Low-level Users Research Articles

Factors relating to the under-use of postaural hearing aids.

All adult patients issued at Withington Hospital with NHS postaural hearing aids in 1980 (n = 731) were reviewed. Efforts were made to determine the reasons for under-use and dissatisfaction among those who were not using the aid at all or using it minimally and with low satisfaction. The major presenting reason for non-use, accounting for over a quarter of all non-users, was inability to insert the earmould. The next most common reason for non-use and the major reason for poor satisfaction in low level users was related to difficulty in coping with signals in noise. Other significant factors contributing to poor or non-use were (1) lack of recognition of hearing impairment, (2) advanced age and poor health, (3) less than ideal matching of the aid to the loss of hearing. The percentage of under-users was significantly reduced by hearing aid orientation and counselling. Further reduction might be achieved if attitudes to hearing loss among those affected and concerned professionals could be improved so that early referral and treatment became the norm rather than the exception.

Drug-induced ego states. I. Cocaine: phenomenology and implications.

The ego state experienced by chronic users of cocaine is described in terms of sensorimotor functioning, cognitive functioning, emotionality, spatiality , temporality , causality, and materiality . At low use levels the state is pleasurable, but at high levels fear, anxiety, and paranoia increase, and ultimately reality contact breaks down. Q-sort, Semantic Differential, and other data suggest that low-level users take cocaine to overcome personal insecurities and relieve boredom. Heavy users take it to support overvaulting ambitions and intense strivings for self-sufficiency. Psychotherapy with such persons must deal with their counterdependency , anger, and despair, and with their underlying sense of betrayal . These persons have unacknowledged needs for spiritual experience that must be dealt with openly. A description of persons most vulnerable to heavy use of cocaine is provided, and recommendations for research and social policy are presented.

Residential demand for electricity

Short- and long-run responses by households to changes in the price of electricity are estimated using data which permit measurement of the marginal price of electricity, the infra-marginal demand charge, and estimates of household appliance stocks. The price elasticities of high- and low-level users of electricity are compared. The theoretical bias in price elasticity estimates resulting from neglect of the infra-marginal demand charge is shown to be empirically insignificant.

Water Resource Preservation

This study assesses the relationship of personal values to support for water resource preservation in a sample of residents of the state of Washington. The Rokeach value inventory is employed to measure personal values. Two values are hypothesized to be related to support for preservation: "a world of beauty" and "a comfortable life." The relationship of values to support for preservation was hypothesized to be greater among owners of waterfront property and among those who employ water resources for greater numbers of uses. The results are consistent with the hypotheses. The value "a world of beauty" is related to support for preservation among most control conditions. "A comfortable life" is related to support for preservation among waterfront property owners and high-level users of water. Two values not hypothesized also are related to support for preservation: "responsible" among the property owners; and "national security" among the nonowners and the medium-level users of water. Overall, personal values explain substantially greater proportions of the variance in support for preservation among the owners than among the non-owners, and among the high- and medium-level water users than among the low-level water users. The study concludes that personal values are related to support for water resource preservation, and that this reflects consistency in public attitudes and clarity in environmental politics.