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No description available.

Adults with mental retardation (MR) experience a greater number of falls than their non-disabled peers. To date, efforts to understand the causes for these falls have primarily involved qualitative studies that use largely subjective measures to quantify stability. Performing a more objective biomechanical gait analysis may better explain the reasons for these fall accidents and provide repeatable measures that can be used for comparison to determine the effectiveness of interventions intended to reduce slip-related falls. A gait analysis was conducted to quantify normal walking and slip response characteristics for adults with MR as well as a group of non-disabled age- and gender-matched peers. Kinetic and kinematic data were collected and a number of variables relating to gait pattern, slip propensity, and slip severity were calculated to compare the differences between groups. Results showed that adults with MR exhibit slower walking speeds, shorter step lengths, and greater knee flexion at heel contact suggesting that their gait patterns share more similarities with the elderly than with healthy adults of an equivalent age. Unexpectedly, the MR group demonstrated a lower required coefficient of friction (RCOF) and slower heel contact velocity which, alone, would suggest a reduced slip propensity as compared with the healthy group. A greater peak sliding heel velocity and greater slip distance measures, however, indicate greater slip severity for the MR group. The findings of this study suggest that falls in this population may be attributed to delayed response to slip perturbation as measured by slip distances. / Master of Science

Speculations in the signicance of retardation aects in fundamental physics, especiallythe Dirac equation, that Atiyah and Moore bring up in "A shifted view of fundamental physics" are summarized and reviewedin terms of basic undergraduate conceptions. Some remarks are further investigated and ashifted version of the Klein Gordon equation is derived.

This descriptive study was done to provide information on the number of hours and clinical experience students received during nursing education which might equip them with skills required for mental retardation nursing. Registered Nurses Associations for each province assisted in the study by providing lists of nursing schools in their province. Of the 142 nursing schools having a graduating class in 1969, 140 were studied. The urgency of the problem was shown when it was noted that an estimated 3 percent of the population of Canada were mentally retarded. Several commissions have been done on this topic in the past decade in Canada. Some studies of this general nature have been done in the United States. Review of the literature indicated that no previous studies had been done on this topic in Canada. A questionnaire was constructed to obtain data relating to placement of mental retardation experience, hours of theory and clinical experience provided and the year of nursing education in which the experience occurred. Questionnaires were mailed to the schools, completed by them, and returned. It was found that diploma schools tended to provide between 0 to 8 hours of theory and clinical experience in mental retardation whereas university schools tended to offer up to 12 hours of experience. Most nursing education in mental retardation occurred in pediatrics or psychiatric programs or in combinations of these and other courses. Mental retardation nursing education tended to occur in the next to the last year of the program for all schools. Many schools, however, indicated that mental retardation experience was not included in the school curriculum at all. It appeared that very little theory and clinical experience in mental retardation was being given students enrolled in nursing schools in Canada. The relative lack of planned clinical experience with retarded individuals was surprising. Several problems and limitations were encountered in conducting the study, particularly concerning data collection and the tool used for data collection. The data had to be collected in two phases from two different sources, home schools and affiliate schools, to obtain accurate data. Studies could be done to focus attention on current problems in nursing the mentally retarded, related to the need for inclusion of theory and clinical experience in the curriculum of nursing schools. Studies could also be done to determine time allotment, placement and specific mental retardation content in current nursing programs. Qualitative studies could be done to show the possible effect of staff knowledge of mental retardation on the care provided to mentally retarded patients. This study was an attempt to show the need for review of nursing education programs in relation to the inclusion of mental retardation theory and clinical experience in the curriculum of nursing schools. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Nursing, School of / Graduate

This study describes the present medical, dental and nursing services in and used by centres for intellectually and physically impaired children in Cape Town and its environs. The information was gained by means of a structured questionnaire. Thirty three of the 34 centres with a total of 3480 children are included. Twelve are Special Care Centres, 15 Training Centres and 6 are Special Schools. The number of children enrolled ranges from 9 to 400. At the time of the study 9 of the centres were for white children, 17 for coloured children, 5 for black children and 2 were multiracial. Nine of the 11 Special Care Centres were not government supported while only 6 of the other centres were mainly funded from non-government sources. Nurses employed at the centres had worked an average of 8 years at their centres, 23,5% of them having worked with disabled children prior to taking up their present posts. Of the Special Care Centres, only the two residential ones had a nurse on the staff. All the Special Schools had at least one nurse. 57,5% of the centres have a doctor or doctors visiting the centre. Two of the others have regular medical care for the children arranged with local health centres. All the Special Schools are visited while 25% of the Special Care Centres and 33% of the Training Centres receive medical visits. The number of doctors visiting a centre varies from 1 to 7. The doctors come from a variety of services both private and public. Most of the doctors do not receive remuneration for their services. Of the 1 7 centres who have no doctors visiting, the majority depend on parents to take their children to a medical facility if there are problems related to the child's disability. For 7 of them, there is no other option. A similar pattern exists for medical problems unrelated to the child's disability. Six centres make use of medical facilities as a first option in these circumstances. For emergencies only 1 centre can count on a doctor to come to the centre. Ten centres may be able to get a doctor to come. The General Hospitals are the most common facility used in an emergency. Dentists visit 4 of the centres. Twelve of the remaining 29 centres arrange regular dental visits for the children. Eleven of the 13 Special Care Centres do not have regular visits to a dentist arranged. Fifteen centres receive visits from Community Nurses and these are local authority nurses in the main. Their functions are limited in all but one case to contraception, immunisation, Heaf testing or genetic services. There are 10 centres which receive visits from neither doctor, dentist nor nurse (7 Special Care Centres, 3 Training Centres). 32% of the interviewees were satisfied with the services received. The most common improvement sought was to have a doctor visit the centre. Of those with a doctor visiting, 28% wanted the doctors to deal with intercurrent problems as well as the child's disability. The need for paramedical services was also expressed. Further detail is presented and the implications of the findings discussed.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2002. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Linköping : Linköpings universitet, 2007. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Family life with handicapped child The main objective of this thesis is to cover the day-to-day life with mentally handicapped offspring on the threshold of adulthood from the parent's perspective. The intention is to gain an insight into experiences, emotions, and motives of disabled children's parents, for the purpose of clarifying both positive and negative points of life with the handicapped. The main goal is to focus on the following issues - which impact has this life on the parents, how their everyday life is changed, and how their attitudes and perception of themselves has been changed. Another point is to ascertain how different opinions of mothers and fathers are. The thesis consists of two main parts. In the first one, the topic is anchored in the theoretical background. This theoretical part is based on the relevant topics published in specialized reference books. In the second one, it is followed by the analysis and interpretation of two consecutive interviews with the parents. This empirical part is processed by the methods of oral history. It also contains the references to the findings published in bibliography. The conclusion contains methodology analysis and summary of key points describing the life with handicapped child. The life is considered to be psychologically, financially, and time...