INTRODUCTION: Stroke can cause long-term disabilities to survivors. Rehabilitation is an on-going process and should, ideally, be provided to these people in their homes. This study aimed to investigate the effect that rehabilitation education provided to village health volunteers (VHVs) would have on walking speed and upper extremity (UE) function in stroke survivors who stay at home in Thailand. METHODS: Participants were recruited by purposive sampling, which included 27 stroke survivors from four municipalities in Chiang Mai and Lamphun provinces. The measuring instruments used were the Ten-Meter Walk Test and the UE motor domain of the Fugl-Meyer Assessment. Researchers presented a 7-hour rehabilitation education programme to VHVs, who then made weekly1-hour visits to the homes of stroke survivors to implement the rehabilitation programme over eight weeks. Data were collected within seven days before and again after the 8-week programme. RESULTS: Descriptive statistics and the paired t-test were applied to analyse the data. Results showed that the participants used significantly less walking time from pre-test ( X =34.73 ±8.48) to post-test ( X =32.18±9.32) (p<0.05). However, the score of UE function at pre-test (X=36.81±9.59) was not significantly different from that at post-test (X =37.26±9.67). CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that trained VHVs can be part of the rehabilitation team and contribute to improved functional performance for disabled stroke survivors, particularly in developing countries. Key words: Hand function, gait speed, Home visit, motor function after stroke, community rehabilitation, home-based rehabilitation
This study aimed to develop the Activities of Daily Living Assessment Tool (ADL-AT) for Thai stroke patients and to examine its psychometric properties. 45 stroke patients and 45 normal subjects were selected by purposive sampling. Raters were occupational therapists experienced with stroke patients and received ADL-AT for Thai stroke patients training. To measure inter-rater reliability, stroke patients were assessed by two raters at the same time. To assess the test-retest reliability, stroke patients were retested at a time interval within 5 to 7 days. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) model 3, k and 3, 1 were used to determine inter-rater and test-retest reliability, respectively. Internal consistency was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha which was conducted to study construct validity. The independent samples t-test was used to measure the test's ability to discriminate between stroke patients and normal subjects. The present study found that ADL-AT for Thai stroke patients had shown an excellent inter-rater and test-retest reliability (ICC = .98, .93, respectively). The analysis of Cronbach's alpha coefficient revealed high internal consistency (α = .88). In addition, this tool displayed a positive correlation with Barthel index (r = 0.9; P < 0.001). In known-groups validity, stroke patients obtained lower ADL-AT for Thai stroke patients scores compared to normal subjects (P < 0.001.). The results of this study suggest that the ADL-AT for Thai stroke patients is known to be reliable and valid and recommended to further the services system.
Background: A white cane is the most common equipment used by the blind for navigation. However, a cane can detect obstacles only at ground level, while many physical barriers can be at mid-body or head level. Objectives: The aim of this study was to create a white cane with ultrasonic sensors that could detect objects at waist and head levels. Materials and methods: Ten blindfolded participants, 5 males and 5 females, were recruited by means of purposive sampling into the study. All these participants tested the efficacy of the modified cane by walking through 3 obstacle spots; the first was a barrier at head level; the second and third were barriers at waist level. The instruments used were: 1) The Satisfaction Assessment for Assistive Devices and 2) the electrical and assembly compartments for the ultrasonic detector. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: The results demonstrated that all blindfolded participants could get through the three testing stations by using the modified white cane. They also revealed high satisfaction with both the usability and efficiency of the modified cane. The highest satisfaction in usability was for the size of the cane ( gif.latex?\bar{x}±SD = 4.50±0.533). Participants also reported very high satisfaction with the efficiency of the cane in detecting objects at mid-body (gif.latex?\bar{x}±SD = 4.70±0.48) and head levels (gif.latex?\bar{x}±SD = 4.50±0.53). Conclusion: All these results indicated that the modified cane with ultrasonic detectors was beneficial for detecting objects at mid-body and head levels in visually impaired people.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.