What do users and their aiding professionals want from future devices in upper limb prosthetics? A focus group study.
Journal
PloS one
ISSN: 1932-6203
Titre abrégé: PLoS One
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 101285081
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
2023
2023
Historique:
received:
16
03
2023
accepted:
22
11
2023
medline:
2
1
2024
pubmed:
2
1
2024
entrez:
29
12
2023
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
High rejection rates of upper limb prosthetics indicate that current prosthetic devices only partially meet user demands. This study therefore investigated the benefits and challenges with current prostheses, associated services and potential areas for improvement from the perspective of upper limb prosthesis users and various professionals working in the field of upper limb and hand prosthetics. Seven different focus group discussions were conducted with 32 participants. Participants were grouped by prosthesis type, if they were prosthesis users, or professionals. All focus group discussions were transcribed verbatim, and a summarizing content analysis was performed. Three main topic areas to be addressed emerged from the interviews: 1. a properly functioning prosthesis, 2. the infrastructure, and 3. users' psychological and physical prerequisites. The interaction between a well-functioning prosthesis and a well-developed infrastructure was shown to be important for successful use. Our study raises many of the same issues that have been reported in previous qualitative studies, dating back over several decades. This study underlines the need to include users and professionals in the future development of prosthetic devices.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
High rejection rates of upper limb prosthetics indicate that current prosthetic devices only partially meet user demands. This study therefore investigated the benefits and challenges with current prostheses, associated services and potential areas for improvement from the perspective of upper limb prosthesis users and various professionals working in the field of upper limb and hand prosthetics.
METHODS AND FINDINGS
RESULTS
Seven different focus group discussions were conducted with 32 participants. Participants were grouped by prosthesis type, if they were prosthesis users, or professionals. All focus group discussions were transcribed verbatim, and a summarizing content analysis was performed. Three main topic areas to be addressed emerged from the interviews: 1. a properly functioning prosthesis, 2. the infrastructure, and 3. users' psychological and physical prerequisites. The interaction between a well-functioning prosthesis and a well-developed infrastructure was shown to be important for successful use.
CONCLUSIONS
CONCLUSIONS
Our study raises many of the same issues that have been reported in previous qualitative studies, dating back over several decades. This study underlines the need to include users and professionals in the future development of prosthetic devices.
Identifiants
pubmed: 38157364
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0295516
pii: PONE-D-23-07094
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
e0295516Informations de copyright
Copyright: © 2023 Einfeldt et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.