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Purpose:  The Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) is an ongoing screening and early intervention programme for children in India. Children with birth defects and developmental disabilities from rural and urban communities are referred for treatment and therapies to early intervention centres located in urban areas. This study primarily aimed at determining caregiver uptake and compliance to referral advice of the RBSK, with the larger goal of determining the utility of the community-based screening and district-based intervention service model for caregivers of children with disabilities.

Method: Three administrative blocks and one municipal corporation area of Pune district, in Maharashtra, were randomly selected. The sample consisted of 115 caregivers of children with disabilities. They were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire that investigated uptake of referral advice, treatment outcome, current health status of the child and reasons for noncompliance, three to nine months after the first referral by the RBSK team. 

Results: Sixty-four caregivers were aware of their child’s disability, but most children remained untreated. After screening and referral by the RBSK team, compliance was high for treatable conditions like congenital heart defects. Treatment was discontinued for 83% (24 out of 29) of children with developmental disabilities. Reasons for discontinuation included lengthy waiting time, distance to facility, difficulty in transporting the child, loss of wages, and denial of the child’s disability.

Conclusion and Implications: The results indicated that the RBSK programme provides treatment opportunities for children who are left undiagnosed and untreated in the community. Providing rehabilitation services at district centres is a barrier for service uptake. Alternative models such as early childhood development screening and integrating rehabilitation services at the primary healthcare level may be more feasible to provide services for children with disabilities in India.

Purpose: To examine current practices of occupational health professionals in assessing significant others’ cognitions and behavioral responses that may influence work outcomes of workers with a chronic disease.

Methods: A survey study among occupational health professionals, focusing on the assessment of illness perceptions, work-related beliefs and expectations, and behavioral responses of significant others of workers with a chronic disease. We performed linear regression analyses to investigate which factors are related to occupational health professionals’ assessment practices. We used thematic analysis to analyze qualitative data on occupational health professionals’ reasons to assess or overlook significant others’ cognitions and behavioral responses.

Results: Our study sample included 192 occupational health professionals. Most seldom asked about significant others’ cognitions and behavioral responses. Organizational norms and occupational health professionals’ self-efficacy were related to reported assessment practices. Reasons to assess significant others’ cognitions and behavioral responses included recognizing their influence on work participation, and occurrence of stagnation. However, occupational health professionals indicated some doubt whether such assessment would always contribute to better care.

Conclusions: It is not common practice for occupational health professionals to assess significant others’ cognitions and behavioral responses, although they recognize the influence of these factors on work outcomes. More research is needed as to how occupational health professionals can best address the role of significant others, and apply these new insights in their daily practice.

This brief is for policy-makers in any ministry involved in designing assistive technology policies and programmes (such as ministries of health, finance and social welfare), especially those involved in designing universal health coverage programmes. It is also relevant for all stakeholders working in these areas. The brief highlights key challenges in ensuring equitable access to high-quality, affordable assistive technology and suggests actions to improve access within universal health coverage or any other national health/welfare programme.

Innovations in the field of assistive technology are usually evaluated based on practical considerations related to their ability to perform certain functions. However, social and emotional aspects play a huge role in how people with disabilities interact with assistive products and services. Over a five months period, we tested an innovative wheelchair service provision model that leverages 3D printing and Computer Aided Design to provide bespoke wheelchairs in Kenya. The study involved eight expert wheelchair users and five healthcare professionals who routinely provide wheelchair services in their community. Results from the study show that both users and providers attributed great value to both the novel service delivery model and the wheelchairs produced as part of the study. The reasons for their appreciation went far beyond the practical considerations and were rooted in the fact that the service delivery model and the wheelchairs promoted core values of agency, empowerment and self-expression.

ASSETS '20: The 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility.; 2020

https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10110230/

This product narrative was developed to support the identification of activities that will increase and sustain access to appropriate, affordable hearing aids

Five strategic objectives (SO) that can strengthen the market in both the near and longer-term are identified 

This is a first exercise to connect different areas of debate, looking at the key trends of the future of work from a disability perspective and seeking to identify specific action needed in order to shape the future of work in a more disability-inclusive way.

Chapters include: Work and disability - overview of current situation; megatrends of future work and persons with disability (technological revolution, skills revolution, cultutral change, demographic change and climate change); and Roadmap for an inclusive future of work.

The following five key objectives for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the future of work have been identified:

1. New forms of employment and employment relations integrate disability inclusion

2. Skills development and life-long learning made inclusive of persons with disabilities

3. Universal Design embedded in development of all new infrastructure, products and services

4. Assistive technologies, existing and newly developed, to be made affordable and available

5. Measures to include persons with disabilities in growing and developing areas of the economy

Governments, companies, disability NGOs, trade unions and academia must be encouraged to commit and contribute towards achieving these objectives through different actions. An inclusive future of work can be reached through coordination and alliances among the different stakeholders

Building on the main findings emerging from comparative studies - iFAR (improve Financial Access to Rehabilitation services) studies carried out by Humanity & Inclusion - on the financial accessibility of rehabilitation services in 9 low and middle income countries, this factsheet contains recommendations to guide effective actions that can improve access to rehabilitation for everyone

Purpose: Employment of young adults with chronic physical conditions entering the labor market after finishing post-secondary education remains behind compared to typically developing peers. The aim of this study is to evaluate changes in their paid employment levels after following a vocational rehabilitation intervention (‘At Work’).

Materials and methods: Participants aged between 16 and 27 years (n = 90) were recruited via rehabilitation physicians and a jobcoach agency and participated in a vocational rehabilitation program. Cochran’s Q and McNemar tests served to test the development of intervention participants’ paid employment over time. Chi-square tests were used to compare intervention participants’ paid employment level with national reference data selected on age and having a self-reported chronic physical condition.

Results: Paid employment level of the intervention cohort significantly increased from 10.0% at baseline to 42.4% at 2-years follow-up (p < 0.001). At 2-years follow-up, their employment rates approached the employment rates of national reference data (42.4% versus 52.9%, p = 0.17).

Conclusion: Starting from a disadvantaged position, the paid employment rate of the intervention cohort substantially increased over time, approaching the employment rate of reference data. ‘At Work’ seems to be appropriate for supporting this specific group who face obstacles to enter the labor market, to find competitive employment.

PTSD in veterans is a serious issue, but many former service members and their loved ones do not know how to identify the condition or seek treatment. Because PTSD affects mental health and can be hidden, it can be difficult for health practitioners and other individuals to gauge its severity. Additionally, PTSD in veterans is often misunderstood by the public to be a condition that only affects combat veterans or those who have encountered violence firsthand. And even those who understand PTSD in veterans and its potential long-lasting harms still may not know all of its wide-ranging symptoms.

Included here are tips, tools and resources that can help friends and families of veterans who may be suffering from PTSD.