Maare Tamm

How Children with Restricted Mobility Perceive their School Environment

The purpose of this qualitative interview study was to describe how pupils with restricted mobility perceive their school environment with regard to physical-technical and psychological-social accessibility. Ten pupils with restricted mobility in the age range 7-12 years (five boys and five girls) were included in the study. These pupils attended ten different schools (four pupils at junior primary school and six pupils at senior primary school). As an instrument, parts of BAS (assessment of adaptations in school environments), a semistructured interview guide, were used. Content analysis of the interview transcripts was carried out and could be clustered in five main themes: inner environment, outer environment, teaching situation, social contacts with peers, and relations towards personnel. The results showed that even though the interviewed pupils considered that the physical-technical school environment was generally satisfactory, it still led to the pupils being excluded from certain contexts, both teaching and play contexts. Problems with physical accessibility resulted in the pupils losing valuable opportunities for contacts and relations with friends, i.e. shortcomings in the physical environment had social consequences. The psychological-social environment was also generally perceived as being free of problems, with the exception that the interviewed pupils stated that they were sometimes teased because of their disability. The conclusion can be drawn that disability is something that occurs between the individual and his or her physical-technical and psychological-social something that occurs between the individual and his or her physical-technical and psychological-social environments, which to a certain extent can be remedied by making changes to these environments.

How I Play: Roles and Relations in the Play Situations of Children with Restricted Mobility

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to gain knowledge and understanding of how children with restricted mobility play in different play situations. The group investigated consisted of 10 children with restricted mobility, aged from 6 to 12 years, living in northern Sweden. In this study, the child with restricted mobility is defined as a child unable to move around without the aid of a wheelchair, walking trolley, crutches or other walking device. The children were interviewed about play and were observed in different play situations. The transcribed interviews and observations were analysed according to the constant comparative method of grounded theory described by Glaser and Strauss (1967). The analysis resulted in a model (How I play, core category) describing the childs relations in different play situations, the factors that gave rise to different types of play and the consequences of the play. The different types of play were: (A) play with friends - (a) interactive play and (b) onlooker play; (B) play alone; and (C) play with adults. Most play came to be placed in categories B and C, that is the children played mostly alone or with adults. The results were discussed on the basis of Meads theory of identity development and Bronfenbrenners theory of developmental ecology, that is how childrens play influences their development when adults are so often present.

Attitudes of Key Persons to Accessibility Problems in Playgrounds for Children with Restricted Mobility: A Study in a Medium-sized Municipality in Northern Sweden

Playgrounds are an important outdoor environment for children. Yet few playgrounds are designed to be accessible to children with restricted mobility. In this study the child with restricted mobility is defined as one who is unable to move around without the aid of a wheelchair, walking-frame, walking-stick or other walking device. The purpose of the study was to explore the attitudes to accessibility problems in playgrounds among two groups of key persons: ?creators? and ?users of playgrounds? in a medium-sized municipality in northern Sweden. Eleven key persons (5 ?creators of playgrounds? and 6 ?users of playgrounds?) were interviewed in a semi-structured interview. The interviews were analysed according to content analysis and could be coded under different themes. The results showed that those who created playgrounds had (i) a fragmented organization, (ii) insufficient knowledge of disabilities, (iii) poor economy, and (iv) attitudes as an obstacle. Interviews with the users of the playgrounds were c...

How a group of disabled persons experience rehabilitation over a period of time

The purpose of this study was to describe how a group of mainly elderly disabled persons experienced their rehabilitation over a period of time focusing on their interactions with professionals, ...

Are playgrounds in Norrland (Northern Sweden) accessible to children with restricted mobility

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the accessibility of playgrounds to children with restricted mobility in Norrland. The investigation was carried out as a descriptive postal survey study. The questions in the survey were retrospective, i.e. addressed the issue of what had or had not been done to adapt the playgrounds for children with restricted mobility. The questionnaire was sent out to all the 54 municipalities in the province of Norrland. In the municipalities that responded to the questionnaire there were in all 2,266 playgrounds. When compiling the answers it appeared that only two of the total number of playgrounds were considered by the municipalities to be completely adapted for children with restricted mobility and that 46 playgrounds were partially adapted for them. The investigation can be seen as an illustration of the social model of disability. The inadequate adaptation of playgrounds to the needs of children with restricted mobility constitutes a very tangible societal...

Disability and social network : a comparison between children and adolescents with and without restricted mobility

The purpose of this study was to compare the social network (with particular emphasis on roles, relationships and activities) of school children and adolescents with restricted mobility (investigated group) with the social network of non‐disabled school children and adolescents (comparison group). The group investigated consisted of 23 children and adolescents aged 7 to 19 years from northern Sweden. The results were compared with a group of 23 children and adolescents matched for age and gender from the same area. The children and adolescents were individually interviewed using the instrument “My social network.” The results showed that children and adolescents with restricted mobility had considerably fewer peers in their social network. Furthermore, these differences were greater among the adolescents. A plausible interpretation of these results is that there is a clear association between the number of peer relationships, accessibility to different surroundings and the possibility to perform various activities. How a social network that consists of members of the same age group affects children with restricted mobility is discussed according to Bronfenbrenners ecological theory and the perspective of Olivers (1996) social model of disability.

Rehabilitation in the home ‐ interplay and conflicts between different parties

In this article an organisational and professional perspective is combined with a user approach to analyse the difficulties and obstacles that arise when rehabilitation takes place in the home. The reason for this is that organisations appear to play an increasingly important role in the implementation of welfare policies such as care, home help services and rehabilitation in step with decreasing stringency of central government steering. This increased leeway also brings the potential for increased autonomy for the elderly and the disabled in need of rehabilitation. The fact that professional groups belong to different organisations, have various administrative procedures and aims for their activities means that the goals of professional helpers are not always in accord with the needs and wishes of the care receiver. The article highlights a number of collisions and difficulties that occur when rehabilitation is provided in a home‐setting. It is argued that the opportunities of success in rehabilitation in the home lie in the rehabilitation staff respecting and starting out from the care receivers values, preferences, goals and needs. Professionals must increasingly organise their work around the holistic needs of the disabled person rather than around the individual fields of specialists, who are needed to meet these needs.