Personal assistance for adults (19-64) with physical impairments.

BACKGROUND: There is a high incidence of impairments among working age adults. Many countries offer personal assistance in the form of individualised support for people living in the community by a paid assistant other than a healthcare professional for at least 20 hours per week. OBJECTIVES: To as...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mayo-Wilson, E, Montgomery, P, Dennis, J
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 2008
_version_ 1797066174452727808
author Mayo-Wilson, E
Montgomery, P
Dennis, J
author_facet Mayo-Wilson, E
Montgomery, P
Dennis, J
author_sort Mayo-Wilson, E
collection OXFORD
description BACKGROUND: There is a high incidence of impairments among working age adults. Many countries offer personal assistance in the form of individualised support for people living in the community by a paid assistant other than a healthcare professional for at least 20 hours per week. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness of personal assistance for adults with physical impairments, and the impacts of personal assistance on others, compared to other interventions. SEARCH STRATEGY: Electronic databases including CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, ERIC, Dissertation Abstracts International and a variety of specialist Swedish databases were searched from 1980 to June 2005; reference lists were checked; 345 experts, organisations, government bodies and charities were contacted in an attempt to locate relevant research. SELECTION CRITERIA: Adults (19-64) with physical impairments living in the community who require assistance to perform tasks of daily living (e.g., bathing and eating) and participate in normal activities due to permanent impairments. Controlled studies of personal assistance in which participants were prospectively assigned to study groups and in which control group outcomes were measured concurrently with intervention group outcomes were included. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Titles and abstracts were examined by two reviewers. Outcome data were extracted. Studies were assessed for the possibility of bias. Results and potential sources of bias are presented for included studies. MAIN RESULTS: One randomised controlled trial involving 817 participants compared personal assistance versus usual care was identified. Whilst personal assistance was generally preferred over other services, some people prefer other models of care. This review indicates that personal assistance may have some benefits for some recipients and may benefit caregivers. Whilst paid assistance probably substitutes for informal care and may cost government more than alternatives, the total costs to recipients and society are currently unknown. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Research in this field is limited. When implementing new programmes, recipients could be randomly assigned to different forms of assistance. While advocates may support personal assistance for myriad reasons, this review demonstrates that further studies are required to determine which models of personal assistance are most effective and efficient for particular people.
first_indexed 2024-03-06T21:38:38Z
format Journal article
id oxford-uuid:47208936-3969-470c-bf63-0fa3e40dbc5e
institution University of Oxford
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-06T21:38:38Z
publishDate 2008
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:47208936-3969-470c-bf63-0fa3e40dbc5e2022-03-26T15:18:11ZPersonal assistance for adults (19-64) with physical impairments.Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:47208936-3969-470c-bf63-0fa3e40dbc5eEnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2008Mayo-Wilson, EMontgomery, PDennis, J BACKGROUND: There is a high incidence of impairments among working age adults. Many countries offer personal assistance in the form of individualised support for people living in the community by a paid assistant other than a healthcare professional for at least 20 hours per week. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness of personal assistance for adults with physical impairments, and the impacts of personal assistance on others, compared to other interventions. SEARCH STRATEGY: Electronic databases including CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, ERIC, Dissertation Abstracts International and a variety of specialist Swedish databases were searched from 1980 to June 2005; reference lists were checked; 345 experts, organisations, government bodies and charities were contacted in an attempt to locate relevant research. SELECTION CRITERIA: Adults (19-64) with physical impairments living in the community who require assistance to perform tasks of daily living (e.g., bathing and eating) and participate in normal activities due to permanent impairments. Controlled studies of personal assistance in which participants were prospectively assigned to study groups and in which control group outcomes were measured concurrently with intervention group outcomes were included. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Titles and abstracts were examined by two reviewers. Outcome data were extracted. Studies were assessed for the possibility of bias. Results and potential sources of bias are presented for included studies. MAIN RESULTS: One randomised controlled trial involving 817 participants compared personal assistance versus usual care was identified. Whilst personal assistance was generally preferred over other services, some people prefer other models of care. This review indicates that personal assistance may have some benefits for some recipients and may benefit caregivers. Whilst paid assistance probably substitutes for informal care and may cost government more than alternatives, the total costs to recipients and society are currently unknown. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Research in this field is limited. When implementing new programmes, recipients could be randomly assigned to different forms of assistance. While advocates may support personal assistance for myriad reasons, this review demonstrates that further studies are required to determine which models of personal assistance are most effective and efficient for particular people.
spellingShingle Mayo-Wilson, E
Montgomery, P
Dennis, J
Personal assistance for adults (19-64) with physical impairments.
title Personal assistance for adults (19-64) with physical impairments.
title_full Personal assistance for adults (19-64) with physical impairments.
title_fullStr Personal assistance for adults (19-64) with physical impairments.
title_full_unstemmed Personal assistance for adults (19-64) with physical impairments.
title_short Personal assistance for adults (19-64) with physical impairments.
title_sort personal assistance for adults 19 64 with physical impairments
work_keys_str_mv AT mayowilsone personalassistanceforadults1964withphysicalimpairments
AT montgomeryp personalassistanceforadults1964withphysicalimpairments
AT dennisj personalassistanceforadults1964withphysicalimpairments