A Comprehensive Study to Develop and Evaluate the Acquired Brain Injury Physiotherapy Documentation in an Inpatient Setting

Study Background and Aims: Specialist physiotherapy service processes for treating people with acquired brain injury (ABI) are poorly described and evaluated in the literature. The most important factor which limits the understanding of the physiotherapy service is the lack of a system to define, describe and record the interventions made by physiotherapists. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a physiotherapy documentation tool for use in inpatient ABI rehabilitation settings. To achieve this aim, it was imperative that the researcher consider all the different factors and identify all the key attributes of the documentation process followed in inpatient settings. It was therefore necessary to map the process of the physiotherapy rehabilitation service provided to patients with ABI. Mapping the process of the service helped the researcher to understand all aspects which make a large contribution to and have a great effect on the rehabilitation process so as to achieve the main aim of this study. It also helped to establish a theoretical basis for the documentation process and to develop a clear understanding of the specific attributes of rehabilitation services. Research Method: The researcher used a wide range of data collection methods, including interviews, questionnaires and observational processes. Interviews were conducted with the heads of rehabilitation teams working in inpatient rehabilitation services in the UK. Thereafter, a national questionnaire was sent to physiotherapists with experience of treating patients with ABI in the UK so as to capture the breadth and scope of current physiotherapy practice. It was also designed to identify the physiotherapy treatment activities provided to people with ABI in an inpatient rehabilitation setting. The validity, reliability and acceptability of the questionnaire were tested before the questionnaire was sent out to physiotherapists. Information gathered during the early phases was then used to design a physiotherapy treatment recording tool for use with people with ABI in an inpatient rehabilitation setting. The process of developing a new treatment recording tool went through many different stages, including considering all the reported advantages and disadvantages of the documentation methods currently used, as well as the policy, ethical and legal issues involved in physiotherapy documentation. Once the final draft of the treatment recording tool was developed, the reliability, validity and acceptability of the tool were evaluated. Six experienced physiotherapists working in one of the two rehabilitation centres treating ABI in Wales, UK were invited to take part in this stage of the study. Eighteen treatment sessions were observed and video recorded to evaluate the treatment recording tool. The piloting process included testing the treatment recording tool's comprehensiveness and its ability to describe physiotherapy treatment sessions. Results: The information gathered in this research and the descriptions provided by the ICF framework were used in this study to guide the process of describing the pathway that patients follow if they have an ABI. Four themes, namely pre-rehabilitation, rehabilitation and post-rehabilitation stages and the documentation process, were identified. Each theme had different sub-themes. The feedback from the heads of the rehabilitation teams and physiotherapists helped the researcher to gather in-depth details of these themes and sub-themes. A valid, reliable and acceptable treatment recording tool for use by physiotherapists with people with ABI in an inpatient rehabilitation setting was developed using the information gathered during the previous phases, including a literature review. The results show that the newly developed documentation tool has the ability to record comprehensive details of treatment sessions using a very simple coding process in a very quick way. The treatment recording tool offers a sufficiently structured method to collect information about treatment sessions, including treatment tasks, treatment positions, interventions provided, adjuncts used and the treatment duration of each treatment task. Treatment packages (combinations of physiotherapy interventions) were also investigated using a geometric coding process. The results showed that the treatment recording tool records more comprehensive and organised details about physiotherapy treatment sessions compared to SOAP notes completed by the same physiotherapists. Conclusion: The main outcome of this current study was the development of a new, valid, acceptable and reliable treatment recording tool. This tool brought an order and rigour to the description of physiotherapy treatment activities provided for people with ABI in an inpatient setting. It helped to characterise the many treatments, procedures and interventions used in physiotherapy, taking into account their multidimensionality with respect to content, purpose, intensity, duration, sequence, frequency and other characteristics of care provided. The new treatment recording tool has been designed to improve patient care by facilitating accurate and appropriate communication between physiotherapists, and between physiotherapists and other specialists. Developing the documentation method in inpatient settings will help other professionals to better understand physiotherapy practice and the role that physiotherapists play in the multidisciplinary rehabilitation service

Foot Function Index for Arabic-speaking patients (FFI-Ar) : translation, cross-cultural adaptation and validation study

Background: Foot Function Index (FFI) is a valid and reliable outcome measure, which is widely used to measure the foot and ankle functional level and disorders. Until now, no validated Arabic version of the FFI is available. This study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The purpose of this project was to translate and adapt the FFI into Arabic and to evaluate its psychometric properties of validity and reliability. Methods: The study consisted of two phases. The first phase was the translation and cultural adaptation of the FFI to Arabic. The next phase involved, testing the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the FFI on a sample of 50 consecutive participants which included internal consistency, test–retest reliability, floor and ceiling effects and construct validity. Results: The mean age of the study participants was 38 ± 12.94 years. Both the genders were evenly enrolled with 50% of the participants as male and 50% as female. Majority of them complained of plantar fasciopathy (32%) followed by pes planus (22%) and ankle sprain (18%). The scores of FFI-Ar were normally distributed, confirmed by a significant Shapiro–Wilk test. The mean value of FFI-Ar total score was 47.73 ± 19.85. There were no floor or ceiling effects seen in any of the subscales and total score. The internal consistency was good with the Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.882, 0.936 and 0.850 for the pain, disability and activity limitation subscales, respectively. The reproducibility of the FFI-Ar was analysed by intra-class correlation coefficient which revealed good to excellent test–retest reliability. A significant correlation was found between FFI-Ar and SF-36 and numeric rating scale (NRS) confirming its construct validity. Conclusion: The FFI-Arabic version showed good validity and reliability in patients with foot and ankle problems. This tool can be used in usual practice and research for analysing foot and ankle disorders in Arabic-speaking people

Assessing knee hyperextension in patients following stroke: A comparison of Siliconcoach movement analysis software and experienced clinical observation

Background: Observational gait analysis used by clinicians has been shown to have moderate reliability in relation to joint angles. Siliconcoach movement analysis software uses a digital image to determine joint angles. The aim of this study was to compare Siliconcoach software against experienced clinicians in assessing knee hyperextension in patients following stroke. Method: This was an observational comparison study with a convenient sample of 20 ambulant participants with a unilateral stroke videoed during three walks. To determine knee hyperextension and the reliability of Siliconcoach the recordings were assessed by three raters using Siliconcoach and by three experienced clinicians. Findings: The Kappa statistic for intra-observer agreement for knee hyperextension ranged from 0.8 to 1.0 (substantial to almost perfect) and from 0.6 to 0.9 for inter-observer agreement (moderate to almost perfect). Intra-rater and inter-rater ICC scores for Siliconcoach were all >0.75 suggesting very high reliability. Clinicians compared with Siliconcoach ranged from 0.4 to 0.7(fair to substantial). Conclusion: Observational gait analysis appears to be an adequate measurement tool in clinical practice particularly when undertaken by the same experienced therapist. However, Siliconcoach may be a more reliable measure and provides an objective measure of quantifying knee joint angles for both research and clinical practice

Level of disability and associated factors with musculoskeletal disorders among supermarket cashiers

ObjectivesThis study aimed to determine the severity of symptoms and the level of disability or difficulty associated with MSDs in the neck, shoulders, upper limbs, lower back, and lower limbs as well as the factors associated with MSDs.Material and MethodsThis investigation collected demographic, health (36-Item Short Form Survey [SF-36]), and occupational related-factors for supermarket cashiers through the administration of several questionnaires, including the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH), Neck Disability Index (NDI), Lower Extremity Functional Scale (LEFS), and Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) for pain.ResultsOne hundred ninety-three supermarket cashiers participated in this study. The mean scores for disability levels included NDI (M±SD 18.62±14.57), ODI (M±SD 20.74±13.89), DASH (M±SD 15.08±13.90), and LEFS (M±SD 63.06±14.24). Regression analyses demonstrated the existence of significant relationships between the experience of MSDs and several other factors, including the number of working days per week, the preferred working position, marital status and the need for awkward positions.ConclusionsThe results indicate MSDs that signified a mild disability level among young participants. The number of working days per week, the preferred working position, the need to assume awkward positions, and marital status were significantly associated with MSDs. The findings indicated the need for preventive to avoid or minimize the prevalence of MSDs among supermarket cashiers

Self-Reported Musculoskeletal Disorders and Quality of Life in Supermarket Cashiers

Supermarket cashiers face a significant amount of stress, including time constraints, mental pressure, and physical demands that require repetitive movements. The job description of a supermarket cashier involves work-related risk factors that may lead to musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) symptoms. This study aimed to investigate supermarket cashiers to determine the prevalence of MSD symptoms and their quality of life. Data were collected from a convenience sample of supermarket cashiers working in Saudi Arabia. Information included direct questions on pain in the previous 12 months, demographic data, and health- or occupation-related factors. Moreover, data was collected based on the 36-item short form survey (SF-36), and descriptive statistics were computed. A total of 193 supermarket cashiers participated in this study. The sample included 140 men (72.5%) and 53 women (27.5%), with a mean age of 27.2 ± 6.4 years. The majority of the participants (90%) had MSD symptoms in at least one body region, with the neck (66.84%) and lower back (65.80%) constituting the most prominent regions. The mean SF-36 scores were higher in participants without pain compared to participants with pain in all domains, except for the physical functioning domain. The high prevalence of MSD symptoms among young cashiers suggest the need for additional investigations to determine the risk factors of these disorders. Additionally, this study recommends preventive procedures to reduce the prevalence of MSD symptoms among cashiers

sj-docx-1-jpx-10.1177_23743735221130820 - Supplemental material for Tele-Rehabilitation Service from the Patient's Perspective: A Cross-Sectional Study

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-jpx-10.1177_23743735221130820 for Tele-Rehabilitation Service from the Patient's Perspective: A Cross-Sectional Study by Fahad Saad Algarni, Majed O Alshammari, Umkalthoum Sidimohammad, Sarah A Khayat, Abdullah Aljabbary and Abdulrahman Mohammed Altowaijri in Journal of Patient Experience</p