Independent Lifestyle Research Articles

Share-A-Home:

The Share-A-Home Program operated by Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota was designed to keep senlor citizens living in their own homes by finding live-in companions who are willing to help with chores and provides security and companionship in return for an inexpensive place to live. This aper describes the three years of operation of the program from September 1980 to March 1983. During the first three years of operation, the program experienced considerable growth in: (a) demand for service; f (b) number of matches made; and (c) number of matches in force each month. In addition, the cost of the program during this time decreased. Interviews with elderly residents in the program revealed that most felt more secure, experienced more companionship, had less trouble taking care of their homes, and were more satisfied with their lives since entering the program. Program participants expressed strong approval of the actions of the Lutheran Social Service staff in arranging their matches. It was concluded that Social Service agency was successful in implementing a program which meets the needs of the elderly by allowing them to remain in their homes and maintain an independent life style.

The Capacity to Care

The social work profession has demonstrated a commitment to assisting the disabled elderly to maintain an independent life style within the community. The dual focus of the profession has led to the development of a variety of instrumental and psychosocial approaches to assist elders and their families. This paper addresses the conceptual basis for social work practices with elderly persons in non-institution settings. It involves a discussion of family caretaking process and an examination of the relevance of family theory to social work practice. A model is presented which would assist the practitioner in integrating instrumental and psychosocial approaches to serving the aged.

The Psychological Significance of “Home” to Older Widows

Elderly widows are increasingly choosing to remain alone in their homes following the deaths of their husbands. For a number of reasons they are a more vulnerable group than married older women, and thus were expected to have less positive attitudes toward being homeowners. In the present study widows ( N = 70) who live alone were compared to married women ( N = 74) who who lived with only their husbands. Both groups lived in single-family dwellings. Subjects responded to an empirically derived Likert-type scale which measures four factors relating to “attachment to home.” Results indicated that widows had significantly higher scores on the Traditional Family Orientation factor and on the Competence in a Familiar Environment factor. One explanation of these findings is that the home may take on new meanings for widows as they reflect on earlier family experiences or as they discover that they can competently manage an independent lifestyle for themselves.

Physical Fitness and Self-sufficiency in Persons Over 60 Years

The physical fitness factors of flexibility and muscular strength are discussed with respect to people over 60 years of age. Changes in joint ranges of motion and maximal muscular strength occurring with increasing age are presented. The relevance of these changes to activities of daily living and the maintenance of an independent lifestyle are the major theme of this article.

Mentally Handicapped Adolescents: A Survey of Abilities

Sally E. Cheseldine and Dorothy M. Jeffree, Hester Adrian Research Centre, Manchester UniversitySummaryConsiderable emphasis in the past has been placed on training severely mentally handicapped young people in the basic skills needed for an independent life style, with much less emphasis on the skills relevant to the quality of life, such as ability to form friendships and develop leisure interests. A survey of over 200 adolescents is reported which highlights the differences in levels of attainments in these two types of skills. While the young people were relatively competent in basic self help skills, they lacked those necessary for successful integration into the community, relating to mobility, time, money and so on. It is suggested that conventional ideas of further education should be widened, to ensure that it includes the elements necessary for the facilitation of independent living, leisure skills and social acceptance.

Flexor pollicis longus tenodesis in tetraplegia at the sixth cervical level. A prospective evaluation of functional gain.

Eight patients with tetraplegia at the sixth cervical level had ten flexor pollicis longus tenodeses performed to create a key grip. Two of the patients also had tendon transfers to create active finger flexion; these failed. The remaining six patients were objectively evaluated by the hand-function test of Jebsen et al. to measure gains in hand function. All patients improved postoperatively, the average improvement being 31 per cent. Although these patients did not add many new hand activities to their repertoire, they showed increased speed and ease of pre-existing hand functions. Three patients did gain the ability to self-catheterize, enabling two of them to live totally independent life-styles. Fixation of the thumb interphalangeal joint with Kirschner wires did not provide sufficient long-term stability, and initial arthrodesis of this joint is recommended in conjunction with the flexor pollicis longus tenodesis.

Relação entre a força de preensão palmar máxima e destreza dos dedos em adultos saudáveis: Implicações para a avaliação da função manual

Abstract: Successful object manipulation is fundamental to maintaining an independent lifestyle and, as a result, several tests have been used to assess hand function. The maximum grip strength test is one of the most used, but its validity could be questioned because, among other aspects, we rarely use maximum grip strength (GSMax) during daily manipulation task. Thus, the main aim of this study was to examine the relationship between GSMax and the performance in a hand dexterity task. Twenty-four healthy adults (12 males) between 20 and 39 years of age performed the nine hole peg test (9-HPT) and the maximum grip strength test (Jamar® hydraulic hand dynamometer). The results revealed that males were stronger than females and dominant hand was stronger than non-dominant hand. Moreover, males and females had similar performance in the 9-HPT, but both groups had better performance when using their dominant hand compared to their non-dominant one. Finally, and most importantly, the results revealed that there was no significant relationship between GSMax and individuals’ performance in the 9-HPT. The lack of relationship between them indicates that digits dexterity assessed by 9-HPT is not dependent on maximum grip strength exerted by the hand, suggesting that the evaluation of hand function should not be only based upon the results of the maximum grip strength test. Consequently, other grip strength related measurements (e.g., rate of grip force development, grip force control) should be taken into consideration for hand function assessment.Key Words: Upper limb, evaluation, motor skill, force.Â