Abstract: Objective: This study aimed at describing the health concept in the Swedish follow up programme for cerebral palsy (CPUP), with main focus on how aspects of participation is expressed in the agenda of the programme. Design: Document analysis: The home-page of CPUP was searched for three types of written material; references to the nature and aim of the programme, protocols used for data collection and abstracts from articles and reports on the list of publications. Within these all expressions of health, with bio-psycho-social understanding of the concept, were extracted and condensed with manifest content analysis. The meaning units obtained were linked to the International Classification of Function, Disability and Health – Child/Youth (ICF-CY). All resulting codes of participation were further compaired to an alternative model for describing the activity/participation component where the notion of "social participation" requires an aspect of role taking. The involvement of children/ youths and parents by the follow up routines were estimated and related to the results of the coding process. Results: 1276 meaning units were identified.The health focus of the CPUP involving data collected from children was on body and movement functions. The aspects in which parents were involved included more health aspects, especially if an optional assessment protocol aiming performance was used. Defined as peformance participation accounted for 19% of the meaning units (7% whitout the optional instrument). Defined as "societal participation" the rate of participation was under 3%. Conclusion: CPUP focuses on body-related aspects of health. The participation perspective needs strengthening to ensure the information needed to plan and implement interventions that have an impact on the self image of involved children. Thereby CPUP would gain an even stronger relation with the overall goal of Swedish habilitation services. / Abstract: Syfte: Studiens syfte var att beskriva hälsobegreppet i det svenska kvalitets-registret för uppföljning av cerebral pares (CPUP). Ett speciellt intresse riktades mot hur aspekter av delaktighet återspeglades i registrets arbete. Design: Text-analys. CPUP’s hemsida genomsöktes och tre texttyper avgränsades; uttryck för vad registret "var" eller hade till syfte, rapportformulär för datainsamling och abstracts från arbeten på publikationslistan. Alla uttryck för hälsa i bio-psyko-social mening avgränsades ur texterna med manifest innehållsanalys och kondenserades. De betydelseenheter som erhölls kodades till den internationella klassifikationen av funktion, funktionshinder och hälsa för barn och ungdomar (ICF-CY). De koder för delaktighet som erhölls analyserades vidare utifrån en alternativ modell för beskrivning av aktivitet/delaktighetskomponenten, där begreppet "social delaktighet" (definierat utifrån rolltagande) tillämpades. Barn/ungdomars och föräldrars involvering i datainsamlingen uppskattades och relaterades till resultaten av kodningen. Resultat: 1276 betydelseenheter identifierades. Hälsofokus för de data i CPUP vars insamling involverade barn gällde kropp och rörelse. Hälsoaspekter som involverade föräldrar uppvisade ett något bredare spektrum, speciellt om ett valbart instrument med inriktning på performance användes. Definierat som performance utgjorde delaktighet 19% av betydelseenheterna (7% utan det valbara instrumentet). Definierat som "social delaktighet utgjorde delaktighet under 3%. Konklusion: CPUP fokuserar kroppsrelaterade hälsoaspekter. Delaktighetsperspektivet behöver stärkas för att säkra den information som behövs för att planera och implementera åtgärder med inverkan på självbilden hos deltagande barn. Därigenom skulle starkare överensstämmelse mellan CPUP och övergripande mål för svensk habilitering kunna uppnås.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-78).

Recorded on July 27, 2007 by Eugene Barsky, Physiotherapy Outreach Librarian, UBC / N/A

The theme: Perfecting the moving skills of children with severe Cerebral Palsy by means of drawing. The goal of the research: To perfect the movements of children with severe Cerebral Palsy during the classes of drawing. The tasks of the research: 1. To find out the particularities of Art education for children with severe Cerebral Palsy. 2. To find a scientific approval for the impact of Art education on the quality of movements of children with severe Cerebral Palsy. 3. To create an Art educational program. The stages: September, 2004. Realization of the Art educational program. The beginning of September 2004. The amplitude of each child’s movement is measured by goniometer (vertical, horizontal, as well as the movement in circle). April 8th, 2005. The end of the realization of the Art educational program. April 8th to15th, 2005. The amplitude of each child’s movement is measured by goniometer one more time. The second measuring by goniometer showed, that in comparison with the earlier measuring, there was no difference noticed in the amplitude of each child’s movement. It happened because: The level of disability, the difficulty to fix small differences in the child’s movement amplitude, the short time of the research, the pure presence at the participants during the classes. The conclusions of the research: 1. Drawing itself is motivating the child to make a movement, playing is encouraging the child to complete the movement. 2. Adapting of the necessary aids... [to full text]

The aim of this study was to further investigate the role of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the pathogenesis of fetal cererbral white matter injury associated with chorioamnionitis by charaterizing the time course of the cytokine response in the pregnant guinea pig following a maternal inflammatory insult. Chorioamnionitis increases the risk for fetal brain injury. In the guinea pig, a threshold maternal inflammatory response must be reached for significant fetal brain injury to occur. However, a previous study demonstrated that, by seven days after an acute maternal inflammatory insult, cytokine levels in both maternal and fetal compartments are not different from controls. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to test the hypothesis that a significant cytokine response occurs within the first seven days following an acute maternal inflammatory response. Pregnant guinea pigs (n=34) were injected intraperitoneally with 100µg/kg lipopolysaccharide (LPS) at 70% gestation and euthanized at 24 hours, 48 hours or 5 days following endotoxin exposure. Control animals were euthanized at 70% gestation without exposure. Concentrations of interleukin-6, interleukin 1-β and tumour necrosis factor-α (IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α) were quantified in the maternal serum and amniotic fluid by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. IL-6 and IL-1β concentrations were elevated in the maternal serum at 24 hours and returned to control levels by five days. In the amniotic fluid, IL-6 peaked at 48 hours and IL-1β at 24 hours. TNF-α levels were not significantly increased. A single maternal LPS injection produces transient increases in cytokine concentrations in the maternal serum and amniotic fluid. This further implicates the cytokines as potential mediators of fetal white matter damage. Although this response might not be sufficient to produce the brain injury itself, it may initiate harmful pro-inflammatory cytokine cascades, which could even continue to harm the fetus following delivery. A human diagnostic protocol was developed to assess the use of serial serum biomarkers, including IL-6 and TNF-α, in the prediction of histological chorioamnionitis. Preliminary analysis of the pilot study suggests that certain biomarkers might be worthy of further investigation in a larger-scale study. / Thesis (Master, Anatomy & Cell Biology) -- Queen's University, 2007-11-28 08:23:04.327

No description available.

This study utilised a qualitative interpretive approach to investigate the subjective / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

This study utilised a qualitative interpretive approach to investigate the subjective experiences of six children with cerebral palsy who participated in a therapeutic horse riding intervention programme over a two-year period. Data was collected through a triangulation of methods and sources of data in the form of proxy reports from teachers, parents and therapists, and participant observations on my part. Research in the field of disability and rehabilitation remains largely ungrounded with respect to formalised theorising around concepts such as strengths, capabilities, and well-being. In attempting to address this gap, the nascent sub-discipline of positive psychology was identified as a field that holds significant research utility. Arguably, its keynote contribution entails directing researchers and practitioners in the field of disability and rehabilitation to the aim of building, reinforcing and extending disabled individuals' strengths in order to optimise their functioning. Consistent with existing work, this study found that the participants' lives were characterised by experiences of difference and marginalisation in relation to non-disabled individuals. More striking, however, was the finding that they were subject to experiences of difference and othering in relation to their disabled peers. This group dynamic seemed to be accounted for in terms of a hierarchy of similarities and differences with respect to their capabilities for communication and motor functioning. Further, the findings suggested that the participants tended to utilise their bodies, the site of their impairments, to engage with their environments and social others in their own idiosyncratic and agentic ways. By virtue of the tendency to negotiate and at times transcend their impaired physicalities, the participants were perceived as functionally autonomous, which worked to challenge prevailing stereotypes with regard to individuals with profound forms of physical disability. Importantly, such features impacted upon the degree and quality of their engagements with their physical and psychosocial environments in significant ways. In addition, in terms of the therapeutic riding activities engaged with during the course of this study, the participants came to experience their bodies as bodies that work. This seemed to have had positive implications for how they felt about their bodies and themselves. An enhanced sense of personal worth also tended to minimise their experiences of their bodies as impaired and dis-abled. In this way, their participation in therapeutic horse riding facilitated the children's experiences of themselves as more than disabled, thereby indicating the emancipatory potential of participating in this form of intervention. Moreover, it was noted that the limited body of existing, largely quantitatively oriented research in the field of therapeutic horse riding has often been methodologically wanting. As disconcerting was the noticeable absence of theorising around the mechanisms and processes by which therapeutic horse riding effected changes. It was therefore fitting to draw on theoretical frameworks within psychology to delineate possible mechanisms and processes by which participation in therapeutic horse riding could potentially effect subtle, meaningful shifts in the everyday functioning and psychological well-being of children with disabilities. This study contributed to existing research within the field of disability and rehabilitation through its efforts to yield "thick descriptions" and "thick interpretations" in combination with the theory-laden validation of findings around the everyday subjective experiences of children with disabilities. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

Obstetric brachial plexus palsy, a traumatic birth palsy, results in the paralysis of the upper limb/s. The birth injury is treated at the Brachial Plexus Clinic at King Edward VIII th Hospital, where the Candidate forms part of the Rehabilitation Team. In keeping with worldwide trends, the focus of treatment was on rehabilitation of the upper limb/s. During the course of treatment of these patients, it was observed that the performance of these children varied from excellent to poor. This observation, has not been recorded previously, hence a Research study was initiated to invesitigate this aspect of performance. The study comprised thirty children, between the ages of four and seventeen, whose paralysis was assessed in the conventional pattern. In addition, the visual perceptual abilities of these children were assessed in a variety of batteries, catering for the wide age range. These were: Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration (1989), Motor Free Perception Test (1972), Developmental Test of Visual Perception (2nd edition), Test of Visual Perceptual Skills - Upper and Lower levels ( Gardner), Jordan's Left-Right Reversal Test (1974), Clinical (Ayres) and General Observations. Although traditionally viewed as a physical disorder, the results of the study indicate that children with obstetric brachial plexus injury present with a significant incidence of below average performance, against the normal population, on most of the assessment batteries. No significant relationship could be established between the severity of the lesion and visual perceptual abilities, owing to the disproportionate numbers of children amongst the different lesions. Further research is required to support and consolidate the findings of this study. It is also recommended that Occupational therapists screen for visual perceptual deficits in such injuries, thus facilitating holistic patient management. / Thesis (M.O.T.)-Unversity of Durban-Westville, 1998.

Background: Social participation is essential to well-being for adolescents with and without disabilities. Adolescents with a disability, however, often have fewer friendships and experience social isolation compared to their peers without disability. Telecommunications play a vital role in facilitating social participation for adolescents yet those with a disability experience reduced access. Based on the World Health Organisation’s framework of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) this study aimed to identify environmental factors (barriers and facilitators) that impact on participation in telecommunication use, as perceived by adolescents with cerebral palsy and their communication partners. Method: A qualitative research design was adopted using observations and in-depth interviews with five dyads of adolescents with cerebral palsy and significant communication partners. Data from interviews was analysed using qualitative content analysis to identify barriers and facilitators. Results and Conclusions: A total of 66 facilitators and 72 barriers to telecommunication use were identified. These were divided into four categories; people-related, equipment-related, support/training-related and ‘other’. A large number of interrelated people and equipment related factors were identified. Participants also identified the need for further training and support. In order to improve social participation for adolescents with disabilities, future research must investigate the development of assessment tools that accurately identify environmental barriers to telecommunication use and contribute to the development of strategies to over come these barriers.