This leading-edge volume offers a new framework for neuropsychological testing rooted in the current evidence base on large-scale brain system interactions. Expert coverage brings traditional discrete areas of cognitive functioning (e.g., attention, memory) in line with highly nuanced relationships between cortical and subcortical processing. The new findings point to more accurate and targeted testing, as authors expand on the judicious addition of nonstandardized methods to core diagnostic tools and the underused capacity of neuropsychological testing to assess social behavior and personality. The book's emphasis on cognition in context gives practitioners better understanding of assessment and evaluation, leading to improved diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes for individuals as well as significant improvements in the field. This innovative reference: Reframes cognitive functioning in light of current data on brain interconnectivity. Critiques current methods of neuropsychological test interpretation. Reviews known, useful interpretive methodologies within a new context. Features instructive case examples emphasizing accurate historical and test data. Revisits the strengths and limitations of the bell curve construct. Examines the interpretive significance of pathognomonic signs. Details strategies for making neuropsychological evaluations more clinically relevant. Large-Scale Brain Systems and Neuropsychological Testing combines current findings, clinical sense, and common sense to ground neuropsychologists, school psychologists, child psychologists, and clinical social workers in the effective assessment of real-world functioning.

This leading-edge volume offers a new framework for neuropsychological testing rooted in the current evidence base on large-scale brain system interactions. Expert coverage brings traditional discrete areas of cognitive functioning (e.g., attention, memory) in line with highly nuanced relationships between cortical and subcortical processing. The new findings point to more accurate and targeted testing, as authors expand on the judicious addition of nonstandardized methods to core diagnostic tools and the underused capacity of neuropsychological testing to assess social behavior and personality. The book's emphasis on cognition in context gives practitioners better understanding of assessment and evaluation, leading to improved diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes for individuals as well as significant improvements in the field. This innovative reference: Reframes cognitive functioning in light of current data on brain interconnectivity. Critiques current methods of neuropsychological test interpretation. Reviews known, useful interpretive methodologies within a new context. Features instructive case examples emphasizing accurate historical and test data. Revisits the strengths and limitations of the bell curve construct. Examines the interpretive significance of pathognomonic signs. Details strategies for making neuropsychological evaluations more clinically relevant. Large-Scale Brain Systems and Neuropsychological Testing combines current findings, clinical sense, and common sense to ground neuropsychologists, school psychologists, child psychologists, and clinical social workers in the effective assessment of real-world functioning.

Research has indicated that the presence of a primary caregiver may influence a patient's decision to receive hospice care, but how and to what extent remains unclear. This study explores whether the presence of a caregiver affects a patient's election of hospice care. The analysis uses data from the 1993 National Mortality Followback Survey to examine the probability of hospice user among people ages 15 and older who died from non-traumatic causes in that year. The key independent variable of interest was the presence of a caregiver, defined as someone who provided unpaid help taking care of the decedent or performing routine chores. Logistic regression results indicate that the presence of caregivers is strongly correlated with the decision to receive hospice care. The odds of individuals with caregivers using hospice services are between 2 and nearly 4 times as great as for those who need caregivers but are unable to obtain one. Policies that focus on hospice use must take into account the presence (or lack thereof) and potential effects of caregivers on patients.