Rehabilitative Sciences
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12503/21697
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Browsing Rehabilitative Sciences by Author "Bugnariu, Nicoleta"
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Item A Matter of Balance Service Learning Activities Positively Impact both Physical Therapy Students and Seniors Confidence(2017-03-14) Bugnariu, Nicoleta; Kinzler, BrendaPurpose/Hypothesis: The purposes of this study were to investigate the impact of Service Learning (SL) activities consisting of A Matter of Balance (AMOB) classes on: 1) physical therapy (PT) students’ self-perceived confidence in working with older adults and 2) seniors’ attitude towards fear of falling. We hypothesized PT students will have an increase in confidence working with seniors after participating in SL activities. Secondly, we hypothesize seniors who participate in the fall prevention course will have a decreased fear of falling as well as an increase in physical activity levels. Materials/Methods: The PT department established a collaborative relationship with Senior Citizen Services (SCS), an organization which identified a community need for senior education regarding fall risk reduction. The SL activities consisted of 86 PT students from two consecutive cohorts of a first-year geriatrics course: 1) attending an 8-hour training class in AMOB: A Fall Prevention Course and 2) leading 8 classes of AMOB workshops at senior community centers in Tarrant County, TX. PT students completed a 25-question questionnaire rating self-perceived levels of competence at pre-training, post-training and post workshops. 490 older adults ranging from 62-96 years of age, whom voluntarily signed up for a fall prevention course through the Senior Citizens Service (SCS) completed a questionnaire addressing their fall concerns and fears; pre and post AMOB workshops. The questionnaires for the older adults were collected over the course of a two-year period by the SCS. Results: Both student cohorts had similar confidence levels at the beginning of SL activities. All students reported increased confidence in essential competencies for assessing and mediating the risk for falls in older adults post AMOB trainings. Conclusions: Integrating SL into a first-year geriatric course improved students’ confidence and competence when working with the older adult population. PT students will apply this confidence in the clinical setting and will be prepared to effectively evaluate and treat the growing older adult population. Providing education regarding fall reduction may improve the safety and wellness for older adults, possibly leading to injury reduction and hospitalization.Item Atypical eye movements and postural control in Autism Spectrum Disorders (2017)(2017-03-14) Miller, Haylie; Bugnariu, Nicoleta; Mattingly, Laura; Green, KaitlynHypothesis: Research shows a link between pursuit eye movements, visual processing, and postural control; current evidence suggests these links are different in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). For those with ASD, few studies quantitatively examine visuomotor integration and its influence on postural stability. The purpose of this study was to observe individuals with ASD and those with typical development (TD) in order to identify and characterize differences in how visual information and eye movement are used for postural control. Materials/Methods: This study was conducted in community sites in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Five adolescents with ASD and 5 age matched TD controls completed the study. The experiment consisted of balance testing, including the Limits of Stability (LOS) and The Clinical Test for Sensory Integration (CTSIB), on a force plate while wearing the ETG 2.0 eye tracking system. The CTSIB requires quiet standing with eyes open, eyes closed, and wearing a translucent dome. The LOS requires a shift in center of pressure (CoP) to reach 9 target positions displayed on the screen. Data were analyzed with t-tests. Results: ASD adolescents had higher sway and stability indices than TD across all conditions of the CTSIB. During LOS testing the ASD group had lower postural control than the TD group in 5 of the 9 target positions. Overall, ASD group took a longer time to complete the task, which is a proxy for movement accuracy, since the task advances when participants meet “hit” criteria for each target. Pursuit eye movements and stabilization of targets showed greater variability in ASD group compared to TD. Moreover, the ASD participants did not improve their performance across the 3 trails of the LOS. Conclusions: These preliminary data support our hypothesis that individuals with ASD would have greater postural instability than TD controls. These impairments may be linked to increased variability and less accuracy of pursuit eye movements. When visual context was eliminated, individuals with ASD demonstrated markedly greater impairment in stability. When LOS were tested, the ASD group showed greater difficulty maintaining postural control during CoP shift. Preliminary eye movement data suggests that atypical gaze patterns relate to impairments in stability. Further studies are necessary to investigate this atypical visiomotor integration and its possible role as a fundamental feature of ASD.Item The Impact of Hearing Loss on Older Adult’s Postural Control and Gait Function(2017-03-14) Kowalewski, Victoria; Thibodeau, Linda; Patterson, Rita; Bugnariu, Nicoleta; Fox, JordanPurpose: We investigated the relationship between hearing loss and postural control and balance in older adults using a dual task paradigm in a realistic virtual environment. We also evaluated the effect of two types of Hearing Aid (HA) technologies on measures of balance and gait. We used a regular HA that amplifies sound from all directions and frequencies and a Frequency Modulator (FM) system designed to work in conjunction with the regular HA and to selectively amplifies only one frequency of interest and not the ambient noise. Materials/Methods: 12 adults newly diagnosed with hearing loss, without vestibular or other neurologic impairment; 12 age- and gender- matched healthy controls. Participants were tested for balance, gait and functional activities, at the time of hearing loss diagnosis and enrollment in the study and after two months accommodation to a hearing aid. Outcome measures included: standing center of pressure sway during quiet standing, performance of dual task involving balance + auditory standardize testing, and self- selected gait speed on flat and uneven terrain in the virtual environment. Testing conditions were: No HA, HA, Ha + FM; auditory task conditions either listening only or repeating back sentences form standard audiology tests. Clinical tests of DGI, TUG, ABC Scale and Short Physical Performance Battery were also administered. ANOVA was conducted for each of the dependent variables with respect to group, condition of HA, and condition of auditory task. Results: Center of pressure sway variability in both A/P and M/L direction was increased (p Conclusions: Hearing loss negatively impacts postural control particularly in dual-task conditions when individuals attend to both auditory and postural tasks. Use of hearing aids, especially the FM system, significantly improves not only speech recognition but also measures of balance and gait, and ability to successfully perform dual tasks.