University of Memphis

About: University of Memphis is a education organization based out in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 7710 authors who have published 20082 publications receiving 611618 citations. The organization is also known as: U of M.

Model of Associations Between Psychosocial Variables and Health-Outcome Measures of Adolescents with IDDM

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to develop a model that describes the contributions of key psychosocial variables to the health outcome of adolescents with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). Subjects were 93 adolescents with IDDM and their parents. Health-outcome measures included adherence and metabolic control (HbA 1c ). Psychosocial variables included adolescent age, chronic life stress, social competence, family relations, and family knowledge about IDDM. Multiple regression analyses showed that adherence ( P P P P P 1c and 18.5% of the variance in predicting adherence. In general, these findings are consistent with extant theory. The direct link between stress and metabolic control, however, contrasts with the current view that psychosocial variables affect metabolic control indirectly through their influence on adherence behavior. The methodological limitations of the findings are noted, directions for future research are suggested, and the implications for clinical interventions are described.

Predicting Affective States expressed through an Emote-Aloud Procedure from AutoTutor's Mixed-Initiative Dialogue

Abstract: This paper investigates how frequent conversation patterns from a mixed-initiative dialogue with an intelligent tutoring system, AutoTutor, can significantly predict users' affective states (e.g. confusion, eureka, frustration). This study adopted an emote-aloud procedure in which participants were recorded as they verbalized their affective states while interacting with AutoTutor. The tutor-tutee interaction was coded on scales of conversational directness (the amount of information provided by the tutor to the learner, with a theoretical ordering of assertion > prompt for particular information > hint), feedback (positive, neutral, negative), and content coverage scores for each student contribution obtained from the tutor's log files. Correlation and regression analyses confirmed the hypothesis that dialogue features could significantly predict the affective states of confusion, eureka, and frustration. Standard classification techniques were used to assess the reliability of the automatic detection of learners' affect from the conversation features. We discuss the prospects of extending AutoTutor into an affect-sensing intelligent tutoring system.

WHO cross-cultural applicability research on diagnosis and assessment of substance use disorders: an overview of methods and selected results.

Abstract: The cross-cultural applicability of criteria for the diagnosis of substance use disorders and of instruments used for their assessment were studied in nine cultures. The qualitative and quantitative methods used in the study are described. Equivalents for English terms and concepts were found for all instrument items, diagnostic criteria, diagnoses and concepts, although often there was no single term equivalent to the English in the languages studied. Items assuming self-consciousness about feelings, and imputing causal relations, posed difficulties in several cultures. Single equivalent terms were lacking for some diagnostic criteria, and criteria were sometimes not readily differentiated from one another. Several criteria--narrowing of the drinking repertoire, time spent obtaining and using the drug, and tolerance for the drug--were less easy to use in cultures other than the United States. Thresholds for diagnosis used by clinicians often differed. In most cultures, clinicians were more likely to make a diagnosis of drug dependence than of alcohol dependence although behavioural signs were equivalent. The attitudes of societies to alcohol and drug use affects the use of criteria and the making of diagnoses.