Abstract
This study intended to find out how the handicapped use medical aid, their satisfaction at using it and so on. First a preliminary survey(Apr. 20$\sim$24, 2002) was made for the handicapped who had been cured for rehabilitation by wearing medical aid at hospitals and welfare center in Jeonbuk region. Then total 120 subjects were asked to fill out a standardized questionnaire from May 15$\sim$22, 2002. Out of total 95 questionnaires collected, 84 questionnaires were analyzed except for 11 cases unsuitable for the intention of this study. The results can be outlined as follows: 1. In general characteristic, it was found that the causes of disability included disease(35 respondents; 41.7%), traffic accident(23 respondents, 27.4%) and so on. In addition, 1st handicap comprised the majority(32 respondents; 58.2%) in handicap grade and ankle foot orthosis(or b-k orthosis) was most often used as medical aid(28 respondents: 33.3%) 2. In particular, it was also shown that the 1st handicap mainly resulted from traffic accident(15 respondents, 27.3%) and post-disease disability (11 respondents, 20.0%). They wore medical aid for 1 year or less on the average, because they were hospitalized for cure, which showed statistically significant level(P<0.05). 3. It was found that total 69 respondents(82.1%) were more or less satisfied with their medical aids depending on the causes of disability, and total 46 respondents(83.6%) were satisfied with their aids according to their handicap grade, but there were no statistical significance. 4. Total 56(66.7%) respondents answered that they would purchase medical aid on their own expenses, when they became handicapped. And the price of medical aid ranged from $\300,000{\sim}400,000$(25 respondents: 29.8%) to \ 500,000 or more(24 respondents: 28.6%). It means that they purchased more or less expensive medical aid on their own expenses, which showed statistical significance(P<0.05). 5. If there was any failure of medical aid, 9 respondents(37.5%) answered that they would be serviced from medical companies, and 7 respondents(29.2%) would be serviced from medical aid manufacturers. Most respondents were serviced for their medical aids from related companies. For the question about the causes of dissatisfaction upon repair service, 11 respondents(45.8%) answered that existing service company provided unskilled repair services and other respondents answered that there was no spare part or higher service expenses than they thought. These answers had the statistical significance(P<0.05). However, 20 respondents(79.2%) answered that they were satisfied with the repair service, which means that most respondents are satisfied with the service. In view of the results as described above, it can be concluded that their handicap or disability results from disease or sequelae after traffic accident and most of the affected wear their own medical aid. In the future, it is required that the medical insurance should cover those medical aids, and the service for failed medical aids should be commissioned by technical serviceman to realize customized manufacture and repair service according to different causes so that the handicapped can enjoy more or less comfort and convenience in their daily lives without any extreme difficulty.