Consumers with spinal cord injury (SCI) served by state vocational rehabilitation services programs receive a variety of services to help them achieve competitive employment and higher earning outcomes. The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to determine whether there was a relationship between specific vocational rehabilitation (VR) services and vocational outcomes (i.e., competitive employment and weekly earnings) at closure and (b) to establish whether there was a relationship between specific demographic variables and vocational outcomes (i.e., competitive employment and weekly earnings) at closure. The RSA-911 data for fiscal year 2006 were analyzed. The analysis of specific VR service variables indicated job placement, maintenance, and rehabilitation technology were significantly related to competitive employment of consumers with SCI. However, rehabilitation technology was negatively related to competitive employment. Vocational rehabilitation counseling and guidance, college/university training, and rehabilitation technology were positively related to weekly earnings; whereas occupational/vocational training, on-the-job training, and job placement services were negatively related to weekly earnings. An analysis of demographic variables indicated that gender and age were not related to competitive employment. Level of education and race were related to competitive employment. Gender, age, educational level, and race were related to weekly earnings. Males, young consumers, consumers with most education, and Whites were more likely to earn higher salaries.

Some 120 to 150 people per year, in Sweden, injure their spinal cord in an often traumatic accident. During the initial trimester in a university hospital there are several issues arising for the patients, not only the fact that they suddenly cannot walk. The aim of this undergraduate thesis is to provide a review of selected literature on evidence-based interventions by hospital social workers for spinal cord injured. The method used in the thesis is database searches. Fourteen articles were included in the review. These articles have been divided into the categories: coping and interventions. Research shows that spinal cord injured have an increased risk of anxiety and depression. The most important findings were that spinal cord injured in both Sweden and Finland are dissatisfied with the societal services, that a spinal cord injury does not necessarily lead to anxiety and depression and that there are even positive outcomes of a spinal cord injury. Social and societal services are important in the adjustment process for spinal cord injured. Psychological interventions based on cognitive-behaviour therapy have been proven effective in the care of spinal cord injured.

The overall aim of this study is to explore the subjective experiences of psychotherapeutic interventions and the sense-making process in a group of persons paralysed as a consequence of violence-related gunshot injury. An available and purposive sample of ten participants was selected from public and private hospitals in and around Johannesburg, and from the Association for the Physically Disabled in South Africa. Three females and seven males, between the ages of 26 and 43 years, took part in the research. The participants had all suffered penetrative damage to the spinal cord in the thoracic region as a result of violence related gunshot injury, and are therefore classified as having paraplegia The participants' gunshot injuries had been sustained in incidents ranging from attempted hijacking and armed robbery, to being caught in crime-related crossfire. In-depth interviews were conducted with the participants. A narrative approach was used to examine participants' unique stories, utilising a systematic form of narrative analysis. The thesis consists of three articles, namely 1) The subjective experience of psychotherapeutic interventions in the rehabilitation of persons paralysed as a result of violence-related gunshot injuries; 2) Making sense of paraplegia caused by violence-related gunshot injury; and 3) Therapeutic guidelines for the management of persons paralysed as a result of violence-related gunshot injuries. The findings of article 1 reveal that paraplegic persons had both positive and negative experiences during their hospital rehabilitation. Ultimately, however, positive experiences compensated for negative experiences. This suggests that in the absence of psychotherapeutic interventions, psychosocial adjustment may possibly not be facilitated. The second article indicates that although several barriers prevented participants from making sense of their trauma, meaningful relationships, spiritual growth and a greater appreciation of the value of life were still possible. in the final article guidelines were put forward that include meeting the holistic and adjustment needs of paraplegic persons. Future research is suggested and limitations acknowledged. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS FIM - Functional Independence Measure. P - Significance level. CI - Confidence interval. df -degrees of freedom SD - Standard deviation. OR - Odds ratio. AOTA - American Occupational Therapy Association. COPM - Canadian occupational performance measure. NS - Not significant. ASIA - American Spinal Cord Injury Association. 1. Introduction About 140 – 150 people suffer from traumatic spinal cord injury in Lithuania annually. Also, there are frequent cases of non-traumatic spinal cord injury caused by hernia of intervertebral disc, tumours and disorders of spinal cord circulation. Spinal cord injury causes motor, sensor and autonomic dysfunctions, as well as bowel and bladder dysfunctions which are considered to be the main factors causing disability. Patients after spinal cord injury face disorders of daily living, decrease of work and leisure possibilities. Reintegration after rehabilitation period is very important as more than 50 % of spinal cord injuries appear among people of 16 – 30 years. Rehabilitation period of such people is a long-lasting process which aims at readjustment of all activity areas. During rehabilitation process it is essential to foresee the aims which are influenced by the level and grade of injury, as well as age and gender of patients. Occupational therapy, as a part of complex rehabilitation, is applied for the solution of problems of activity disorders of patients after spinal cord injury. Purposeful... [to full text]

Individuals who sustain a spinal cord injury (SCI) experience sublesional osteoporosis (SLOP) which affects the bones of the lower extremities. As a result, these bones become fragile and susceptible to fractures. To tackle SLOP pharmacological and rehabilitation interventions have been proposed; however few have produced a significant and sustainable increase in bone mineral density (BMD). This study investigated whole-body vibration (WBV) as an alternative to tackling SLOP in SCI. Two commercially available vibration platforms, WAVE® and Juvent™, were tested for feasibility and efficacy in the SCI population. The effects of knee angle, frequency and amplitude of vibration in propagation characteristics were also assessed. The results demonstrated that variations in frequency generate the most noticeable changes in propagation characteristics, followed by variations in knee angle and amplitude. The recommended vibration parameters which could potentially have the greatest osteogenic effect on the bones of the lower extremity are 160o, 45 Hz, and 0.6 mm on the WAVE® platform.

Daugybė tyrimų aiškinasi, kodėl nedarbas tarp žmonių su nugaros smegenų pažeidimais toks aukštas, mažai kas besidomi, kaip neįgalūs žmonės susidoroja su išoriniais ir vidiniais veiksniais sprendžiant įsidarbinimo problemas. Profesinė reabilitacija, o po to ir grįžimas į darbo rinką, tai procesas, kurį įtakoja įvairūs veiksniai. Šiame darbe didžiausias dėmesys skiriamas savo negalios priėmimui, Aš-efektyvumo įvertinimui, bei vidiniams ir išoriniams motyvuojantiems veiksniams. Žmogaus su judėjimo negalia integracija į visuomenę priklauso ne tik nuo aplinkinių nuomonės, bet pirmiausiai nuo pačio žmogaus savęs vertinimo: nuo savo negalios priėmimo, savęs, kaip galinčio savimi pasirūpinti ir efektyviai dirbti. O ypač svarbu, kad noras vėl „grįžti į gyvenimą“ gimtų žmogaus viduje. Šio darbo tikslas – nustatyti sunkią judėjimo negalią turinčių žmonių pasirengimo profesinei reabilitacijai psichologinius veiksnius Tyrime naudojamos metodikos: pradinis interviu (renkami demografiniai duomenys apie tiriamuosius), motyvacijos langas (tai schema, kurios pagalba galima nustatyti žmogaus ketinimus ir motyvaciją keistis. Tai yra, kokie vidiniai ir išoriniai veiksniai motyvuoja profesinei reabilitacijai), noras ar viltis bei įsitikinimas, jog pavyks įsidarbinti metų bėgyje, Aš-efektyvumo klausimynas specialiai sukurtas žmonėms su nugaros smegenų pažeidimais, negalios priėmimo klausimynas (tiriama žmogaus nuostata į negalią, ko nors netekus (mobilumo, galūnių ir pan.), vertinamas pozityvus... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Lots of researches are devoted to investigate why unemployment rate among people with spinal cord injury is so high. Not enough attention is paid to the issue of how disabled people cope with external and internal factors when facing employment problems. Vocational rehabilitation and re-entry to labor market are processes influenced by many factors. The most attention in this paper is devoted to acceptance of own disability, evaluation of self-efficacy as well as to internal and external motivating factors. The integration of people with motion disability into society depends not only on society opinion, first of all it depends on person‘s self-evaluation: acceptance of own disability, self, as able to take care of him/herself and work effectively. Particularly important is that the wish to „come back to life“ came from person‘s inside. The aim of this paper is to determine the psychological factors for vocational rehabilitation of people with deep motion disability. The following research methods were used: initial interview (demographic data was gathered about the target group), motivation window (a scheme which is used to set person‘s intentions and motivation to change, i.e. which internal and external factors promote vocational rehabilitation), wish or hope and conviction that they will get employed in the course of one year, Self-Efficacy, specially developed for people with spinal cord injury, questionnaire of disability acceptance (person‘s attitude to disability... [to full text]

Tyrimo naujumas ir aktualumas: Atlikta mokslinių tyrimų analizė rodo, kad kvėpavimo sistemos reguliacijos pokyčių asmenims, su lėtiniais nugaros smegenų pažeidimais (LNSP) tyrimai išlieka aktualūs iki šiol. Kol kas nėra pilnai aišku, kaip kvėpavimo funkcijos mechanizmai, tarpšonkaulinių įkvėpimo ir iš kvėpimo raumenų bei diafragmos veikla, o taip pat bronchų spindis kinta ir sąveikauja tarpusavyje, priklausomai nuo nugaros smegenų įvairaus lygmens pažeidimo poveikyje atsiradusių krūtinės ląstos ir pilvo raumenų paralyžiaus, nes kompleksinių tyrimų nebuvo atlikta. Taip pat neaišku, kaip šie mechanizmai kinta, ar jų pokytis gali limituoti kvėpavimo funkciją keičiant kūno padėtį, ypač į ortostatinę, kas būtų labai svarbu nustatyti siekiant tyrimo duomenis pritaikyti neįgaliųjų sporto medicinoje. Literatūros duomenys rodo, kad asmenims su LNSP (lėtiniais nugaros smegenų pažeidimais) kvėpavimo funkcija silpnėja, lyginant su įgaliais asmenimis, kad ji gali priklausyti nuo nefiziologinės diafragmos padėties, susidariusios dėl šonkaulių kampo pokyčių, esant pilvo raumenų paralyžiui, kad esant LNSP gali keistis kvėpavimo takų spindis, kaip konpensacinis mechanizmas sumažėjus išorinio kvėpavimo funkcijai (Alvarez et al, 1981; Baydur et al, 2001; Mueller et al, 2006). Tačiau tokių tyrimų buvo atlikta labai nedaug, ir, kaip jau minėta, kompleksinių tyrimų, apjungiančių šiuos mechanizmus, iš viso neradome. Kvėpavimo funkcijos tyrimai įvairiose kūno padėtyse (gulint, ortostatinėje ir... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The novelty of the research: The investigations show that analyses of the respiratory changes of people with spinal cord injuries are still relevant. However, it is still unknown how pathological mechanisms interact with each other depending to the level of spinal cord injury because no complex investigations were carried out. Also, it is unknown how these mechanisms vary depending on the body position. Whether they limit the physical activity in the sport of disable people in order to prevent complications in the respiratory system or whether physical activities can reduce the influence of the pathological mechanisms to the respiratory system in this way improve it. These questions are very important in the medicine of the disable sport. Such investigations are not carried out with the people with spinal cord injuries. Previous researches show that peope with spinal cord injuries have weal respiratory function comparing with able people (Mueller et al, 2006). It can be depended on the non physiological position of the diaphragm which is formed due to the changes of the rib angle with paralysis of the abdomen muscle. Also, in the condition with spinal cord injuries the transience of the airways can be changed as compensation mechanism for the reduced function of the external respiratory. However, there are very few researches carried out and as it was mentioned previously, no integrated researches were carried out which involve these mechanisms. The analysis of the... [to full text]

Tyrimo objektas – asmenų su nugaros smegenų pažeidimais kojų raumenų spastiškumas. Tyrimo aktualumas: asmenų, patyrusių nugaros smegenų pažeidimą, spastiškumas (raumenų tonusas) dažniausiai tyrinėjamas esant kokiai nors ligai (pvz. patyrus insultą, esant cerebriniui paralyžiui ir t.t.) ir tikrinamas taikytos reabilitacinės programos efektyvumas, t.y., tyrėjai nustato ar įtakojo raumenų spastiškumą jų taikyta reabilitacinė programa ar ne. Labai skirtingi tyrimų rezultatai tyrinėjant raumenų spastiškumą po nugaros smegenų pažeidimų. Dėl skirtingų autorių (Woolacott & Berne, 2006; Hsieh et al, 2008, Gorassini et al, 2008; Elovic, 2001; Adams & Hicks, 2005) tyrimų rezultatų nėra aišku, kokia įtaką turi raumenų spastiškumui nugaros smegenų pažeidimo aukštis, trukmė po pažeidimo, pažeidimo gylis, sportavimas. Tyrimo tikslas – nustatyti ir įvertinti asmenų, patyrusių nugaros smegenų pažeidimą, parezinių ar pleginių kojų raumenų spastiškumą. Uždaviniai : 1. Nustatyti ir įvertinti, asmenų su nugaros smegenų pažeidimais, parezinių ar pleginių kojų raumenų spastiškumą pagal pažeidimo aukštį; 2. Nustatyti ir įvertinti, asmenų su nugaros smegenų pažeidimais, parezinių ar pleginių kojų raumenų spastiškumą pagal pažeidimo gylį; 3. Nustatyti ir įvertinti, asmenų su nugaros smegenų pažeidimais, parezinių ar pleginių kojų raumenų spastiškumą pagal pažeidimo trukmę; 4. Nustatyti ir įvertinti, sportuojančių ir nesportuojančių asmenų su nugaros smegenų pažeidimais, parezinių ar pleginių kojų... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The object of research – individuals with spinal cord injuries, leg muscle spasticity. The relevance of research: individuals with spinal cord injury, spasticity (muscle tone) is usually studied in any disease (eg. after a stroke, with cerebral palsy, etc.) and checked applied rehabilitation program effectiveness, i.e. the investigators determined or influenced by muscle spasticity in their applied rehabilitation program or not. Studying muscle spasticity after spinal cord injury had very different results. Evaluation of the results of the various authors (Woolacott & Berne, 2006, Hsieh et al, 2008, Gorassini et al, 2008; Elovic, 2001, Adams & Hicks, 2005) is not clear how influence height of spinal cord injury, duration and depth of the infringement, sport to muscle spasticity. The study objective - to identify and assess spasticity of paresis or plegian leg muscle of the individuals who suffered spinal cord injury. Objectives: 1. To identify and assess spasticity of paresis or plegian leg muscle of individuals with spinal cord injuries according to the height of the infringement; 2. To identify and assess spasticity of paresis or plegian leg muscle of individuals with spinal cord injuries of the infringement on the depth; 3. To identify and assess spasticity of paresis or plegian leg muscle of individuals with spinal cord injuries according to the duration of the infringement; 4. To identify and evaluate spasticity of paresis or plegian leg muscle of individuals with... [to full text]

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