Strategies employed in coping with physical disabilities acquired during adulthood in rural South Africa

Society places people with physical disabilities acquired during adulthood in disadvantaged positions, especially when they cannot participate in activities like their non-disabled counterparts. The situation can be worse for individuals who acquire disabilities during adulthood, where they have to learn to cope with the adulthood-acquired physical disabilities. Objectives: This study aimed to identify the types of physical disabilities acquired during adulthood and their causes and explore how participants defined their disabilities and the coping strategies they used. Methods: The study used a phenomenological research design. Five adults (three women, two men) with adulthood-acquired disabilities were purposefully selected from a rural area in Limpopo, South Africa. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was used to generate themes about coping strategies study participants used. Results: The results show four types of adulthood-acquired disabilities amongst the participants: visual impairment, paraplegia, weakened muscles which led to bilateral amputation, loss of function on both hands and legs. Participants' meanings of their physical adulthood-acquired disabilities ranged from a punishment, pain, not a bother, black magic, to results of doing wrong things to someone. In coming to terms with their adulthood-acquired disabilities, participants used problem- and emotion-focused strategies. Four themes from the participants' responses were spiritual support, social support, substance dependency, access to health and rehabilitation services. Conclusion: The study contributes to understanding the experiences of individuals who acquired disabilities in adulthood, how they define their disabilities and the divergent coping strategies they use. This study established that participants used problem-focused, positive emotion-focused and negative emotion-focused coping strategies.

Zone neutre: principe et technique / Neutral zone: principle and technique

L'édentement s'accompagne inévitablement d'une résorption osseuse physiologique des crêtes alvéolaires ou pathologique quand il est mal réhabilité. Ceci conduit à une réduction de la surface d'appui prothétique avec toutes les conséquences anatomo-physiologiques qui en résultent ; compromettant ainsi l'obtention d'un équilibre optimale de la prothèse amovible complète. La détermination et l'enregistrement de la zone neutre par l'empreinte piézographique et son exploitation maximale par la prothèse définitive ; constitue une technique intéressante lorsque d'autres moyens d'optimisation de la rétention et de la stabilité de la PAC (implants, chirurgied'approfondissement vestibulaire) ne peuvent être indiqués. Le but de cet article est de décrire le pas à pas de l'enregistrement de la zone neutre par l'empreinte piézographique en cas d'une crête mandibulaire plate, et de discuter les différentes techniques et matériaux utilisé