근육병 장애인의 Arm Support 사용에 따른 작업 부하의 변화와 심리·사회적 영향 : 사례연구

Abstract

Objective : The purpose of this study was to investigate the change of workload and the psychosocial impact of arm support according to use in people with muscular disorders, who are restricted from performing activities of daily living due to the decrease in upper extremity muscle strength. Methods : The subjects were three people with muscular disabilities living in the community, all diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy. Subjects performed eating, wearing a mask, brushing the hair before and after the active arm support was applied. After that, we measured and compared the workload of activities before and after using active arm support through NASA-TLX, and measured the psychosocial impact of arm support using the K-PIADS. Finally, we investigated the subjective feeling of the subjects after using the arm support through an interview. Results : As for the change in workload, the average score of all items decreased after using arm support, and the average score of the physical demand item decreased the most. The results of the psychosocial impact were 2.08 points ('positive impact ~ very positive effect') for competence, 2.06 points for adaptability ('positive effect ~ very positive effect'), and 1.71 points for self-esteem ('slightly positive effect ~ positive effect'). Through the interview, we confirmed that the subjects felt confidence, satisfaction, and comfort when performing the activity by using arm support, but also felt uncomfortable due to the arm support not being fixed correctly and the interference of wheelchair structure. Conclusions : Through this study, we found that arm support lowered the workload of the people with disabilities and had a positive psychosocial impact. In the future, we hope that a study based on the community will be conducted for various types of people with muscular disabilities. And also customized services should be conducted through systematic evaluation. we expected that the results of this study will be used as basic data for research and services that utilize arm support as an intervention strategy.