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Implementing music therapy through telehealth: considerations for military populations

VAUDREUIL, Rebecca
LANGSTON, Diane G
MAGEE, Wendy L
BETTS, Donna
KASS, Sara
LEVY, Charles
2020

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Purpose

Telehealth provides psychotherapeutic interventions and psychoeducation for remote populations with limited access to in-person behavioural health and/or rehabilitation treatment. The United States Department of Défense and the Veterans Health Administration use telehealth to deliver primary care, medication management, and services including physical, occupational, and speech-language therapies for service members, veterans, and eligible dependents. While creative arts therapies are included in telehealth programming, the existing evidence base focuses on art therapy and dance/movement therapy, with a paucity of information on music therapy.

 

Methods

Discussion of didactic and applied music experiences, clinical, ethical, and technological considerations, and research pertaining to music therapy telehealth addresses this gap through presentation of three case examples. These programmes highlight music therapy telehealth with military-connected populations on a continuum of clinical and community engagement: 1) collaboration between Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA and the Acoke Rural Development Initiative in Lira, Uganda; 2) the Semper Sound Cyber Health programme in San Diego, CA; and 3) the integration of music therapy telehealth into Creative Forces®, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts.

 

Results

These examples illustrate that participants were found to positively respond to music therapy and community music engagement through telehealth, and reported decrease in pain, anxiety, and depression; they endorsed that telehealth was not a deterrent to continued music engagement, requested continued music therapy telehealth sessions, and recommended it to their peers.

 

Conclusions

Knowledge gaps and evolving models of creative arts therapies telehealth for military-connected populations are elucidated, with emphasis on clinical and ethical considerations.

#COVIDdisability: Disability-related resources for families

CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR COMMUNITY LIVING (CACL)
2020

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A series of disability-related resources related to the COVID-19 pandemic for people with intellectual disabilities and their families.

 

Topics include:

  • Trusted COVID-19 Information
  • Plain Language Information
  • COVID-19 and Discrimination 
  • Information for Caregivers
  • COVID-19 and Government Support
  • COVID-19 and Mental Health
  • Accessible Information on COVID-19
  • Emergency Preparedness and People with a Disability

Undergraduate physiotherapy students’ basic wheelchair provision knowledge: a pilot study in two universities in Colombia

TORO-HERNÁNDEZ, María Luisa
MONDRAGÓN-BARRERA, Mónica Alejandra
TORRES-NARVÁEZ, Martha Rocío
VELASCO-FORERO, Sandra Esperanza
GOLDBERG, Mary
2019

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Purpose: 

Access to an appropriate wheelchair is a human right. Only between 5–15% of people who need a wheelchair have access to one. One of the key barriers to access is the lack of appropriately trained rehabilitation professionals. The objective of this study was to evaluate basic manual wheelchair provision knowledge in final-year physiotherapy undergraduate students in two programs in Colombia.

 

Materials and methods: 

Students took the International Society of Wheelchair Professionals Wheelchair Service Provision – Basic Test which was administered online and in Spanish. The minimum score to pass the test is 70%; it assesses seven domains: Assessment; Prescription; Products; Fitting; User training; Follow-up, maintenance, and repairs; and Process.

 

Results and conclusions

One-hundred sixteen students took the test and no one passed the test. The highest median domain scores were in Assessment and Process while the lowest were in Fitting and Products. The limitations of this study include that this sample does not represent all physiotherapy programmes or students in Colombia, there may be potential errors in the Spanish translation of the outcome measure, and students encountered Internet connectivity issues during the test that may have impacted their scores. Immediate interventions are required to improve teaching and students’ learning outcomes related to basic manual wheelchair provision in these two programs. This study may serve as a foundation for future regional or national studies that assess the situation of wheelchair provision training in rehabilitation programs that will inform improvement actions. This manuscript is also available in Spanish as Supplemental Material.

Mobility Analysis of AmpuTees (MAAT 4): classification tree analysis for probability of lower limb prosthesis user functional potential

WURDEMAN, Shane R
STEVENS, Phillip M
CAMPBELL, James H
2019

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Purpose: 

To develop a predictive model to inform the probability of lower limb prosthesis users’ functional potential for ambulation.

 

Materials and Methods: 

A retrospective analysis of a database of outcomes for 2770 lower limb prosthesis users was used to inform a classification and regression tree analysis. Gender, age, height, weight, body mass index adjusted for amputation, amputation level, cause of amputation, comorbid health status and functional mobility score [Prosthetic Limb Users Survey of Mobility (PLUS-M™)] were entered as potential predictive variables. Patient K-Level was used to assign dependent variable status as unlimited community ambulator (i.e., K3 or K4) or limited community/household ambulator (i.e., K1 or K2). The classification tree was initially trained from 20% of the sample and subsequently tested with the remaining sample.

 

Results: 

A classification tree was successfully developed, able to accurately classify 87.4% of individuals within the model’s training group (standard error 1.4%), and 81.6% within the model’s testing group (standard error 0.82%). Age, PLUS-M™ T-score, cause of amputation and body weight were retained within the tree logic.

 

Conclusions: 

The resultant classification tree has the ability to provide members of the clinical care team with predictive probabilities of a patient’s functional potential to help assist care decisions.

Online collective identities for autism: The perspective of Brazilian parents

ANTUNES, Debora
DHOEST, Alexander
2018

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The importance of online communities for parents of people with disabilities has been discussed by many scholars in the fields of Digital and Disability Studies, showing, for instance, the importance of social support and the formation of social ties. In order to contribute to this scholarship, this paper explores how collective identity models are built and circulated by parents of autistic people in one of the biggest Brazilian online communities about the subject, ‘Sou autista… conheça o meu mundo’ (I am autistic…get to know my world). The results were obtained through a digital ethnography, based on participant observation and an exchange of information with the members of the community studied. Based on the data collected, the study concludes that the collective identity models that circulate in this community can be grouped into legitimising, resistant, and project identities, as postulated by Castells (2010). The different views reflect how parents see autism and represent the ways it is treated in Brazilian society.

 

Disability and the Global South, 2018 Vol.5, No. 1

An Online Survey on Identification of Evaluation Capacity, Needs and Current Practice of Programme Evaluation in Community-based Rehabilitation

WEBER, Joerg
POLACK, Sarah
HARTLEY, Sally
2016

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Purpose: Evaluation of Community-based Rehabilitation (CBR) is important for developing good practice and providing a foundation for evidence of efficacy of practice. Since not much is known about the extent to which monitoring and evaluation (M&E) are carried out within CBR programmes, this study aimed to enhance knowledge by focussing on current M&E activities, the need and capacity of programmes to conduct evaluations and the challenges experienced. 

 

Method: An online survey of 15 questions was developed, field-tested and sent out to 236 CBR managers in Africa, Asia and Latin America.  

 

Results: The majority (86%) of the respondents indicated that their programmes had been evaluated in the past.While this was mainly done by international donors (87%), only around half of the respondents reported programme participants as the main audience. Just over half of the programmes (54%) included people with disabilities, their families and community members in evaluation processes. Insufficient financial resources were considered the most important challenge to conduct evaluation, particularly in the African region and among smaller programmes. The complexity of CBR was also indicated as an important barrier to evaluation.

 

Conclusions and Recommendations:  Although evaluations have been widely implemented in CBR programmes, many of them are not locally owned, and people with disabilities and their families are often not included in evaluation processes. The issues of limited financial resources and CBR complexity reflect current discussions in other areas of mainstream development. It is therefore recommended that models for evaluation in CBR should learn from, and be embedded in, ongoing developments in mainstream evaluation in international developm

Una Vida Sin Palabras?: Disability, Subalternity and the Sandinista Revolution

BURKE, Lucy
RUDMAN, Thomas
2016

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This paper offers an analysis of the documentary film, Una Vida Sin Palabras [A life without words] (2011). The film follows a short period in the lives of a campesino family living in a rural area of Nicaragua as a teacher of Nicaraguan sign language, working for a local NGO, endeavours to teach three deaf siblings how to sign. Bringing together the critical practices of Disability and Subaltern studies in the specific context of contemporary Nicaragua, the paper argues: (1) that the film ultimately re-inscribes and reinforces the subalternity of the disabled subjects it sets out to portray; and (2) that the hierarchy it produces between its object – the deaf family – and its implied educated, metropolitan audience replays some influential (but, we would argue, politically limited) critiques of the failure of the first Sandinista Government (1979-1990) and other broad based radical political movements to represent the national popular. In so doing, the paper also makes a case for the political and intellectual importance of bringing a Critical Disability Studies perspective to the field of Subaltern Studies, and argues that an engagement with the problems that are presented by this film at the level of both form and content raise some important questions for both fields of enquiry.

 

Disability & the Global South (DGS), 2016, Vol. 3 No. 1

Inclusive disaster and emergency management for persons with disabilities : a review of needs, challenges, effective policies, and practices

RAJA, Deepti Samant
NARASIMHAN, Nirmita
2013

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This report provides an introduction into the needs of persons with disabilities in disasters and emergencies and reviews the challenges, effective policies and practices of inclusive disaster and emergency management.  It compiles international mandates and guidelines, strategies and practices for inclusive disaster management and gives an overview of the disaster and emergency management process and how persons with disabilities can be affected at each stage.  This report highlights the importance of information and communication technologies throughout the process and provides related case studies

Bridging aging and developmental disabilities service networks : challenges and best practices

FACTOR, Alan
HELLER, Tamar
JANICKI, Matthew
March 2012

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This reports aims to provide the "best practices guide to encourage the ‘bridging’ of the aging and developmental disabilities service networks that are both in need of including managed long-term, integrated care for people who are dually eligible for Medicaid and Medicare, and rebalancing initiatives that promote community living"

"I want to be a citizen just like any other" : barriers to political participation for people with disabilities in Peru

BARRIGA, Shantha Rau
et al
2012

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"This report documents legal, physical, communication and attitudinal barriers experienced by people with different disabilities in exercising their right to political participation just like others in society. It also examines how restrictions on legal capacity impact the ability of people with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities in particular to enjoy a range of rights, including the right to own or inherit property, be employed or legally represent their children"
Note: This report is available in pdf, word and easy-read formats

Web accessibility policy making : an international perspective

G3ICT
THE CENTRE FOR INTERNET AND SOCIETY
January 2012

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This report reviews of a number of countries policies on web accessibility to share good practice. The internet and ICT have become increasingly accessible with the introduction of electronic screen readers, close-captions video viewers and personally tailored assistive technology readers. Despite this, the authors maintain that there are still 1 billion disabled people who could have better access to the internet and ICT and there is great potential for improvement

Toolkit for long term recovery|Haiti : reconstruction for all

GPDD WORKING GROUP ON HAITI RECONSTRUCTION
August 2010

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This toolkit suggests strategies and tools to improve disaster recovery and reconstruction practices for disabled people. It is structured around the following seven major thematic areas related to disability inclusive recovery and reconstruction: physical environment; livelihood, employment and social protection; transportation and communication; education; health; capacity building of disabled people's organisations (DPOs); and organisational and operational issues. This toolkit is useful for humanitarian agencies and NGOs in disasters situations

Bridging the gaps between research, policy and practice in low- and middle-income countries : a survey of health care providers

GUINDON, G Emmanuel
et al
May 2010

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This article discusses the results of a survey to examine the gaps that continue to exist between research based evidence and clinical practice. Health care providers in 10 low- and middle-income countries were surveyed about their use of research-based evidence and examined factors that may facilitate or impede such use. The conclusion is that locally conducted or published research plays an important role in changing the professional practice of health care providers surveyed in low- and middle-income countries and increased investments in local research, or at least in locally adapted publications of research-based evidence from other settings, are therefore needed. Although access to the Internet was viewed as a significant factor in whether research-based evidence led to concrete changes in practice, few respondents reported having easy access to the Internet. Therefore, efforts to improve Internet access in clinical settings need to be accelerate

Sexual-health communication across and within cultures : the clown project, Guatemala

SAVDIE, Anthony
CHETLEY, Andrew
June 2009

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This paper puts forward an argument in favour of careful and critical analysis of culture in formulating communication strategies with and for specific groups, based on experience drawn from the Clown Project in Guatemala and other countries in Central America. The Clown Project uses labour-intensive face-to-face street theatre and dialogue, participatory workshops, and symbolic communication such as print-based material to reach those most vulnerable to the spread and impact of HIV and AIDS . The analysis takes into account relations of power within and between vulnerable groups, examining the centre-periphery dynamic between classes, genders, ethnicities, age groups, and other social identities. Both appropriately supported insider perspectives and appropriately processed outsider knowledge are recommended, along with ways of bridging science and the field, theory and practice

Listen to our stories : words, pictures, and songs by young people with disabilities

HILLYER, Linda
2008

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Listen to Our Stories highlights poetry, essays, interviews, songs, journal writing, letters, and pictures that tell the personal stories of young people with disabilities. The contributors are young girls and boys aged 5 to 21, from varied backgrounds, different talents and a range of disabilities. This website may be useful to anyone interested in personal life stories and experiences, written or told by children and young adults with disabilities

Programming experiences in early childhood development

UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND (UNICEF)
November 2006

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This document presents examples and case studies from 21 countries. They demonstrate the benefit of cross-sectoral programming to support early childhood development, some building on early child care or education programme

Libraries, literacy and poverty reduction : a key to African development

MCHOMBU, Kingo
2006

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This research paper explores the potential for libraries to empower communities and fight poverty in Africa, through promoting literacy and providing access to relevant information. The author outlines the challenges that libraries and information centres in Africa face; and the potential that linkages with local and international partners could bring. Case studies illustrate how library networks in three countries address the challenges and serve their communities. Recommendations for library networks highlight the need for skilled personnel, partnerships, a remit to create and share local content, appropriate use of technology, and better and more responsive monitoring and evaluation. Recommendations for governments and donor agencies include creating national information policies, filling a 'coordinating' role in the information environment, investing in literacy, and expanding public library networks

Civil society perspectives on TB policy in Bangladesh, Brazil, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Thailand

Public Health Watch, Open Society Institute
2006

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This publication contains an overview of the common themes and funding resulting from five country reports, and the five reports themselves. The World Health Organization has designated all five as TB-high burden countries. The research findings show a low level of awareness about TB, and TB and HIV co-infection; about how TB is transmitted and how it can be cured; and about the link between poverty and TB; as well as low media coverage of TB and a lack of strong communication strategies for national TB programmes. It also contains country-specific recommendations

A guide for including people with disabilities in disaster preparedness planning

CONNECTICUT COUNCIL ON DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES
The University of Connecticut A.J. Pappanikou Center for Excellence In Developmental Disabilities Education, Research and Service
Office of Protection & Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities
2005

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This guide is primarily intended to assist people involved in preparedness planning at the municipal and regional levels. It also contains information that will be useful to individuals with disabilities and families in the appendices.  Appendix A features disaster preparedness tips & tools for people with disabilities.  Appendix D also identifies some critical issues that need further development at the systems level in Connecticut.

Note: This guide can be made available in alternative formats upon request. Address specific requests to: The University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities at 860 679 1500 (v) or 860 679 1502 (TTY)

Lessons Learned : A Forum on Disaster Preparedness for People with Disabilities

Berlin, CT

6 December 2005

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