Mental Health Recovery on Care Farms and Day Centres: A Qualitative Comparative Study of Users’ Perspectives.

Mental health recovery on care farms and day centres: a qualitative comparative study of users’ perspectives.

Disabil Rehabil. 2013 Jun 26;
Iancu SC, Zweekhorst MB, Veltman DJ, van Balkom AJ, Bunders JF

Abstract Purpose: Mental health services increasingly incorporate the vision of recovery. This qualitative study analysed and compared experiences of recovery on prevocational services, in order to assess if users make progress towards recovery, relative to a staged recovery model. Method: Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with participants on care farms (n?=?14), work (n?=?7) and creative projects (n?=?5). Results: The transition from past to current lives was described as a progressive, non-linear process, with different stages guided by different goals. Participants on creative projects lacked clear goals, presented less interest in peers and high need for emotional support. Participants on work projects aimed for occupational rehabilitation, but struggled with the patient culture of the peer community. Participants on care farms aimed for daytime occupations and closer contact with society. They experienced care farms as open, real-life work settings where they could exercise responsibility and connect with people. Conclusions: Participants progressed towards recovery, as care farms, work- and creative projects empowered them to leave behind inactive, isolated or disorganized living. In day centres, users focused on self-reflection and personal development (creative projects) or on occupational performance (work projects), whereas on care farms, users fulfilled worker roles in a real-life, open community environment. Implications for Rehabilitation Organized as open communities in real-life settings, care farms facilitate the reflection on personal and social responsibility, and therefore have the potential to help users internalize worker identities and improve their motivation to progress towards recovery. Supervisors on care farms are regarded by users as close contacts within the social networks they develop on the service, a position that allows supervisors to actively engage and promote users’ progress towards recovery. Elements of the farm environment (such as the “normal life”, presence of family members and visitors, and nature) can serve as anchors for supporting the progress towards recovery. HubMed – rehab

 

The experience of being a motorised mobility scooter user.

Disabil Rehabil Assist Technol. 2013 Jun 26;
Fomiatti R, Moir L, Richmond J, Millsteed J

Abstract Purpose: To explore the individual experience of being a scooter user and the ways in which scooters impact the individual’s community and social engagement, daily activities and enhances mobility. Methods: A qualitative, constructive framework utilising purposive sampling and a semi structured interview was used with 14 individuals. Questions were categorised according to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health framework into the three areas of activities, participation and environmental factors. Results: The three main themes identified through the research were knowledge, engagement and environments. Knowledge included a lack of concise information, and adequate trialling and training prior to purchase. Engagement consisted of participation and interaction demonstrating scooter use resulted in increased participation, role maintenance, choice, freedom and social interaction. Environments highlighted discrimination from the wider population and building design and barriers. Conclusions: The research demonstrated a strong positive impact on individual’s engagement from using a scooter, while highlighting a lack of adequate knowledge about scooters, batteries, skill ability and design along with environmental challenges of discriminatory attitudes and physical barriers. The research indicates the need for pre-purchase assessments and trials along with improvements in community attitudes and environments. Implications for Rehabilitation Development of a pre-purchase assessment including specific core skills for scooter use is of great importance to minimise accidents and death as a consequence of scooter driving. Education and training of prescribers and suppliers of scooters is important to match needs and skills to enable a better fit of scooter to user. Incorporation of adjustability of features within the standard design of scooters, including type of driving controls, seat height, and adjustment of distance to controls, will enable greater fit of scooter to the user s needs. HubMed – rehab

 

Implementing technology-based embedded assessment in the home and community life of individuals aging with disabilities: a participatory research and development study.

Disabil Rehabil Assist Technol. 2013 Jun 26;
Chen KY, Harniss M, Patel S, Johnson K

Abstract Purpose: The goal of the study was to investigate the accuracy, feasibility and acceptability of implementing an embedded assessment system in the homes of individuals aging with disabilities. Method: We developed and studied a location tracking system, UbiTrack, which can be used for both indoor and outdoor location sensing. The system was deployed in the homes of five participants with spinal cord injuries, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis and late effects of polio. We collected sensor data throughout the deployment, conducted pre and post interviews and collected weekly diaries to measure ground truth. Results: The system was deployed successfully although there were challenges related to system installation and calibration. System accuracy ranged from 62% to 87% depending upon room configuration and number of wireless access points installed. In general, participants reported that the system was easy to use, did not require significant effort on their part and did not interfere with their daily lives. Conclusions: Embedded assessment has great potential as a mechanism to gather ongoing information about the health of individuals aging with disabilities; however, there are significant challenges to its implementation in real-world settings with people with disabilities that will need to be resolved before it can be practically implemented. Implications for Rehabilitation Technology-based embedded assessment has the potential to promote health for adults with disabilities and allow for aging in place. It may also reduce the difficulty, cost and intrusiveness of health measurement. Many new commercial and non-commercial products are available to support embedded assessment; however, most products have not been well-tested in real-world environments with individuals aging with disability. Community settings and diverse population of people with disabilities pose significant challenges to the implementation of embedded assessment systems. HubMed – rehab

 

Cross-Cultural Adaptation, Validation and Standardization of Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) in Iranian Children.

Iran J Public Health. 2013; 42(5): 522-528
Vameghi R, Sajedi F, Kraskian Mojembari A, Habiollahi A, Lornezhad HR, Delavar B

To provide the validated and standardized form of the Persian version of the Ages and Stages Questionnaires as an appropriate developmental screening tool for evaluation of Iranian children’s development.This was a cross-sectional study. Translation and back-translation, content validity determination, cultural and lingual modifications, pilot study on 100 parents and inter-rater reliability determinations were performed, respectively. The national and final stage was carried out 11000, 4-60 month-old children in selected cities throughout the country in order to determine the validity, standard deviation, reliability, sensitivity, specificity, and mean scores points of the test.The reliability, determined by cronbach’s alpha ranged from 0.76 to 0.86 and the inter-rater reliability was 0.93. The validity determined by factor analysis was satisfactory. The mean scores of Iranian children were identified and compared with those of the normative sample as well as with three other populations of children. The developmental status of Iranian children was higher in the communication, problem-solving and personal-social domains, especially under the age of 24 months, after which their developmental status seems to deteriorate, especially in the motor domains.The Persian version of the ASQ has appropriate validity and reliability for screening developmental disorders in Iran. HubMed – rehab