The purpose of the study was to examine the relationships between secondary stressors associated with a parent death and mental health in adolescents of traffic victims. A questionnaire including demographic characteristics, Bereavement Secondary Stressors Scale (BSSS) and the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) was sent to 51 university students and 69 high-school students who lost parents in traffic accidents. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of the BSSS identified three factors : "financial problem", "burden in chores and family roles" and "failure of family cohesion". Path analysis showed these three subscale scores explained 26% of the variance in GHQ. The burden in chores and family roles and failure of family cohesion were significantly related to lower mental health. The findings suggest the need of family support focusing on burden in chores and family roles and failure of family cohesion, as well as bereavement care to family survivors.

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This study examined the construct validity of the Scale for Work-Personality Insufficiency (SWPI), developed by Nozu (2000), with an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (EFA and CFA). Study subjects were 550 adults with schizophrenia (mean age 43.7 yrs.), comprising ambulatory patients and users of intermediately facilities. Our EFA and CFA results supported a theoretically consistent three-factor structure of the scale representing comprehensive work performance, personal relationships and playing a role. Moreover, in analysis using a partial correlation analysis controlling for gender, age, hospital length of stay, number of admission to a psychiatric hospital, significant correlations emerged between psychiatric syndromes, intention to work, employment status and each domain scores of the SWPI, in an experientially consistent manner. These findings support the internal and external construct validity of the SWPI. Further research is suggested to test the other types of validity and reliability of the scale to verify its generalizability.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the effects on mental health of coping strategies in older adults with hearing loss. Subjects were 193 older adults with hearing loss, who had came to hearing aid fitting shops or medical institution for a consultation. Firstly, we developed a 15-item coping scale composed of three subscales (problem-oriented coping, emotional-oriented coping and avoidance coping) and evaluated its construct validity using a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The CFA result provided an acceptable indices and supported construct validity of the scale. Secondly, we conducted a path analysis to test a model incorporating the above mentioned three coping strategies as predictors of the mental health. The result demonstrated that more emotional-oriented coping strategy deteriorated, rather than improved, mental health, while problem-oriented and avoidance coping were not related to mental health. Based on the findings, the authors discuss a direction of further study on coping to maintain and promote mental health of older adults with hearing loss.

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We have been trying to intervene our clients by adopting Occupational Performance Process Model or OPPM, which is a practice model of Canadian Model of Occupational Performance or CMOP to perform client-centered occupational therapy. OPPM is a model to help clients to judge priority of their problems, to decide, practice and evaluate occupations to be targeted and to realize collaboration with occupational therapists. However intervention based on OPPM sometimes becomes one, which only accepts client's wishes and is difficult to be acknowledged as a way of collaboration, therefore We have always been concerned about how the ideal collaboration should be. The importance to know how the client's problems have meanings in their context has been emphasized as a precondition of the collaboration, although We have acknowledged that it is difficult to obtain client's predication by applying Canadian Occupational Performance Measure or COPM, which is an evaluation tool of COPM in order to understand them. Thus we report herewith that she introduced the Occupational Performance History Interview or OPHI-II to clients and has found that their predications can help understanding of the meaning of problems in their targeted occupational practice and also imply the direction of the collaboration.

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Accurate dosimetry for small field in stereotactic irradiation has some problems and it is below the standard, because the lateral components of secondary electrons for small field are not in equilibrium. In this study, the measurement of characteristic for stereotactic irradiation was performed using 6MV photon beams to a MixDP phantom. Ionization chambers of different size were used. The scatter correction factors were compared using the different thickness and material of build-up cap on the same condition of irradiation. It is possible to understand a secondary electron in the collimator and phantom by these scatter correction factors. From our results, difference appeared in scatter correction factors. A relative relation between detector volume and field size causes this difference.

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Pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis (PCI) is a rare disorder, characterized by the presence of gas-filled cysts in the submucosa and subserosa of the bowel. The patient is a 60-year-old male and he had occupational exposure to trichloroethylene as a mechanic for 17 years. He had recurring diarrhea and constipation. He was diagnosed as PCI was made by colonoscopy examination at a university hospital. He was admitted to our hospital for hyberbaric oxygen therapy (HBO). Abdominal X-ray and computed tomography showed multiple intramural racemose gas-filled cysts from splenic flexure and descending colon to sigmoid along intestinal canal. His abdominal symptom was improved by HBO at 2 atmospheres absolute (60 minutes, a day) for 20 days. However, the abdominal symptom recurred after he left hospital. The gas-filled cysts disappeared completely after HBO at 2 atmospheres absolute (60 minutes, twice a day) for 30 days by re-hospitalization. The relapse was not recognized to this case for one year after leaving our hospital.

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