Attitudes towards persons with disabilities have been a concern for years. This study examined the attitudes of rehabilitation professionals towards persons with disabilities and toward educational accommodation. The attitudes were examined through the collection and analysis of three components of data. The components were included demographics, intensity of disability contact, and attitudes toward education accommodation.

Masters of Science - Msc (Physiotherapy) / Rehabilitation services have been described as being necessary to maximize patient independence in order to enable them to participate fully in their communities. The Aim of the study was based on the problem statement and the research question, this study aims at exploring rehabilitation professionals' views on the experiences of patients with physical disabilities accessing CHCs in the Western. The objectives of the study were to explore the views of rehabilitation professionals regarding experiences by patients accessing rehabilitation services at the Community Health Centres (CHCs) in the Western Cape and to reach health experts consensus on how rehabilitation services should be provided at the CHCs based on the outcomes of objective 1. Methodology: This study used an exploratory design that used qualitative methods for data collection (workshops and focus group discussions (FGDs) and a Delphi study. The study was conducted at purposively selected CHCs in the Western Cape. The population in this study included all rehabilitation professionals who provide rehabilitation services in the CHCs, who were invited to participate in the study. Data collection: In the qualitative and the Delphi study, data was collected through workshops, focus group discussions and emails respectively. Data analysis: The workshops and the FGDs were audio recorded and then transcribed verbatim for content analysis.

Abuse is a serious and underreported problem that is prevalent among women with disabilities in the United States. Studies show that the percentage of women with disabilities who have been abused is approximately 62-67%; these women experience all kinds of abuse for significantly longer periods of time. Because rehabilitation professionals have been one of the primary service providers for people with disabilities, the purpose of this study was to investigate rehabilitation professionals' Practices on helping abused women, by surveying a cross-section of rehabilitation professionals to determine their knowledge of, self-assessment concerning, and opinions about helping female consumers with abuse issues. A sample of 183 male and female professionals working in the rehabilitation field was invited to complete an electronic 53-item questionnaire developed for this study. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. Demographic characteristics of the participants were used as independent variables and the total mean scores of measures of their abuse-related knowledge, opinions, and self-assessments were used as dependent variables. Three null hypotheses were addressed for this study: (1) there is no difference due to gender in subscale scores on the Rehabilitation Professionals' Practices on Helping Abused Women with Disabilities Scale (RPPHAWD); (2) there is no difference due to experience in subscale scores on the RPPHAWD; and (3) there is no difference due to certified rehabilitation counselor (CRC) status in subscale scores on the RPPHAWD. The hypotheses were tested using a 2 x 2 x 2 Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA), and three individual Univariate Analyses of Variance (ANOVAs) were run for each of the three subscales separately to determine where the significances may have occurred. Three principal findings resulted from the study: (1) gender was found to be statistically significant (p < .05) on subscales 1 and 3; (2) experience was not found to be statistically significant; and (3) certified rehabilitation counselor status as well as the two and three-way interactions were not found to be statistically significant. The findings may be useful in guiding policy makers and curriculum developers considering whether to include topics concerning the dynamics of violence in rehabilitation educational curricula. Such topics to be considered would include concepts and theories, history and characteristics, assessment, intervention, and prevention of abuse, with an emphasis on violence involving people with disabilities. A proposed rehabilitation education curriculum for the study of the abuse and maltreatment of people with disabilities is included in Chapter Five. / text

Submitted by Nayara Bernardo de Mattos null (naybmattos@gmail.com) on 2017-06-09T10:16:10Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Comportamento informacional de profissionais de reabilitação.pdf: 1587722 bytes, checksum: c5a4fe47fd05638d6eeae4fabcf27d11 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luiz Galeffi (luizgaleffi@gmail.com) on 2017-06-13T14:07:46Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 mattos_nb_me_mar.pdf: 1587722 bytes, checksum: c5a4fe47fd05638d6eeae4fabcf27d11 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-13T14:07:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 mattos_nb_me_mar.pdf: 1587722 bytes, checksum: c5a4fe47fd05638d6eeae4fabcf27d11 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-05-09 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A busca por informações voltadas para a saúde, quer seja a respeito de tratamentos de saúde mais sofisticados, ou em relação a novos medicamentos ou até mesmo sobre novos problemas de saúde despertam o interesse de profissionais, pacientes e seus familiares e gestores. Além de informações necessárias para a condução das terapias, os profissionais podem ser questionados por pais e responsáveis pelos pacientes que podem trazer dúvidas ou convicções errôneas sobre a situação do paciente e, portanto, o profissional deve estar preparado para responder essas questões. A presente pesquisa consiste em um estudo de caso no Centro de Estudados da Educação e da Saúde da UNESP. Buscou-se identificar as o comportamento de busca de informação dos membros da equipe multiprofissional e dos estagiários do Centro de Estudos da Educação e da Saúde (CEES) da UNESP, em suas ações de cuidados do paciente e nas orientações de seus familiares e/ou acompanhantes. A coleta de dados foi realizada através de aplicação de questionário aos estagiários e profissionais que atuam nesta instituição, para a caracterização do comportamento de busca dos sujeitos e entrevista com secretária da instituição para verificação do fluxo do encaminhamento dos pacientes e organização dos atendimentos. Participaram da pesquisa 32 sujeitos, sendo 26 estagiários e seis profissionais. Observou-se que ambos os grupos apresentam um comportamento informacional semelhante. Em relação às necessidades informacionais dos membros da equipe multiprofissional identificou-se a necessidade de orientar pais sobre condutas referentes à doenças e tratamentos. Foram identificadas as seguintes as fontes de informação utilizadas pelos participantes da pesquisa: supervisores de estágio (fonte informal), periódicos e revistas especializadas na área, artigos científicos e bases de dados, por parte dos estagiários e, para os profissionais: periódicos/sites especializados, bases de dados e a internet, de modo geral. Em relação à dificuldade em realizar buscas por informação, observou-se que os estagiários e profissionais não têm dificuldades a ponto de não encontrarem as informações necessárias para responder suas questões. Quanto ao comportamento informacional dos estagiários e dos profissionais, observa-se que as necessidades são as mesmas de modo geral, ambos buscam por informações relacionadas ao cuidado com os pacientes, sobre questões relacionadas a patologias e terapias, as questões clínicas e sobre orientações que devem ser passadas aos pacientes ou a seus responsáveis. Verificou-se, também, que há diferenças em relação ao grau de familiaridade, confiabilidade, facilidade e satisfação dos estagiários e profissionais ao lidar com determinadas fontes. / The present research tried to identify which are the features related to the information search behavior of health multi professional staff and of the trainees from Education and Health Study Center of UNESP, in their care actions of the patient and in their families/ caregivers’ instructions. The search for information related to health, either about more sophisticated health treatments or even about new medications or even so about new health problems interest professionals, patients and their families and managers. Besides the necessary information to the therapies conduction, several times the professionals can be questioned by the parents and responsible for patients who can bring doubts or mistakes about the patients’ situation and therefore the professional might be prepared to answer those questions. The present research consists in a study of a case at the Education and Health Study Center of UNESP. The data collection was carried out though a questionnaire for the trainees and professionals who act out at this institution, interview with secretary to verify the flow of the patients and organization in serving them. 32 subjects participated of the research, being 26 trainees and six professionals. It was observed that both groups present a similar informational behavior. In relation to the informational necessities of the members of the multi professional staff, it was identified the necessity of guiding parents about some kind of conduct referring to some type of sickness or treatment. The following sources of information used by the multi professional staff and the trainees were identified: intership supervisors ( informal source ), papers and specialized magazines in the area, scientific articles and data base , from trainees side. On the other hand, the professionals of the studied staff report to use with more frequency the papers/ specialized websites, data base and the internet, in a general way. In relation to the difficulty in searching for information, it was not observed that the trainees and professionals have difficulties so that they cannot find the necessary information to answer the questions. About the trainees and professionals’ informational behavior, it is noticed that the necessities are the same in a general way, both search for information related to the patients’ care, about questions related to pathologies and therapies, the clinical questions and about recommendations which must be passed for the patients or for their responsible. It was noticed also that there are differences about the degree of relationship, reliability, facility and satisfaction of the trainees and professionals when dealing with some kinds of sources.

This research explored the connection between the level of moral reasoning in rehabilitation professionals and their supervisors' judgment of them as more or less successful in providing services. Professionals from three work settings (private for-profit, private not-for-profit, and public) in two states (California and Texas) were categorized by supervisors into two research groups. Moral reasoning was assessed by the Defining Issues Test. A demographic questionnaire provided information on factors such as age, sex, exposure to previous ethics training, years in the field of vocational rehabilitation, and identification of the professional as an individual with a disability. Relevant data was obtained from 61 supervisors and 122 rehabilitation professionals. The research sample provided 20 matched pairs (one more successful and one less successful) from both the private for-profit and private not-for-profit settings and 21 matched pairs from the public work setting. This sample included 73 females and 49 males. Analysis found that rehabilitation professionals identified as being more successful had significantly higher moral reasoning scores on the Defining Issues Test than peers identified as less successful. This finding was not affected by sex, work setting, years in the field of vocational rehabilitation, or prior exposure to training in ethics. The factor of age was identified as having significant interaction with the level of assessed moral reasoning. A positive correlation was identified between age and supervisors' selection of more successful professionals. This research identified moral development as a factor in being judged by supervisors as successful in vocational rehabilitation services. It also discussed alternative criteria for success other than the “rehabilitated” status of the client, the role of moral development in successful case management, the need for assessing moral development in candidates for graduate school, and the place of moral development in hiring and training rehabilitation professionals. Several recommendations are made for additional research that include adding the supervisor's age as a research factor; focusing on rehabilitation counselors rather than including the general population of rehabilitation professionals; and comparing competitive closure rates of rehabilitation professionals with their levels of assessed moral reasoning.