Overcoming barriers and increasing independence: service robots for elderly and disabled people

This paper discusses the potential for service robots to overcome barriers and increase independence of elderly and disabled people. It includes a brief overview of the existing uses of service robots by disabled and elderly people and advances in technology which will make new uses possible and provides suggestions for some of these new applications. The paper also considers the design and other conditions to be met for user acceptance. It also discusses the complementarity of assistive service robots and personal assistance and considers the types of applications and users for which service robots are and are not suitable

FACTORS AFFECTING FAST FOOD CONSUMPTION BEHAVIOR IN STUDENTS OF NURSING FACULTY OF MEDICINE DIPONEGORO UNIVERSITY

ABSTRACT Background: Lifestyle changes of modern society affect the diet tendency to consume fast food. Fast food processed in restaurants mostly contains limited nutrient. Mostly it contains fat which gives a significant contribution to the risk of disease. The risk the food is not processed according to the standard quality of health. Objective: The aim of this research was to know the quick service, ease of access, low price, good taste, high nutrition content, and a means of socializing as factors that affect the behavior of fast food consumption. Methods: The study is a descriptive survey research of 78 nursing students in Diponegoro University taken by accidental sampling technique. Results: The result showed that means of socializing was the most dominant factors affecting in consuming fast food. Other results showed quick service affecting respondent (60,3%), ease of access (55,1%), low price (60,3%), good taste (60,3%), high nutrition content (51,3%), and a means of socializing (67%) as significant factors that affect the participants’ behavior of fast food consumption. Discussion: Nursing students who generally have a very high activity that takes their time to eat would be greatly helped by the fast service offered by the diner/fast food restaurant. Ease of access make students do not need to spend a lot of cost for transportation to fulfill the needs of eating. The more affordable the price, the greater the purchasing decisions of the consumers conducted. Recommendation for further research is to investigate the attitude and effort of modern society to improve the quality of food consumption. Keywords: Fast food, consuming behavior, studen

An Inpatient Rehabilitation Interprofessional Care Pathway for Traumatic Hip Fracture: A Pilot Quality Improvement Project

Background: Each year over 300,000 older adults are hospitalized for hip fracture. The impact of the cost of hip fracture on the US health care system is estimated to be as high as $9 billion, with the typical cost of a hip fracture episode around$30,000. Formalized pathways have been developed and successfully utilized for many patient presentations, including hip fracture, in the acute setting. Although this research is important to the comprehensive care of the elderly hip fracture patient, very little research exists that outlines evidence-based best-practice for patients in the post-acute recovery period. Purpose: The primary aim of this project was to develop an evidence-based, comprehensive, coordinated, and interprofessional care pathway for hip fracture patients in the acute rehabilitation setting to improve the percentage of patients discharging to community settings by 20% from current baseline by the end of the pilot period. Methods: The design of this project was an observational cohort study. Descriptive statistics will be used to compare intervention groups to controls, including frequencies and distributions. Results: The hip fracture tool itself had inconclusive results, the impacts of the effects on team work and enhanced coordination of the care team was realized through reducing institutionalized days for hip fracture patients in acute rehabilitation

RESTRAINT TO SCHIZOPHRENIC FAMILY MEMBER AT HOME:FAMILY EXPERIENCE IN KENDAL DISTRICT CENTRAL JAVA

Background: Schizophrenic is functional psychological disorder with main disruption on thinking process and disharmony. Schizophrenic patients often suffer deprivation by their family. Objective: This study aimed to identify in-depth description of family’s experience in restraint of schizophrenic patients treated at home in Kendal District Central Java. Method: This research used descriptive phenomenological design and in-depth interview as data collection method. Participants involved in this study were family member of schizophrenic patients that are being restrained and selected by purposive sampling. Data that has been collected was in the form of recorded interviews and field notes and analyzed by Collaizi technique. Results: Themes identified from this study are chronic sorrow; 2) effective social interaction; 3) enhanced spiritual well-being; 4) decisional conflict; 5) health seeking behaviours; and 6) economic burden. Conclusion: The results showed similarities on family experience starting from chronic sorrow, effective social interaction; enhanced spiritual well-being; decisional conflict; health seeking behaviours; and economic burden. The care providers have to improve the family coping mechanism to be adaptive by a counseling of the problem. Keywords: Schizophrenic, family, restrai

Assistive technology design and development for acceptable robotics companions for ageing years

© 2013 Farshid Amirabdollahian et al., licensee Versita Sp. z o. o. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license, which means that the text may be used for non-commercial purposes, provided credit is given to the author.A new stream of research and development responds to changes in life expectancy across the world. It includes technologies which enhance well-being of individuals, specifically for older people. The ACCOMPANY project focuses on home companion technologies and issues surrounding technology development for assistive purposes. The project responds to some overlooked aspects of technology design, divided into multiple areas such as empathic and social human-robot interaction, robot learning and memory visualisation, and monitoring persons’ activities at home. To bring these aspects together, a dedicated task is identified to ensure technological integration of these multiple approaches on an existing robotic platform, Care-O-Bot®3 in the context of a smart-home environment utilising a multitude of sensor arrays. Formative and summative evaluation cycles are then used to assess the emerging prototype towards identifying acceptable behaviours and roles for the robot, for example role as a butler or a trainer, while also comparing user requirements to achieved progress. In a novel approach, the project considers ethical concerns and by highlighting principles such as autonomy, independence, enablement, safety and privacy, it embarks on providing a discussion medium where user views on these principles and the existing tension between some of these principles, for example tension between privacy and autonomy over safety, can be captured and considered in design cycles and throughout project developmentsPeer reviewe

The Links Between Motivational Techniques, Successful Physical Therapists, and Successful Rehab Clinics

There is a strong positive correlation between a successful physical therapist (PT), their clinic, and the motivational techniques used during therapy. The PT should be prepared to sit down with each patient and set short- and long-term goals to help them accomplish what they desire through therapy. Effective communication skills, practical skills and technique, individualized care, and organizational and environmental factors are the four major aspects that define patient-therapist relationships. Patient adherence to their home exercise program (HEP) is vital to a successful rehabilitation, and therefore the PT’s goal should be to help the patient understand the importance of the prescribed protocol. To do this, the PT should be able to creatively find ways to relate to each patient, regardless of their age, gender or demographic. As part of this thesis, a research study was also conducted to investigate best motivational practices in PT. Data were collected through a ten-question survey distributed at a well-known, successful clinic to identify what is the most important to patients during the rehabilitation process. One of the questions, “rate how well the physical therapist’s personality meshes with the patient’s” had the highest rating, which supported the prediction that in rehabilitation it is most important that the PT be able to relate to the patient on a personal level. Based on the results of the survey, itwas concluded that the most important motivational factor to patients was the personality of the PT. Therefore, for a clinic to be successful, it is recommended to hire staff that are not only well educated but have a warm and caring personality

Speech-Language Pathology Students’ Perceptions of an IPE Stroke Workshop: A One-Year Follow up

Interprofessional education (IPE) activities are increasingly included in speech-language pathology (SLP) curriculum; however, little is known about IPE’s impact on students’ clinical experiences. Additionally, few studies have examined students’ perceptions of IPE Competency Domains across a program of study or within specific IPE activities. For this initial study, qualitative and quantitative analyses of 24 SLP students’ survey responses one year after an IPE Stroke Workshop highlighted the value of IPE. Students emphasized the importance of hands on and real life activities as part of interprofessional learning. Additionally, their responses suggest that multiple IPE Competency Domains may be addressed within a single IPE activity; however, students’ misconceptions of IPE may limit their report of IPE Competency Domains covered. These findings provide insight to assist with integration of IPE to meet the needs of SLP students

Enhancing Care Transitions for Older People through Interprofessional Simulation: A Mixed Method Evaluation

Introduction: The educational needs of the health and social care workforce for delivering effective integrated care are important. This paper reports on the development, pilot and evaluation of an interprofessional simulation course, which aimed to support integrated care models for care transitions for older people from hospital to home. Theory and methods: The course development was informed by a literature review and a scoping exercise with the health and social care workforce. The course ran six times and was attended by health and social care professionals from hospital and community (n=49). The evaluation aimed to elicit staff perceptions of their learning about care transfers of older people and to explore application of learning into practice and perceived outcomes. The study used a sequential mixed method design with questionnaires completed pre (n=44) and post (n=47) course and interviews (n=9) 2-5 months later. Results:Participants evaluated interprofessional simulation as a successful strategy. Post-course, participants identified learning points and at the interviews, similar themes with examples of application in practice were: Understanding individual needs and empathy; Communicating with patients and families; Interprofessional working; Working across settings to achieve effective care transitions. Conclusions and discussion:An interprofessional simulation course successfully brought together health and social care professionals across settings to develop integrated care skills and improve care transitions for older people with complex needs from hospital to home

A family living with Alzheimer’s disease: The communicative challenges

YesAlzheimer’s disease irrevocably challenges a person’s capacity to communicate with others. Earlier research on these challenges focused on the language disorders associated with the condition and situated language deficit solely in the limitations of a person’s cognitive and semantic impairments. This research falls short of gaining insight into the actual interactional experiences of a person with Alzheimer’s and their family. Drawing on a UK data set of 70 telephone calls recorded over a two-and-a-half year period (2006–2008) between one elderly woman affected by Alzheimer’s disease, and her daughter and son-in-law, this paper explores the role which communication (and its degeneration) plays in family relationships. Investigating these interactions, using a conversation analytic approach, reveals that there are clearly communicative difficulties, but closer inspection suggests that they arise due to the contingencies that are generated by the other’s contributions in the interaction. That being so, this paper marks a departure from the traditional focus on language level analysis and the assumption that deficits are intrinsic to the individual with Alzheimer’s, and instead focuses on the collaborative communicative challenges that arise in the interaction itself and which have a profound impact on people’s lives and relationships