR TYPES IN NORMAL AND DIFFUSELY BRAIN-DAMAGED PATIENTS '

An analysis of the types of error (Initial, Terminal, and Both) made on the Speech-Sounds Perception Test was conducted on data collected from 104 normal controls and 56 diffusely brain-damaged patients. The brain-damaged group made more Terminal and Both errors than the normal group. A logistic regression analysis showed that knowing the types of error did not produce a higher percentage of correctly classified subjects than knowing only the total score.

Speech-Sounds Perception Test: analysis of a randomized answer form.

Responses to two forms of the answer sheet for the Speech-Sounds Perception Test, the standard form and a revised form in which the error types were randomized, were analyzed for 40 subjects. Although there was a statistically significant difference between the forms, practically it was negligible.