Caregiver of children with severe cerebral palsy and use assistive technology for their mobilization and postural stability systems
Keywords:
Cerebral palsy, Caregivers and assistive device.Abstract
Objective:
The purpose of the paper is to describe the main characteristics of severe cerebral palsy’s caregivers and the use of distinct assistive devices for mobilization and Postural stability systems.
Subjects and Methods:
An observational, descriptive and cross- sectional survey applied in 94 caregivers who assisted at the Clínica Universidad de la Sabana (CUS) and Instituto de Ortopedia Infantil Roosevelt (IOIR) from January 2010 to July 2011.
Results: A caregiver is 37 Years old on average (std. Dev. 9,32 years) and children is 8 years old. In both institutions, most of caregivers (70,73% in CUS and 64,15% in IOIR) only take care of the child. Among the children, 60,64% do not have schooling. About 67% of the children at IOIR made use of manual wheelchair and 56% used bath chair and 37% stander. In CUS, the 58.5% of the kids used stroller, 43.9% manual wheelchair and 24.2% stander. The most predominant mean of acquiring the devices was by means of the EPS (Business Health Promoting Social Security System in Colombia).
Discussion:
The socio-demographic characteristics of the caregivers, children and type of technical aids were very similar to those described by other authors. However, the main duty of most caregivers was just child care. In spite of the Colombian current law which excludes this kind of service in the mandatory health insurance, generally the caregivers use legal mechanisms to provide this support.
Author Biographies
Zareth del Pilar Gamboa Niño, Universidad de la Sabana.
Fernando Ortiz Corredor, Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Miguel Ángel Gutiérrez Ramírez, Universidad Militar Nueva Granada.
Granada.
María Catalina Gómez Guevara, Universidad de la Sabana.
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