ARTICLE INFO

Article Type

Descriptive & Survey Study

Authors

Dehcheshme   S. (1)
Hajiaghaei   B. (*)
Esfandyari   E. (2)
Kamali   M. (3)
Hoda   M.S. (2)






(*) Janbazan Medical and Engineering Research Center (JMERC), Tehran, Iran
(1) Orthotic & Prosthetic Department, Rehabilitation Science School, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
(2) Janbazan Medical and Engineering Research Center (JMERC), Tehran, Iran
(3) Rehabilitation Management Department, Rehabilitation Science School, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Correspondence

Address: Orthotic & Prosthetic Department, Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Shah Nazari Street, Mother Square, Tehran, Iran. Post Box: 15875-4391
Phone: +98 (21) 22220947
Fax: +98 (21) 22220946
bhajiaghaei@yahoo.com

Article History

Received:  July  6, 2016
Accepted:  August 14, 2016
ePublished:  August 31, 2016

BRIEF TEXT


In countries with a history of war, about 80% of amputations is due to war [1].

… [2-15]. Evaluation of users` satisfaction is an important task that depends on the quality of technical orthosis and prosthesis as well as the quality of services [16]. … [17-22].

The aim of this study was to evaluate veterans` satisfaction of the using prosthesis and prosthesis services in the Prothesis and Orthosis Kowsar Center in Tehran.

This study is descriptive and cross-sectional one.

This study was conducted in 2015 on veterans` users of the lower limb prosthesis in Tehran Kowsar Center.

100 veterans that were using the lower limb prosthesis of Tehran Kowsar Center (Iran), were invited to participate in the study on the census form. This assessment was generally performed for transtybyal prosthesis.

Initially, designed demographic questionnaire was completed for each participant. This questionnaire contained information such as disability code, age, gender, contact number, address, e-mail, educational level, occupation, marital status, number of children, the year of amputation, the year of first amputation, the year of receiving the used prosthesis, duration of use of prosthesis, amputee organ or organs, place of amputation, cause of amputation, skin injury or stamp wound and duration of wearing prosthesis during the day. OPUS questionnaire has five parts: 1) the upper limb function, 2) functional status of upper limb, 3) functional status of lower limb, 3) patient`s satisfaction of prosthesis, 4) patient`s satisfaction of service, and health-related quality of life. The satisfaction part of this questionnaire contains 21 items including 11 items for evaluating orthosis and prosthesis satisfaction and 10 items for evaluating the satisfaction of services. In the section of OPUS about the satisfaction of the instrument, the users` satisfaction about the proper price, weight, durability, maintainability, ease of wearing, appearance, ease of use, wear and tear of clothes, pain caused by wearing the clothes, skin damage, and the repair and replacement of the instrument has been measured [22]. In the section of users` satisfaction of services, the courtesy of staff, the staffs` responses to the concerns and questions, the staff`s concerns for giving opportunity to the customers for expressing their worries, training in the use of the device, duration of expectation, involving users in decision-making process, discussing problems, receiving appointment in reasonable time frame, description in order to select the most appropriate device, and coordination between staff and therapist and doctors facilitate orthosis and prosthesis have been evaluated [22]. Persian questionnaire with the reliability of 0.36 and 0.46 for the satisfaction of device, and the satisfaction of services respectively, and the validity of 0.76 and 0.9 for the satisfaction of device and the satisfaction of services respectively was used in this study [23]. Replies are “strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, strongly disagree, and “I don`t know”/ “not applicable” “respectively that were scored 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and zero respectively. The sum of items for satisfaction of device and the sum of items for satisfaction of services, are both converted to equal measurement. The overall satisfaction score is between zero (the lowest possible score) and 100 (the highest possible score). The results was reported based on mean, standard deviation and rash. Statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS 22 software and the normality of data was performed using Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The relationship between the rate of satisfaction and the location of amputee organ was evaluated by one-way ANOVA. In the event of significance of the results, to decide determine factor, post hoc test was used. To examine the relationship between the satisfaction variables and demographic variables, also, chi-square test was used.

Of 100 volunteers using the Kowsar Center of Prosthesis and Orthosis facilities, 98 were male and 2 were female. The mean age of these people was 49.13±8.15 years that 12 were less than 40 years, 38 were 40-49 years, 46 were 50-59 years, and 4 were the group age of higher than 60. The mean number of schooling years was 16.67±2.10 years and the mean percent of veterans was 55.45%±12.69. Also, the mean of passing years from amputation was 27.73±7.02 in these veterans. The number of amputations of right and left feet was 38 and 29 respectively, and the number of amputation in both feet was reported 33. The mean duration of using prosthesis was 92.47±3.01 months and the duration of wearing prosthesis during the day was 3.27±1.17 hours. The mean of using prosthesis during a day was less than 4 hours, between 4-8 hours, 8-12 hours and 12-16 hours, 16-20 hours and more than 20 hours for 10, 11, 35, 28, 13 and one veterans respectively. 22.2% of the volunteers were using their previous prosthesis simultaneously with their new prosthesis and 77.8% of them were only using their new prosthesis. The rate of satisfaction of prosthesis was 45.94±11.62 that the highest score was related to the ease of wearing prosthesis and the least score was related to acceptance of the cost of repairing and replacement. The mean satisfaction of services was 65.77±22.14 that the highest score was related to courtesy and the least score was related to training for using and maintenance of prosthesis (Table 1). In the section of satisfaction of the device, the highest score was related to the amputee left food and lowest score was related to bilateral amputation. In the section of satisfaction of the services, the highest score was related to bilateral amputation and the lowest score was related to the amputee right left. There was significant relationship between duration of using prosthesis during the day and satisfaction of the services (p=0.02). However, There was no significant relationship between other demographic variables and satisfaction of device and prosthesis services (p>0.05; Table 2).

In this study, overall satisfaction of device was 45.94±11.62 that was high in comparison with a study in Iran in which this rate has been 17% and small in comparison to a foreign study in which this rate has been 80% [24]. … [25].

It is suggested that more volunteers for participating in the study be used.

Of the limitations of this study was the problem of contacting with the participation.

Transtibial amputee veterans` satisfaction of prosthesis and prosthesis service presented in Prosthesis and Orthosis Kowsar Center in Tehran is in relatively high level. However, this proportion is being reduced in relation to the cost of prosthesis especially the cost related to repair and replacement of parts as well as satisfaction of receiving the training for using and maintenance of the prosthesis.

The authors appreciate the Veterans` Engineering and Medical Sciences Institute as well as all the participants in the study and those who have helped us in collecting the data.

Non-declared

This study was approved in ethics committee of Research Center School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences.

The study was funded by the Veterans` Engineering and Medical Sciences Institute.

TABLES and CHARTS

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