André Ribeiro da Silva

Educational practices in diabetic patient and perspective of healthprofessional: a systematic review

This systematic review has sought to identify the multidisciplinary scientific production, addressing factors for proper diabetes mellitus management focusing on health education, from the perspective of the patient and the professional. The goal was to synthesize the knowledge produced and point out its implications for the practice of patient care. A search was conducted in PubMed, Medline, SCOPUS, LILACS and BIREME. The intervention programs present methodologies and different structures, although the theoretical basis is education for self-management. The evaluation methodologies for effectiveness of educational programs focused on the number of subscriptions and stay in groups. Some studies also evaluated psychological, social and pathophysiological parameters. The results show qualitative improvements in self-care, humanization in care, and quality of life of patients. The evidence shows that there seems to be a positive response to the intervention programs whenever comparing the physiological, psychological, educational and social parameters, initial and final of the studies.

Hippotherapy and respiratory muscle strength in children and adolescents with Down syndrome

Introduction Individuals with Down syndrome may have decreased respiratory muscle strength due to hypotonia, a common characteristic in this population. Objective To analyze the effects of a hippotherapy program on respiratory muscle strength in individuals with Down syndrome. Materials and methods The study included 41 subjects, 20 of which were in the hippotherapy practicing group (PG) and 21 of which were in the non-practicing group (NPG). Study subjects were of both sexes, aged 7-13 years, and all diagnosed with Down syndrome. A manovacuometer was used to measure respiratory muscle strength, following the protocol proposed by Black and Hyatt (23). Statistical analysis was performed by means of descriptive distribution. After verifying normality and homoscedasticity of the variables, the Mann-Whitney test was used to determine differences between the means of the two groups (PG and NPG), and the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient test was used to view possible relationships with age and time practicing hippotherapy. Significance was set at p < 0.05. Results and discussion Individuals who practiced hippotherapy showed improvements in both inspiratory and expiratory respiratory muscle strength, although no significant difference was demonstrated. Conclusion This study demonstrates that hippotherapy benefits respiratory muscle strength in individuals with Down syndrome, and that the youngest subjects had the best results.