Alcohol use and comorbid anxiety, traumatic stress, and hopelessness among Hispanics.

Little is known about the comorbidity of alcohol use, anxiety, hopelessness, and trauma among Mexican Americans, especially those living in impoverished and often isolated communities or neighborhoods (colonias in Spanish) along the U.S.-Mexico border that may be particularly vulnerable due to stressful living conditions.

Motivation and neuropsychological test performance following mild head injury.

Effect of motivation on neuropsychological test performance in mild head injury was assessed. Motivation was measured using the Portland Digit RecognitionTest. Three groups were compared: (a) mildhead injury, financial incentives, good motivation; (b) mild head injury, financial incentives, poor motivation; (c) moderate/severe head injury, good motivation.

Pain Assessment for the Dementing Elderly (PADE): reliability and validity of a new measure.

Objectives: To establish the reliability and validity of a measure to assess pain in individuals with advanced dementia.

Design: Sixty-five residents of long-term care facilities were assessed using a new rating tool, the Pain Assessment for the Dementing Elderly (PADE), in two separate studies: (1) Residents were assessed simultaneously by two different raters, at Time 1 and 2, to establish interrater reliability, stability, and internal consistency. (2) Validity was established by assessing the correlation between an agitation scale and the PADE; by comparing groups with pain as a significant clinical factor (as assessed by an independent rater) versus not a significant factor, and by assessing individuals receiving versus not receiving psychoactive medications.