No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The Clubhouse model of psycho-social rehabilitation is a growing movement providing non-traditional mental health services worldwide. Little research has been done on how working in such an un-structured environment affects burnout levels among staff. The study sample was chosen by categorizing the Clubhouses by city size, and selecting 14 American and six Canadian Clubs at random with a total of 149 staff, of whom 97 responded, including both frontline staff and executive directors. Respondents completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and a questionnaire which was designed for this study, to measure work-related, worker-related, and client-related predictors of burnout. Burnout scores for this sample matched the scores for Maslach's postsecondary education subgroup most closely and were lower than the scores for her mental health subgroup. No significant differences were found between the Canadian and American samples, and supervisory role appeared to be a significant predictor of burnout levels among staff. These findings suggest that the International Centre for Clubhouse Development should examine how effectively supervisors support their staff, how the model itself may be inhibiting supervisors from doing so, and that staff needs should be incorporated into Clubhouse standards.

<p>Stroke is the world&rsquo / s third highest cause of death and a major cause of disability. In order to define optimal management for stroke, reliable data are needed. Although Ruhengeri Hospital in Rwanda receives many stroke patients, no in-depth study has been carried out on stroke patients admitted at the hospital. This study, therefore, identified the profile of stroke patients admitted at Ruhengeri Hospital in Rwanda and explored the challenges that they experienced. A concurrent mixed model design was used to collect data. With a data gathering instrument which was developed by the researcher, a quantitative retrospective approach was used to review existing patients&rsquo / records to collect information related to demographic characteristics, documented clinical features and risk factors for stroke, stroke onset-admission interval, length of hospital stay and the process of hysiotherapy for stroke patients. In-depth face-toface interviews were also used to collect data regarding the challenges experienced by stroke patients. The sample for the quantitative phase consisted of medical records of stroke patients admitted at Ruhengeri Hospital from January 1st, 2005 up to December 31st, 2008. In the qualitative phase, a purposive sample of 10 participants was selected.</p>

Introduction: Balance dysfunction, particularly in standing, is a devastating sequel to stroke since the ability to balance is one of the most critical motor control factors in daily life. Physiotherapists use a variety of balance and stability techniques as a part of treatment programmes to improve functional independence in patients following a stroke. However more scientific evidence for the effectiveness of these techniques or programs is required. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to quantify the effect of a balance and stability training program on stability, balance and functional independence in stroke patients. Method: The aims of this study were achieved using a randomised controlled trial. A questionnaire allowed the collection of demographic data from fifty participants who had suffered the first stroke, regardless of gender or race. The Postural Assessment Scale for Stroke patients (PASS), Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Barthel Index (BI) and questionnaire were administered to all fifty participants on the first and last weeks of a twelve week physiotherapy program. For ten weeks twenty five randomly assigned participants in each of the control and experimental groups underwent either normal physiotherapy or stability and balance intervention exercise program respectively. Data Analysis: The raw data was normalized by calculating percent changes for each item for each participant and the pooled data subjected to Wilcoxon signed ranks testing, paired samples signed tests and Pearson’s correlations. Results: PASS, BBS and BI scores increased significantly from pre-test to post-tests in both groups, with greater changes noted in the experimental group, showing improvements in stability, balance and function. In addition a strong and significant correlation between stability scores and balance scores suggested that stability is important to improve balance. Similarly a strong and significant correlation between stability and balance scores with function scores confirms the value of stability and balance in improving function. It was further noted that in addition to a certain degree of spontaneous recovery, traditional physiotherapy programs also result in improvement in stability, balance and function but not to the same extent as with the program of treatment which emphasizes stability and balance exercises. Conclusion: A significant improvement in the stability, balance and function in stroke patients was achieved with the balance and stability intervention program. Conventional physiotherapy methods also improved stability, balance and function, but to a lesser extent than the balance and stability training. / Thesis (M.Physio.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2012.

Kinesio® Tape was invented in 1973, and since has been used in various clinical and therapy settings to prevent and heal a multitude of physical conditions. Kinesio® Tape is a 100% cotton-based elastic tape that when applied to the skin pulls the skin upwards and creates more space by lifting the fascia and soft tissue, thus increasing blood flow and decreasing edema. The tape was also purported to facilitate the strengthening of weakened muscles through neuromuscular facilitation. The objective behind this study was to determine the long-term effects of applied forearm Kinesio® Tape on maximal grip strength when paired with an exercise program. The study took place at the CMS Athletic Training Center, and was designed to be a matched-pairs, single group, repeated measures experiment. Thirty- two healthy members of the Claremont College community voluntarily participated in this study. There was 16 male and 16 female participants (average age: 21.46 ± 1.76 years; average height 174.92 ± 9.40 cm; average body weight 69.17 ± 9.20 kg). The maximal grip strength of both the dominant and non-dominant hands was measured using a JAMAR Hydraulic Hand Dynamometer. Each of the 32 subjects also participated in an exercise program for two weeks and provided a grip strength measurement at the end of each week. Maximal grip strength values were assessed using a standard paired-samples t-test. Results revealed a significant difference in grip strength in the dominant arm (exercise with Kinesio® Tape) compared to the non-dominant arm (exercise only). When combined with a relatively low to medium level exercise program, Kinesio® Tape significantly increased grip strength when compared to an exercise program alone in a healthy population.

Belief constructs appear to govern many aspects of life and may have an influence on coping with severe disability. This study investigated the extent to which coping with a stroke is identified by the belief constructs of just world, locus of control, attribution, and reformulated learned helplessness. The data were collected at a comprehensive rehabilitation center from thirty consenting stroke victims. The sample included 17 women and 12 men with a mean age of 64. The median number of days from the stroke to rehabilitation was 16. Twenty subjects had left hemiparesis and ten subjects had right hemiparesis.In addition to the belief-construct predictor variables, nature-of-stroke and demographic variables were collected during an initial evaluation. Demographic variables included sex, age, marital status, occupation, education, and recreation. Nature-of-stroke variables included period of time since stroke, diagnosis, severity, location, and aphasia as measured by the 'Aphasia Language Performance Scales' (Keenan & Brassell, 1975). The belief constructs were measured by the 'Just World Scale' (Rubin & Peplau, 1975), the 'Internal-External Locus of Control Scale" (Collins, 1974), and an adapted version of the 'Attribution Style Questionnaire' (Seligman, 1984). A coping measure was introduced as the criterion variable. It was administered 21 days following the initial evaluation and is based upon the ratings of the stroke victims' therapists. It includes a scale to more clearly define coping.The results of the study did not produce a clear definition of coping, although cognitive, emotional, and physical factors were evident. In addition, there was preliminary evidence of reliability and validity for measures of this construct. The linear composite of five variables was statistically significant (p < .01) and identified 56% of the variance in the coping measure. The significance of these variables suggests that successful coping is associated with older subjects who had passive premorbid recreation, were admitted relatively soon after their stroke, were rated as having a mild stroke, and made stable attributions about rehabilitation. The fact that one of the belief-construct variables (stability of attribution about rehabilitation) was significant, despite the small sample size, is encouraging and justifies further research in this area.

This thesis explored the ability of the Minnesota Multi-phasic Personality Inventory to predict the during-treatment behavior of drug addicts. The MMPI's of eighty-five male patients of the Indianapolis Veterans Administration Drug Treatment Unit were compared to counselorr ratings of each addict's behavior while on inpatient status. It was found that the MMPI was significantly related (p <.01) to the counselor ratings. The strongest predictor was the MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale which had a mean raw score of 28.55. The utility of the resulting regression formula for giving information about future behavior of the individual drug abuser was also discussed.

The purpose of this descriptive correlational study was to examine the relationship between admission disability and length of stay obtained from the records of neurological and orthopedic acute rehabilitation adult inpatients. The research question was, "Is there a relationship between the admission disability and length of stay?" Orem's self-care theory was used as the framework of the study. The sample consisted of 118 records of patients dismissed from a freestanding midwestern rehabilitation hospital during July 1, 1996 to November 30, 1996. Admission disability was measured with the Functional Independence Measure (FIM'''*1) instrument that was available in the patient's record. Length of stay was the number of days in the rehabilitation facility. Motor disability was significantly and negatively correlated with length of stay (r= -0.249, p=.006). Implications for practice were discussed. / School of Nursing