Abstract-Service dogs help persons with mobility impairments by retrieving items and performing other tasks. Hearing dogs alert persons with hearing impairments to environmental sounds. We conducted a pre-post, wait list-controlled pilot study to assess the impact of the dogs on the lives of recipients. Participants were recruited through two assistance dog training organizations and completed an initial questionnaire packet. The Experimental group completed another packet 6 months after receiving a dog. The Control group completed a second packet 6 months after the initial data collection. On average, dog recipients were very satisfied with their assistance dogs. Both service and hearing dog recipients reduced their dependence on other persons. Service dog recipients reduced hours of paid assistance. No other significant change occurred in various standardized outcome measures. Assistance dogs had a major positive impact on the lives of recipients. More appropriate measurement instruments are needed to capture the impact of these dogs.
We undertook a telephone survey to examine perceived stress among 165 veterans with spinal cord injury (SCI) who received care from a Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
A study was undertaken to determine the technical acceptability of information available via a customized telerehabilitation system regarding patients with lower-limb ulcers or recent lower-limb amputations receiving care at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Among the 54 participants, 57 wounds (39 ulcers, 19 amputation incisions) were evaluated by means of still photographs and skin temperature data sent via ordinary telephone lines. Three experienced clinicians served as raters. Intrarater agreements and McNemar χ 2 tests were assessed between decisions made after telerehabilitation sessions and decisions made by the same rater after in-person sessions. Interrater agreements and κ coefficients were assessed between two raters for both telerehabilitation and in-person sessions. The intrarater agreement on 57 wounds for the primary rater was 93%, and the McNemar test indicated no significant difference in the ratings (p < 0.63). Interrater agreement on 18 wounds was 78% (κ = 0.55, p < 0.02) for the telerehabilitation sessions and 89% (κ = 0.77, p < 0.001) for the in-person sessions. Most qualitative comments by three clinicians on picture quality (54/63 = 86%) and temperature data (39/44 = 88%) were favorable (good to excellent). The information yielded from this study provides evidence that the telerehabilitation system has the potential to present sufficient information to experienced clinicians so they can make informed decisions regarding wound management. The next phase of the study will include in-home trials and improvements in the technology.
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.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.