Maria Prellwitz

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.

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...

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...

One woman's story about her everyday life after a spinal cord injury

Purpose. The aim was to describe and offer an explanation for how one woman viewed her everyday life after a spinal cord injury (SCI). Method. Data were collected by conducting three interviews with one woman with a SCI. Open-ended questions were used with the intention of capturing the womans own story. The narrative approach inspired by Polkinghorne was used to describe the womans experiences of her everyday life after the SCI. Results. The analysis revealed that, events influenced her everyday life after a SCI and these events influenced her identity, habits and participation in activities. Further, how she has gone from a state of hopelessness in the early days to a reconstructed identity, associated with a new insight during the 2 years after the accident through a complex and dynamic process of change. In our interpretation we have attempted to provide an explanation of why this outcome came about. Conclusions. When using narratives, professionals within health-care could focus on the individual instead of the diagnosis or disability. Further, according to a client-centred perspective it is important to attain the clients experiences and knowledge to gain a more complete picture in order to obtain a profound understanding of the client.

Interventions aimed at improving the ability to use everyday technology in work after brain injury

ABSTRACT Objective The aim of this study was to explore and describe how client-centred occupational therapy interventions may support and improve the ability to use everyday technology (ET) in work tasks in people with acquired brain injury (ABI). Method A qualitative, descriptive multiple-case study was designed, and occupation-based interventions were provided to three working-age participants with ABI. Multiple sources were used to collect data throughout the three intervention processes, including assessments, field notes, and interviews. The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure and the Management of Everyday Technology Assessment were administered before the interventions, after the interventions and at a follow-up session 2–3 months subsequent to the interventions. Results The three intervention processes initially consisted of similar actions, but subsequently the actions took on a different focus and intensity for each case. All of the goals in each of the three case processes were achieved, and both perceived and observed abilities to use ET in work tasks improved. Conclusions Client-centred occupational therapy interventions might have the potential to improve the ability to use ET in work tasks in people with ABI.

The state of play in children's occupational therapy : a comparison between Ireland, Sweden and Switzerland

Introduction Play is viewed as an important occupation in childhood and consequently in childrens occupational therapy. However, few studies have explored the place of play in therapy practice. This study aimed to contribute to this knowledge gap by exploring play in occupational therapy in three European countries. Method A cross-sectional survey of occupational therapists in Ireland, Sweden and Switzerland was conducted to examine the use of play with children under 12 years old. A web-based survey was distributed to 935 occupational therapists, resulting in 338 returned surveys (36%). Responses were analysed using descriptive statistics and content analysis. Results Results were organised into three themes: (1) demographics and practice context; (2) play education and (3) use of play in practice. Respondents reported that although they valued play as an occupation, their primary focus was on play as a means to achieving other goals. Lack of education on play (research, theory and interventions) and pressures in the workplace were identified as barriers to play-centred practice. Conclusion Findings indicate that there is a mismatch between therapists valuing play as an occupation and how play is utilised in therapy practice. There is a need to strengthen education and research on play occupation to strengthen play-centred practice.

An initial field trial of a haptic navigation system for persons with a visual impairment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe conceptions of feasibility of a haptic navigation system for persons with a visual impairment (VI). Design/methodology/approach – Six persons with a VI who were white cane users were tasked with traversing a predetermined route in a corridor environment using the haptic navigation system. To see whether white cane experience translated to using the system, the participants received no prior training. The procedures were video-recorded, and the participants were interviewed about their conceptions of using the system. The interviews were analyzed using content analysis, where inductively generated codes that emerged from the data were clustered together and formulated into categories. Findings – The participants quickly figured out how to use the system, and soon adopted their own usage technique. Despite this, locating objects was difficult. The interviews highlighted the desire to be able to feel at a distance, with several scenarios presented to illustr...