Orientador: Lígia Maria Presumido Braccialli / Banca: Eduardo José Manzini / Banca: Francisco Ricardo Lins Vieira de Melo / Resumo: Dentre os recursos de Tecnologia Assistiva existentes para a adequação postural na posição ortostática, para o aluno com paralisia cerebral que não pode experienciar a postura em pé, está a prancha ortostática. Em um ambiente escolar e terapêutico, foram observadas dificuldades, em posicionar alunos com paralisia cerebral quadriplégica espástica, com um modelo tradicional de prancha existente no mercado. Sendo assim, estes alunos não tinham acesso adequado e não eram incluídos às atividades desenvolvidas naquele ambiente, por falta de um mobiliário de posicionamento adequado. Por isso, foi desenvolvida uma prancha ortostática a fim de favorecer a participação dos alunos nas atividades. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a efetividade de uso de uma prancha ortostática para o aluno com paralisia cerebral, por meio da opinião de profissionais da educação e da saúde. Os participantes foram quatro profissionais da Educação e da Saúde que atendiam alunos com paralisia cerebral. A coleta de dados foi realizada em duas etapas. Na primeira etapa, foi utilizado um instrumento estruturado com os quatro profissionais que realizaram suas atividades com dois alunos com paralisia cerebral, posicionados na prancha. Os resultados indicaram que o uso da prancha favoreceu o desempenho de habilidades motoras, de comunicação e de participação do aluno A1, porém foi imparcial para seu desempenho de interação. Indicaram também que a prancha não favoreceu os desempenhos de habilidades motoras e de interação da aluna A2, e, para seus desempenhos de comunicação e de participação, foi imparcial. Na segunda etapa, foram realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas com os participantes. O áudio das entrevistas... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Among the resources available to Assistive Technology in the postural orthostatic position for a student with cerebral palsy who can not experience the orthostatic position, there is available the orthostatic board to help them. In a school and therapeutic environment, difficulties have been reported in positioning students with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy with a traditional model of board available on the market is used. So, this being the case, these students did not have access, were not included in some of the activities performed in that environment, for lack of the necessary equipment to help positioning of the students. Consequently an orthostatic board, has been developed, so as to help and enable the students to take part in the activities mentioned. The target of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of use of an orthostatic board, suitable for the students with cerebral palsy, by means of opinions and suggestions given by the health and education professionals. Those that participated in this work, were four professionals from Education and Health areas, that attend the students with cerebral palsy. Data collection was performed in two steps. In the first step was used a structured instrument by the four professionals, who carried out their activities with two students with cerebral palsy positioned on the board. The results indicated that the use of the board favored the performance of motor skills, communication and participation of the A1 student, but was impartial for his interaction performance. They also indicated that the board did not favor the performance of motor skills and interaction of A2 student... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2012-03-02Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:52:32Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 spiller_mg_me_mar.pdf: 4782494 bytes, checksum: 248e5cae371e2f16b3cc29fee432c4d2 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Dentre os recursos de Tecnologia Assistiva existentes para a adequação postural na posição ortostática, para o aluno com paralisia cerebral que não pode experienciar a postura em pé, está a prancha ortostática. Em um ambiente escolar e terapêutico, foram observadas dificuldades, em posicionar alunos com paralisia cerebral quadriplégica espástica, com um modelo tradicional de prancha existente no mercado. Sendo assim, estes alunos não tinham acesso adequado e não eram incluídos às atividades desenvolvidas naquele ambiente, por falta de um mobiliário de posicionamento adequado. Por isso, foi desenvolvida uma prancha ortostática a fim de favorecer a participação dos alunos nas atividades. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a efetividade de uso de uma prancha ortostática para o aluno com paralisia cerebral, por meio da opinião de profissionais da educação e da saúde. Os participantes foram quatro profissionais da Educação e da Saúde que atendiam alunos com paralisia cerebral. A coleta de dados foi realizada em duas etapas. Na primeira etapa, foi utilizado um instrumento estruturado com os quatro profissionais que realizaram suas atividades com dois alunos com paralisia cerebral, posicionados na prancha. Os resultados indicaram que o uso da prancha favoreceu o desempenho de habilidades motoras, de comunicação e de participação do aluno A1, porém foi imparcial para seu desempenho de interação. Indicaram também que a prancha não favoreceu os desempenhos de habilidades motoras e de interação da aluna A2, e, para seus desempenhos de comunicação e de participação, foi imparcial. Na segunda etapa, foram realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas com os participantes. O áudio das entrevistas... / Among the resources available to Assistive Technology in the postural orthostatic position for a student with cerebral palsy who can not experience the orthostatic position, there is available the orthostatic board to help them. In a school and therapeutic environment, difficulties have been reported in positioning students with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy with a traditional model of board available on the market is used. So, this being the case, these students did not have access, were not included in some of the activities performed in that environment, for lack of the necessary equipment to help positioning of the students. Consequently an orthostatic board, has been developed, so as to help and enable the students to take part in the activities mentioned. The target of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of use of an orthostatic board, suitable for the students with cerebral palsy, by means of opinions and suggestions given by the health and education professionals. Those that participated in this work, were four professionals from Education and Health areas, that attend the students with cerebral palsy. Data collection was performed in two steps. In the first step was used a structured instrument by the four professionals, who carried out their activities with two students with cerebral palsy positioned on the board. The results indicated that the use of the board favored the performance of motor skills, communication and participation of the A1 student, but was impartial for his interaction performance. They also indicated that the board did not favor the performance of motor skills and interaction of A2 student... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Thesis (DTech (Public Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2008. / The research investigates trends in the employment of people with disabilities within the Provincial Government of the Western Cape (PGWC) and develops a normative model to address the matter of low employment and progression rates of people with disabilities within the PGWC. The advent of democracy in 1994 in South Africa witnessed the enshrinement of the fundamental human rights of all citizens, particularly within previously disadvantaged groups. Yet, in spite of rights being legislated for people with disabilities, such people within the public service represented only 0.15% of the total staff complement of the public service nationwide, as at December 2004, compared to the 2% target legislated in 1995. The research examines a philosophical and theoretical approach to managing the employment and retention of people with disabilities within the public service in Chapter Two, before providing a synopsis of the existing constitutional and legislative framework that supports access to employment for people with disabilities. The subsequent Chapters examine trends in the employment of people with disabilities within the PGWC, in conjunction with a situational analysis of disability in South Africa. The recruitment and selection practices within the PGWC are then examined in order to determine whether specific disability actions have been incorporated into the documentation. Finally, key recommendations follow a description of the research methodology and the presentation of the most salient findings of the study. The proposed normative model incorporates eight sets of criteria jointly derived from the literature and the empirical survey. The sets of criteria must be put in place for the achievement of a sustained increase in the employment of people with disabilities. The findings on disability employment in the PGWC are generalised to the remaining eight provinces in the country on the basis that the same policy and procedure documents are regulatory in all nine provinces.

There is a growing number of initiatives aiming to support people with intellectual disability (ID) to find romantic partners but minimal relevant research to inform these initiatives. The present study explored the ideal partner preferences of people with Down’s syndrome (DS); a genetic disorder resulting in ID. Adults with DS (5 male, 5 female) completed an interview incorporating the repertory grid from Personal Construct Psychology to explore their ideal partner preferences, explanations for these and how they relate to their perceptions of actual partners and self. Interview data was subjected to content analysis, thematic analysis and analysis using Idiogrid. Participants typically preferred partners who were good looking, warm, employed, nondisabled and similar to them with the exception of having no disability. Partner’s parental approval also appeared to be important. Explanations were grouped into five themes. Actual partners were typically dissimilar from ideal partners, including all but one having ID. Four participants’ more unique ways of thinking about people were also discussed. Five participants had a current partner. These relationships appeared to be maintained by valuing unconventional traits such as disability or managing expectations of a partner by making compromises or employing psychological defences. Initiatives aimed at facilitating relationships for people with DS may benefit from incorporating a service dedicated to helping them communicate their ideal partner preferences and process feelings linked with managing expectations. One area of future research could evaluate how best to facilitate these conversations.

This study investigated the antecedents and psychological processes inherent in firesetting within an adult intellectually disabled population. A qualitative methodology, grounded theory (GT) was employed to explore the experience of firesetting through verbal self-report. A sample of eight males with mild intellectual disabilities under the care of forensic learning disability services participated in interviews which ranged from 27 minutes 14 seconds to 1 hour 21 minutes 22 seconds. The data produced a preliminary GT which identified eight conceptual categories: Managing internal affect states, the experience of adversity, unsafe others, engagement in multiple offending behaviours, voice entitlement, experiences of fire, and mediators of risk and the function of firesetting. These conceptual categories were linked by an overarching core category of ‘powerlessness’ which was evident in several areas of the participants’ lives and experiences of firesetting. It was concluded that this sense of powerlessness along with the conceptual categories should be considered when risk assessing, delivering firesetting specific treatment and psychological interventions. The clinical implications are discussed and suggestions are made for replication of the current study with larger, more diverse samples and future directions for further research are proposed.

The area of performance appraisal of the handicapped individual is a relatively uncharted domain. Previous studies have tended to either lump categories of handicaps together or to concentrate their performance appraisal on simplistic performance criteria. This dissertation focused upon the performance of a group of physically impaired workers and their non-impaired co-workers. Central to this research endeavor was a comparison of the aggregate performances of both groups of workers through the use of parametric factor and discriminant techniques as well as the non-parametric sign test.

This thesis presents a study exploring the lived experience of becoming cared for from the perspective of women with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The objectives of the study were to reveal the experience of receiving assistance with instrumental activities of daily living (IADL's) from the perspective of women with AD, to explore the care relationship between women and their spouses and to examine the changing role and identity of those women. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used as the methodology to explore the meaning given to becoming cared for. This methodology promotes the recognition of the unique ways individuals experience the world and is regularly used to better understand how illness affects behaviour and lifestyles. Eight women with AD took part in two semi-structured interviews and their transcripts were analysed individually, before exploring convergences and divergences across cases. Three key experiences emerged from the final analysis; 'It's a togetherness', 'Me being me' and 'Seeing cobwebs'. The findings identify becoming cared for as a relational phenomenon for the women, influenced by their experience of ongoing connections with their husbands. Some participants attempted to maintain their sense of self and womanhood in relation to completing IADL's, comparing their past selves to the present. However, this experience was often negatively affected by how others treated them. Other women viewed the changes they experienced in a more positive way, accepting becoming cared for as a part of life. There was a clear sense of contentment in their evolving lives, seeing beauty where they had not seen it before. This adds an alternative view to current literature, as some women appear to embrace the change in themselves when becoming cared for, rather than experiencing a loss of identity. Humanisation theory provides a conceptual framework to aid change in healthcare professional's practice, by encouraging them to regard women with AD as holistic human beings. Whilst change may be viewed by healthcare professionals as a negative symptom of AD, it should be considered that becoming cared for may be experienced as a positive transition in life.

University of Macau / Faculty of Science and Technology / Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Magister Legum - LLM / People with disabilities are a minority group who has suffered disadvantage especially in the workplace. They currently enjoy Constitutional and legislative protection in a democratic South Africa. / South Africa

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