지체장애인 재활보조기구 사용 실태와 만족도 및 일상생활 자립도

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to suggest effective policies relating the provision and application of rehabilitative aids for people with physical disabilities and examine their level of independence in terms of daily living activities.  A total of 188 people with physical disabilities in Gyeongsang-Do was surveyed to investigate the practice and the level of satisfaction in the use of rehabilitative aids. The level of daily living independence of the participants was also examined. The survey data was analyzed by descriptive statistics and chi-square, and the results were as follow. First, most of the participants(95.2%) responded that they used wheelchairs to move more frequently than other rehabilitative aids. Statistical differences were founded by some variables like sex, age level, the severity of disabilities in terms of time and location of use and types of the wheelchairs. The participants heavily relied upon the wheelchairs to move; they used the wheelchairs both in and out of buildings and 13.8% of them used the wheelchairs all day while 21.3% used the wheelchairs more than 12 hours a day. These results showed that it was necessary to adjust environments considering the wheelchair access and extend the provision of wheelchairs that are more functional in all the areas of daily living activities. Second, the level of satisfaction in the use of the rehabilitative aids was not so high in the areas of user training, function, and the qualities, whereas the satisfaction level of policy was relatively low; 80% of the respondents rated the policy as between not satisfactory and the normal range. This tendencies were very obvious to the respondents aged more than 40. These results suggested systematic efforts to improve the user training, function, and the quality of wheelchairs. Finally, the independence level of daily living activities especially in the areas of self-help was very low ranged between 20%~40%.  This tendency was very clear to the low age level group and the people who had cerebral palsy. These results indicated that it was necessary to extend the welfare supports and the provision and training of various types of rehabilitative aids in order to improve the independence level of daily living for people with physical disabilities.