Background: Dysphagia, a swallowing impairment, has left people in need of assistance and care. Therefore, the lives of caregivers to those individuals with dysphagia change drastically. There is scarce research about the difficulties experienced by caregivers in caring for their loved ones with dysphagia, a phenomenon known as third-party disability (TPD).
Objectives: This study explored Speech Language Therapists’ (SLTs’) experiences with caregivers when managing adult patients living with dysphagia in South Africa.
Method: This study made use of a qualitative approach through an online survey with an optional follow-up interview using an adapted framework of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) model. Thirteen participants took part in the survey and two completed the follow-up online interview. Data were analysed using a top-down thematic analysis approach.
Results: Third-party caregivers receive counselling at various times with different content because of the lack of a standardised counselling protocol. Furthermore, using the ICF framework, the article identified that environmental, and contextual factors contribute to TPD. However, not all ICF components were applicable, and additional relevant factors were not captured.
Conclusion: Understanding SLTs’ experiences in managing TPD in the adult dysphagia population was achieved.
Contribution: The study contributes to literature regarding TPD of adult patients living with dysphagia and has captured the role of the SLT in managing TPD in diverse settings across South Africa.
Vocational rehabilitation. Employment of people with disabilities, Communities. Classes. Races
Petra Potmesilova, Milon Potmesil, Ling Guo
et al.
Background: Emotions—including joy, sadness, fear, and anger—are fundamental expressions of human experience. For children and adults who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, emotional experiences and communication can differ due to linguistic and communication-related factors. Methods: This scoping review identifies instruments that are suitable for assessing emotional intelligence in the context of the lived and cultural experiences of individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. A comprehensive search was conducted in April 2024 following the JBI methodology. Results: Out of 3091 articles, 21 studies were included. Two adapted methods were identified: the Meadow/Kendall Social–Emotional Assessment Inventory and ISEAR-D. Assessments supported by sign language revealed no significant differences in age or gender. Conclusions: The authors recommend further development of screening instruments that reflect the specific experiences of the population who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.
Vocational rehabilitation. Employment of people with disabilities
Background: Globally, chronic non-specific low back pain (CNSLBP) is the most prevalent disability associated with musculoskeletal disorders, particularly in low-and middle-income countries, where access to equipment and supervised rehabilitation may be limited. Elastic resistance bands are an inexpensive, portable, and adaptable option to perform resistance training without conventional equipment; however, their comparative value in low back pain rehabilitation remains under researched.
Methods: This randomized controlled trial recruited 60 participants with CNSLBP, randomly assigned to two groups: Group A, which performed elastic band resistance exercises, and Group B, which engaged in conventional resistance exercises using gym equipment. Both groups followed the same supervised exercise protocol, three days a week, for six weeks. Participants were assessed on the Visual Analogue Scale, Oswestry Disability Index, and plank hold time at baseline and post-intervention. Fifty-three participants completed the study (88.3% retention).
Results: Both groups demonstrated significant and clinically meaningful improvements in pain intensity and functional disability with no significant between-group differences (p>0.05), indicating therapeutic equivalence. However, the elastic band group exhibited significantly better adherence to the program (92.2% vs 83.9%, p=0.01) and greater improvement in core endurance (p=0.03). Additionally, more participants in the elastic band group expressed intention to continue exercises beyond the study period (93% vs 77%, p=0.04).
Conclusions: Elastic band exercises were found to be equally effective in CNSLBP management compared to conventional weight-based resistance exercises, with the added benefits of superior adherence, core endurance improvements, and greater intention for long-term continuation. These findings suggest elastic resistance training as a viable alternative for clinicians, particularly valuable in resource-constrained environments.
Vocational rehabilitation. Employment of people with disabilities
Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) has a prevalence of 7%, making it one of the important yet little known neurodevelopmental disorders. Often identified in kindergarten, children with DLD have language learning difficulties severe enough to impact their schooling and socialization. During adolescence, there is a high risk of academic, vocational, and mental health difficulties. However, for adults with DLD, a positive perception of self-efficacy may act as a protective factor. This led us to explore how communications skills and self-efficacy are related in adolescents with DLD. The participants were 49 teenagers, aged 12 to 15, who have DLD. Communication was measured using the Children’s Communication Checklist, completed by the teenagers’ parents, while perception of self-efficacy was reported by the teenagers as well as by their parents using the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale. A significant correlation was found between communication and self-efficacy with three domains of communication being the most important in this association, i.e., coherence (<i>r</i> = 0.716, <i>p</i> < 0.001), initiation (<i>r</i> = 0.581, <i>p</i> < 0.001), and use of context (<i>r</i> = 0.649, <i>p</i> < 0.001). These results highlight the crucial role of social communication in the profile of teenagers living with DLD. They further suggest that it may be relevant to examine whether supporting language development may foster positive perception of self-efficacy in teenagers living with DLD.
Vocational rehabilitation. Employment of people with disabilities
Adrienne M. Propp, Raffaele Vardavas, Carter C. Price
et al.
Dynamic microsimulation has long been recognized as a powerful tool for policy analysis, but in fact most major health policy simulations lack path dependency, a critical feature for evaluating policies that depend on accumulated outcomes such as retirement savings, wealth, or debt. We propose the Longitudinal Health, Income and Employment Model (LHIEM), a path-dependent discrete-time microsimulation that predicts annual health care expenditures, family income, and health status for the U.S. population over a multi-year period. LHIEM advances the population from year to year as a Markov chain with modules capturing the particular dynamics of each predictive attribute. LHIEM was designed to assess a health care financing proposal that would allow individuals to borrow from the U.S. government to cover health care costs, requiring careful tracking of medical expenditures and medical debt over time. However, LHIEM is flexible enough to be used for a range of modeling needs related to predicting health care spending and income over time. In this paper, we present the details of the model and all dynamic modules, and include a case study to demonstrate how LHIEM can be used to evaluate proposed policy changes.
This paper presents a systematic literature review of music technology tailored for blind and low vision (BLV) individuals. Music activities can be particularly beneficial for BLV people. However, a systematic approach to organizing knowledge on designing accessible technology for BLV people has yet to be attempted. We categorize the existing studies based on the type of technology and the extent of BLV people's involvement in the research. We identify six main categories of BLV people-oriented music technology and highlight four key trends in design goals. Based on these categories, we propose four general insights focusing on (1) spatial awareness, (2) access to information, (3) (non-verbal) communication, and (4) memory. The identified trends suggest that more empirical studies involving BLV people in real-world scenarios are needed to ensure that technological advancements can enhance musical experiences and social inclusion. This research proposes collaborative music technology and inclusive real-world testing with the target group as two key areas missing in current research. They serve as a foundational step in shifting the focus from ``accessible technology'' to ``inclusive technology'' for BLV individuals within the broader field of accessibility research.
Background A large portion of the population of people with visual impairments are neither working nor looking for work. Mentoring and self-employment are two strategies to encourage workforce participation, but little is known about whether people with visual impairments who are out of the labor force were offered or were interested in these options. Objective We explored whether participants were interested in or had been offered mentoring or self-employment assistance to encourage their participation in the workforce. Methods Thirty participants with visual impairments and out of the labor force were interviewed about their thoughts and experiences regarding mentoring and self-employment. A qualitative software program assisted in coding responses, identifying themes, and organizing demographics. Results Participants tended to be interested in but did not have access to mentors. Some participants explored self-employment opportunities, and even more were interested in it, but few were offered it as an employment option by a vocational rehabilitation provider. Most participants were interested in learning more about self-employment job opportunities and how income earned through self-employment might influence other benefits. Conclusions Opportunities to support people with visual impairments in locating mentors or engaging in self-employment appear under-utilized. Participants in this study appeared interested in receiving support from a mentor and learning more about self-employment options. Efforts to improve the labor force participation rate among people with visual impairments should include assistance in finding mentors to promote adjustment to blindness and becoming employed and exploring opportunities for self-employment. Vocational rehabilitation agencies should consider examining their policies and practices to promote greater access and use of these strategies to bring people with visual impairments into the labor market.
Despite advancements in legal protections for people with disabilities in Vietnam, significant barriers to employment persist. This qualitative phenomenological study explored the employment experiences of people with physical disabilities in Vietnam. Semi-structured interviews with 15 participants employed across different sectors were thematically analysed, with the ecological systems theory applied as a guiding framework to interpret the findings and implications. Three primary themes were revealed: accessibility, vulnerability, and discrimination and ableism. The results also emphasised the importance of positive attitudes and interactions from co-workers and supervisors in fostering inclusive workplaces. Recommendations include policy reforms for attitudinal shifts, focus on equity to improve workplace culture, and the involvement of people with disabilities in organisational decision making. These actions are essential for creating more diverse and inclusive workplaces in Vietnam, where employees with physical disabilities feel included, valued, and empowered.
Queen E.C. Seketi, Jayasree A. Menon, Charles Michelo
et al.
Background: COVID-19 had an impact on all sections of society, including people with disabilities.
Objectives: The authors aimed to explore the needs and experiences of people with disabilities in Zambia during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Method: In this hermeneutic phenomenological study, we used a semi-structured interview guide to collect data from a purposive and snowball sample of 40 people with disabilities and their caregivers. The participants were from 11 districts in 6 provinces in Zambia. The in-depth interviews were done between July 2022 and November 2022. Data were managed in NVivo and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.
Results: The three themes included: (1) awareness and experience of public health measures on COVID-19 among people with disabilities; (2) experience of othering and stigmatisation as people with disability during the COVID-19 pandemic and (3) experience of COVID-19 symptoms and having COVID-19 among people with disabilities.
Conclusion: Interventions were largely unresponsive to the needs of people with disabilities, exacerbating the risk of exposure to infection. In future, adaptations like emergency risk communication in braille, audio and sign language interpretation in adapted communication formats should be made. Further studies are needed to quantify the gaps in access to health, explore policies and strategies to improve health outcomes for people with disabilities in LMICs like Zambia.
Contribution: The findings may contribute to the development and enhancement of policies and interventions responsive to the needs of people with disabilities in future pandemics in the Zambian context.
Vocational rehabilitation. Employment of people with disabilities, Communities. Classes. Races
Laura N. Cushley, Lajos Csincsik, Gianni Virgili
et al.
Background: Visual impairment is a global problem and, regardless of the cause, it substantially impacts people’s daily lives. Navigating towns and cities can be one of the most difficult tasks for someone with a visual impairment. This is because our streetscapes are often inaccessible for navigating safely and independently by people with a visual impairment. Barriers include street clutter, bollards, pavement parking, and shared spaces. Methodology: Participants with varying levels of diabetic retinopathy (DR) and retinitis pigmentosa (RP) were recruited. Each participant completed a clinical visit and a 1-mile walk. Participants discussed confidence, anxiety, difficulty, and any barriers encountered while completing the walkaround. Participants completed quality of life (RetDQol), diabetes distress scales, and a study questionnaire. They also underwent retinal imaging and visual function testing. Retinal imaging and visual function results were compared with confidence, difficulty, and anxiety levels during the walkaround using Spearman’s correlation. Results: Thirty-three participants took part in the study, 22 with diabetes and 11 with RP. Results showed that average confidence was correlated with visual acuity, RetDQol, mean visual fields, and vertical peripheral diameter visual fields. Average difficulty was associated with visual acuity, RetDQol, dark adaptation, mean visual fields, percentage of the retina, and both horizontal and vertical diameter visual fields. In addition, some of the barriers discussed were pavement issues, bollards, parked cars, uneven pavements, alfresco dining, light levels, and street features such as tree roots, poles, A-boards, and street clutter. Conclusions: People with RP and treated DR faced common barriers while navigating the walkaround. The removal of these common barriers would make our streetscapes more accessible for all and will allow for more independence in those with visual impairments.
Vocational rehabilitation. Employment of people with disabilities
Abdulaziz S. Fakhouri, Faisal S. Fakhouri, Muhammad Farzik Ijaz
et al.
Patients who suffer from a disability or face temporary walking difficulty due to accidents or medical conditions have to go through rehabilitation treatment, which requires them to use an orthotic walking assistive device such as a walker, cane, or crutches. It is estimated that there are more than 7.4 million people in the world who depend on walkers to assist them in their walking either due to a disability, old age, or as a part of their rehabilitation following accidents or medical conditions. The use of orthotic assistive devices may last for several weeks or months and encourage patients to keep the weight off the injured or weak limb and exert more force on the healthy limb. Such prolonged use of walking assistive devices and heavy reliance on healthy lower limbs may cause negative gait disorders for patients. Negative gait disorders are due to unbalanced gait because of the lack of continuous feedback to patients about their gait. Physical therapist feedback to patients is limited to their physical presence with patients; hence, it is not practical to give the patient corrective feedback about their gait with every walking step. Hence, to overcome this pitfall, a visual feedback system of the gait symmetry, which could be installed on any traditional rehabilitation orthotic walker, was designed, developed, and proven. The visual feedback system was 3D modeled utilizing SolidWorks 2021, and parts were 3D printed utilizing the Original Prusa i3 MK3S+ 3D printer. This real-time visual feedback system relies on load cells installed in the tips of the orthotic walker legs to measure the force and weight being exerted on each side of the orthotic walker. The visual feedback system was tested to give the patients visual feedback, encouraging them to correct their unbalanced gait by shifting their weight bearing on either of their two lower limbs. This novel and innovative system mitigates the negative effects of the traditional orthotic walker on the overall gait and helps to mitigate negative gait disorders in patients.
Vocational rehabilitation. Employment of people with disabilities
Epistemic injustice, the theory of unfairness related to knowledge, is a useful framework for understanding the ways in which historic and ongoing marginalization and stereotypes have shaped the ways that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a scoping review of the literature and divided findings into physical health (cases, hospitalization, and death) and psychosocial outcomes (access to services, mental health symptoms, community participation, etc.). Impacts were then analyzed using the key principles of epistemic injustice. Findings suggest that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) experienced high rates of negative physical health and psychosocial outcomes from the COVID-19 pandemic compared to people without disabilities and that epistemic injustice could be used to understand these impacts in a broader context.
Vocational rehabilitation. Employment of people with disabilities, Special aspects of education
Educational Data Mining (EDM) is a promising field, where data mining is widely used for predicting students performance. One of the most prevalent and recent challenge that higher education faces today is making students skillfully employable. Institutions possess large volume of data; still they are unable to reveal knowledge and guide their students. Data in education is generally very large, multidimensional and unbalanced in nature. Process of extracting knowledge from such data has its own set of problems and is a very complicated task. In this paper, Engineering and MCA (Masters in Computer Applications) students data is collected from various universities and institutes pan India. The dataset is large, unbalanced and multidimensional in nature. A cluster based model is presented in this paper, which, when applied at preprocessing stage helps in parsimonious selection of variables and improves the performance of predictive algorithms. Hence, facilitate in better prediction of Students Employability.
Everyone spends some time waiting every day. HCI research has developed tools for boosting productivity while waiting. However, little is known about how people naturally spend their waiting time. We conducted an experience sampling study with 21 working adults who used a mobile app to report their daily waiting time activities over two weeks. The aim of this study is to understand the activities people do while waiting and the effect of situational factors. We found that participants spent about 60% of their waiting time on leisure activities, 20% on productive activities, and 20% on maintenance activities. These choices are sensitive to situational factors, including accessible device, location, and certain routines of the day. Our study complements previous ones by demonstrating that people purpose waiting time for various goals beyond productivity and to maintain work-life balance. Our findings shed light on future empirical research and system design for time management.
This study proposes a tactile diagram pattern for visually impaired people to recognize color information. The pattern uses the principle of three primary colors, with different patterns representing red, blue, and yellow. The size of tactile elements on these patterns indicates the proportion of the color mixing. A preliminary experiment showed that even a sighted participant could understand and reconstruct the tactile diagram. Future experiments will target visually impaired people to confirm the effectiveness of this method.
Recent deep learning-based multi-view people detection (MVD) methods have shown promising results on existing datasets. However, current methods are mainly trained and evaluated on small, single scenes with a limited number of multi-view frames and fixed camera views. As a result, these methods may not be practical for detecting people in larger, more complex scenes with severe occlusions and camera calibration errors. This paper focuses on improving multi-view people detection by developing a supervised view-wise contribution weighting approach that better fuses multi-camera information under large scenes. Besides, a large synthetic dataset is adopted to enhance the model's generalization ability and enable more practical evaluation and comparison. The model's performance on new testing scenes is further improved with a simple domain adaptation technique. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach in achieving promising cross-scene multi-view people detection performance. See code here: https://vcc.tech/research/2024/MVD.
Objectives: We assessed the effect of change in core isometric strength and endurance on upper limb isometric strength in female athletes.
Methods: In this experimental study, 32 female athletes aged 18-25 years were recruited based on the inclusion criteria. (17 cases in the experimental group and 15 cases in the control group). Before and after the core stabilization knockdown protocol, participants were assessed for isometric core strength (abdomen/back rehab 5310; rehab line), core endurance (curl-up test), and upper limb isometric strength (push up/pull down rehab 5120; rehab line).
Results: The results showed a significant reduction in abdomen, back, push-up, pull-down isometric strength, and curl-up test scores in the experimental group and no significant differences in these parameters in the control group after the protocol. The experimental and control groups showed significant differences in the aforementioned parameters after the protocol.
Discussion: This research suggests that performing extensive and exclusive core exercises to relieve fatigue prior to upper limb training can decrease the potential for core activation. This can ultimately lead to reduced effectiveness of upper extremity exercises or rehabilitation sessions, which can lead to upper body injuries. These exercises can be useful to enhance the knowledge regarding the sequencing of core and upper limb exercises in an athlete’s training protocols.
Coresponding author: Sarika Chaudhary, E-mail: sarikamyas@gmail.com
You can also search for this author in: PubMed
Medicine, Vocational rehabilitation. Employment of people with disabilities
Muhammad Bilal , Saira Jahan , Muhammad Zakria
et al.
Background: Open heart surgery is the major surgical procedure which is the most frequently conducted in general hospitals. Kinesiophobia and functional capacity are greatly compromised after open heart surgery. Cardiac rehabilitation helps in secondary prevention and minimizes different risk factors of cardiovascular disease.Objective: To determine the effect of cardiac rehabilitation program on kinesiophobia and functional capacity after open heart surgery.Methodology: A quasi experimental study was conducted at Rehman medical institute, Peshawar. Sample size was calculated as 45 by using G power, both male and female patients of aged50 to 70 years underwent open heart surgery were selected through nonprobability purposive sampling technique from July 2021 to February 2022. Patients having any neurodegenerative disease, disorder of stance and gait, drug intoxication were excluded. Preand post assessment after a week after was done using scale Tampa scale of kinesiophobia-11 for kinesiophobia and 6 minutes’ walk test for functional capacity. Phase 1 cardiac rehabilitation program was used as an intervention after open heart surgery. Paired t test was applied to determine the mean difference in a group pre and post interventional. SPSS version 23 was used to analyze the data.Results: The Mean age of the patients was 59.71±5.01 years. The results showed the significant improvement in kinesiophobia (28.96±4.67 versus 21.76±3.51, p<0.001) and functional capacity on 6 MWT (227.11±74.40 versus 326.02±80.05, p<0.001) after cardiac rehabilitation program was observed in study participants enrolled. Conclusion: The study concluded that cardiac rehabilitation programs have significant effect on kinesiophobia and functional capacity after open heart surgery.
Vocational rehabilitation. Employment of people with disabilities
For many people, social media is an important way to consume news on important topics like health. Unfortunately, some influential health news is misinformation because it is based on retracted scientific work. Ours is the first work to explore how people can understand this form of misinformation and how an augmented social media interface can enable them to make use of information about retraction. We report a between subjects think-aloud study with 44 participants, where the experimental group used our augmented interface. Our results indicate that this helped them consider retraction when judging the credibility of news. Our key contributions are foundational insights for tackling the problem, revealing the interplay between people's understanding of scientific retraction, their prior beliefs about a topic, and the way they use a social media interface that provides access to retraction information.
Automated image captioning has the potential to be a useful tool for people with vision impairments. Images taken by this user group are often noisy, which leads to incorrect and even unsafe model predictions. In this paper, we propose a quality-agnostic framework to improve the performance and robustness of image captioning models for visually impaired people. We address this problem from three angles: data, model, and evaluation. First, we show how data augmentation techniques for generating synthetic noise can address data sparsity in this domain. Second, we enhance the robustness of the model by expanding a state-of-the-art model to a dual network architecture, using the augmented data and leveraging different consistency losses. Our results demonstrate increased performance, e.g. an absolute improvement of 2.15 on CIDEr, compared to state-of-the-art image captioning networks, as well as increased robustness to noise with up to 3 points improvement on CIDEr in more noisy settings. Finally, we evaluate the prediction reliability using confidence calibration on images with different difficulty/noise levels, showing that our models perform more reliably in safety-critical situations. The improved model is part of an assisted living application, which we develop in partnership with the Royal National Institute of Blind People.