| Abstrakt: |
[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to clarify the effect of the employment situation of physical therapists on clients who were treated by physical therapists. [Methods] This study included 20 residents in a nursing home. A physical therapist worked full time, five days a week for the first six months. Afterward, the therapists worked part time for six months. Over fifteen months of assessment, the first six months were defined as the "full-time period", and the last six month were defined as the "part-time period". The situation of activities of daily living (ADL), and QOL were assessed with the Functional Independence Measure (FIM), the Short-Form 36-Item Health Survey (SF-36) and the Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale (PGC). In addition, visual analog scale (VAS) was carried out as an index of QOL. [Results] Compared with baseline and normalized scores of SF-36, baseline scores were lower than normalized scores. Some SF-36 sub-item scores went up after 3 months compared with baseline, and the scores were maintained thereafter. The scores of VAS and PGC of the full-time period were significantly higher than those of the part-time period (p<0.05). [Conclusion] The employment situation of therapists effects the QOL of clients who are being treated by them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
