Medicine
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/12
This repository contains the published and unpublished research of the Faculty of Medicine by the staff members of the faculty
Browse
2 results
Search Results
Item Developing and pilot-testing an Oropharyngeal Dysphagia Screening Tool for children with cerebral palsy aged 4 – 6 years(Sri Lanka Medical Association, 2020) Hettiarachchi, S.; Ravihari, M.G.I.INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) demonstrate a variety of dysphagic symptoms. Speech and language therapists (SLTs) are mainly involved in the diagnosis and management of oropharyngeal dysphagia (OPD). Objectives were to develop a screening tool to detect OPD among children with CP aged 4 – 6 years, Pilot test the OPD screening tool with SLTs for children with CP aged between 4 – 6 years and to identify the test-retest reliability and inter-rater reliability of the developed screening tool. METHODS: The screening tool was developed based on the Dysphagia Disorder Survey (DDS) with the assistance of an expert panel of speech and language therapists (SLTs) and a pilot study. The study included 30 children with CP aged between 4;0 – 6;0 years. The OPD Screening Tool conduct together with expert SLTs to evaluate the inter-rater reliability and the study was conducted initially and 2 hours later by the researcher to evaluate test-retest reliability. RESULTS: The OPD Screening tool was shown to be reliable and applicable in detecting dysphagia amongst children with CP. The content validity was assessed by the five expert SLTs. The test-retest reliability and inter-rater reliability of the OPD Screening Tool was calculated and it was relatively high. CONCLUSION: The screening tool was shown to be a reliable tool and it was found to be a tool that easy administer in clinical setting to detect OPD in young children with CP.Item Of love and isolation: Narratives of siblings of children with cerebral palsy in Sri Lanka.(Blackwell Publishing-National Spastics Society Medical Education and Information, 2016) Hettiarachchi, S.; Kitnasamy, G.AIM: Siblings of children with cerebral palsy are often in the periphery of discussions; their views not always taken into account. The aim of this study was to uncover the narratives of young siblings of children with cerebral palsy in Sri Lanka. METHOD: Semi-structured interviews and artwork were gathered from 10 children who have siblings diagnosed with cerebral palsy. The data was analyzed using the key principles of Framework Analysis (Ritchie & Spencer, 1994) to determine the key themes within the narratives. RESULTS: The key themes to emerge were complex and nuanced. These included themes of love and feeling of protectiveness; jealousy and uncertainly; guilt and hope. CONCLUSIONS: The results highlight the need to take document the views of siblings who are often on the margins of the family and of family decisions and discussions. It also supports the need to offer safe spaces and opportunities for siblings of children with disabilities to express their feelings and to receive support where required.