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This study aimed to investigate the health needs of adults with disabilities in South Korea according to disability type using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). An exploratory, qualitative approach using content analysis was employed. Five focus groups consisted of six to seven participants with visual impairment (PVI), hearing impairment (PHI), physical impairment (PPI), brain disorder (PBD), and intellectual disability (PID). Linking rules were used to identify how the health needs related to the ICF components of Body Functions, Activity & Participation, and Environmental Factors. The health needs related to the Environmental Factors were the most mentioned and were frequently perceived as causes of poor health conditions related to Activities & Participation and Body Function. According to what participants perceived as main health issues in the Environmental Factors, the five groups were classified into (1) Services, systems, and policies mainly affecting type (PVI and PPI); (2) Support and relationships mainly affecting type (PHI); and (3) Attitude mainly affecting type (PBD and PID). Government officials and health professionals must tailor development and provision of healthcare for people with disabilities based on health need type. Few studies have investigated the health needs of people with disabilities, although many health indicators suggest that they are facing health inequalities in South Korea. The health issues related to the Environmental Factors were often perceived in this study as causes of poor health conditions related to the Activities & Participation and Body Function, indicating the need to preferentially solve the health issues related to the Environmental Factor. According to what people with each of the five types of disabilities perceived as main health issues and what kinds of actions they expected in the Environmental Factors, they could be classified into three health need types. It is recommended that government officials and health professionals develop and provide appropriate supply-side measures of healthcare considering these different demand-side health needs according to disability type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose:Many adults aged less than 65 years with high-care needs resulting from acquired disabilities are unable to access age-appropriate housing and support, and reside in residential aged care or live with family members who may struggle to navigate the disability support system. This qualitative study aimed to investigate the experiences of adults with high-care needs and their family members regarding pathways related to housing and support. Method:Two in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted six months apart with 21 people aged 18 to 65 with high-care needs of varying etiology and living in different housing settings. Nineteen family members involved in decision-making about housing and supports were also interviewed. Results:Thematic data analysis yielded five themes: (1) Traveling in different directions; (2) “the fight, the battle and the war”; (3) willing but wanting; (4) uncertainty and vulnerability; and (5) redefining social roles and relationships. Conclusions:Current disability policy is not satisfying the housing and support requirements of adults with high-care needs and their families. The findings provide rigorous, empirical evidence which indicate the urgent need to improve access to affordable, individualized housing and support packages, including financial, practical and informational support for family members involved in caring roles. Implications for RehabilitationIndividual preferences are an important consideration in housing and support arrangements for younger people with high-care needs alongside needs-based solutions.Individualized funding approaches may provide flexibility of care and choice in housing and support for people with disability.Family members willingly provide substantial informal care, support and advocacy for younger people with high needs but perceive their role as a constant “battle”.Payment of family members in recognition of caring work was perceived as a solution to relieve family hardship and ensure optimal care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PurposeTo identify access barriers to physical rehabilitation for traffic accident (TA) victims with severe disability and build a theoretical model to provide guidance towards the improvement of these services.MethodsQualitative research carried out in the city of Natal (Northeast Brazil), with semi-structured interviews with 120 subjects (19 key informer health professionals and 101 TA victims) identified in a database made available by the emergency hospital. The interviews were analyzed using Alceste software, version 4.9.ResultsThe main barriers present in the interviews were: (1) related to services: bureaucratic administrative practises, low offer of rehabilitation services, insufficient information on rehabilitation, lack of guidelines that integrate hospital and ambulatory care and (2) related to patients: financial difficulties, functional limitations, geographic distance, little information on health, association with low education levels and disbelief in the system and in rehabilitation.ConclusionThe numerous access barriers were presented in a theoretical model with causes related to organizational structure, processes of care, professionals and patients. This model must be tested by health policy-makers and managers to improve the quality of physical rehabilitation and avoid unnecessary prolongation of the suffering and disability experienced by TA survivors.Implications for rehabilitationTraffic accidents (TAs) are a global health dilemma that demands integrality of preventive actions, pre-hospital and hospital care and physical rehabilitation (PR). This study lays the foundation for improving access to PR for TA survivors, an issue of quality of care that results in preventable disabilities.The words of the patients interviewed reveal the suffering of victims, which is often invisible to society and given low priority by health policies that relegate PR to a second plan ahead of prevention and urgent care.A theoretical model of the causes of the problem of access to PR was built. The identified barriers are potentially preventable through the intervention of health policy-makers, managers, regulators and rehabilitation professionals, and by encouraging the participation of patients.Addressing timely access barriers involves the expansion of the supply of services and rehabilitation professionals, regulation and standardization of referencing practises and encouraging the provision of information to patients about continuity of care and their health needs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]