1,721,001 research outputs found
A participatory design approach to developing upper limb prostheses for children and young people
No full textUpper limb difference can have both a physical and psychological effect on a child, impacting on functional abilities and activity participation. Fortunately upper limb loss amongst children is a rare condition. This, however, has resulted in a ‘postcode lottery’ in the provision of services and a lack of clinical guidance. Research that has been conducted into children’s satisfaction with devices is scarce and has relied on parent proxy reports and quantitative measures. The views of children and young people have, therefore, not been satisfactorily explained. The views of parents and professionals are also vital to the improvement of services and devices, but are not well represented in previous research.In order to ‘give voice’ to the users of paediatric upper limb prostheses and involve them in the development of new devices, a participatory design approach (the BRIDGE methodology), using focus groups and interviews, was taken.The data was subjected to a number of thematic analyses, revealing the following: • Children have an ambivalent relationship with prostheses and are dissatisfied with the devices available to them;• Adjusting to having a child with limb loss is a difficult and complex process for parents and prostheses have a part to play in this process;• Decisions regarding the prescription of prostheses are influenced by factors related to the client (child and parents), the devices available, and the institution/profession within which the prescriber works.The findings supported previous assertions that prostheses for children need to be lighter, more comfortable, more useful and more attractive. Additionally, they should be safe, quick and easy to use, and natural (in both appearance and movement).The findings have implications for clinical practice, device development and research with children. Approaches to assessment and treatment should move away from a medicalised view of using a prosthesis to ‘treat’ a ‘deficiency’ and should focus on the needs of the family unit. Device development needs to focus on task-specificity, modularity, comfort and weight. Finally, this study has demonstrated that children and young people can and should be involved as equal partners in the development of daily living equipment
Parental Perspective:The Role of Prostheses and Prosthetics Services in Adjusting to a Child’s Upper Limb Difference
Full text linkBACKGROUND: The impact of paediatric upper limb difference may extend beyond the child themselves to their parents and other family members. Previous research has found that feelings of shock, numbness and loss are common amongst parents and that peer support can be a buffer against stress. OBJECTIVE: The current study aimed to explore the experiences of parents of children with limb difference, and the role of services and prosthetic devices in these experiences. METHODS: Nine parents of children with limb difference participated in either a group (n= 2) or individual (n= 7) interview. RESULTS: Analysis of the interview transcripts revealed four themes – ‘grief and guilt’, ‘prosthesis as a tool for parental adjustment’, ‘support’ and ‘fun and humour’. CONCLUSIONS: Parents may employ coping strategies to help them adjust to their child’s limb difference, including use of a prosthesis, accessing support from statutory services and peers, and use of fun and humour within the family
Children’s and adolescents’ views on upper limb prostheses in relation to their daily occupations
No full textIntroductionProsthetic treatment is widely used for children and adolescents with upper limb difference, for functional benefit, cosmetic restoration or the performance of specific activities. Children and adolescents feel, however, that prostheses do not help function, are uncomfortable, are unreliable, are heavy and are not aesthetically acceptable. This research aims to develop an understanding of children’s and adolescents’ views on upper limb prostheses in relation to their daily occupations.MethodEight children and adolescents with upper limb difference participated in a focus group (n=4) or an individual interview (n=4). Data was analysed using thematic analysis.ResultsParticipants described both positive and negative views of their prostheses. Participants described experiences where their prosthesis was helpful to them for social interactions, when playing and in self-care and productive activities. However, participants also described choosing not to use prostheses due to lack of functional benefit, causing a hindrance in certain activities and restriction of movement.ConclusionProstheses can be useful tools for occupational participation for children and adolescents. General purpose functional prostheses for children and adolescents can result in the prosthesis not being useful, becoming a hindrance and restricting movement. Task specific devices can overcome these issues to help children and adolescents in social interactions, when playing and in carrying out self-care and productive activities
Exploring the views of children, parents and clinicians to inform the design of future prosthetic devices
No full textThe design of a myoelectrically controlled hand with multiple actuators for five-year old children
Full text linkMyoelectric prosthetics are complex functional devices that can improve significantly a person’s quality of life. This paper describes the development of a myoelectrically controlled prosthetic hand for a five-year old child. A key consideration in the design of upper-body prostheses is to use information from studies highlighting the main causes of rejection. These studies emphasize that in order to reduce rejection, it is necessary to include the opinions of the users in the design process. Additional constraints are introduced due to the small size and mass of a five-year old child’s hand compared to that of an adult. The main points of the final design are detailed, including the areas where these constraints were overcome. Modularity was used throughout the design; it allows the hand to be configured for the individual user, and also helps to reduce the potential cost of the hand. The final design has three actuators controlled individually through the use of a master-slave microchip combination. This design has a final mass of 105.8g and produces a pinching force of 4.35 N
Participatory design of pediatric upper limb prostheses: qualitative methods and prototyping
Full text linkObjectives: The study aims to develop an understanding of the views of children and adolescents, parents, and professionals on upper limb prosthetic devices to develop and improve device design. Previous research has found that children are dissatisfied with prostheses but has relied heavily on parent proxy reports and quantitative measures (such as questionnaires) to explore their views.Methods: Thirty-four participants (eight children aged 8–15 years with upper limb difference, nine parents, eight prosthetists, and nine occupational therapists) contributed to the development of new devices through the BRIDGE methodology of participatory design, using focus groups and interviews.Results: The study identified areas for improving prostheses from the perspective of children and adolescents, developed prototypes based on these and gained feedback on the prototypes from the children and other stakeholders (parents and professionals) of paediatric upper limb prostheses. Future device development needs to focus on ease of use, versatility, appearance, and safety.Conclusions: This study has demonstrated that children and adolescents can and should be involved as equal partners in the development of daily living equipment and that rapid prototyping (three-dimensional printing or additive manufacturing), used within a participatory design framework, can be a useful tool for facilitating this
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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