• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.61-86
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• 2006

This phenomenological study aims at exploring the role of family in promoting, maintaining, and developing job activities of women with acquired physical disabilities. As a result of in-depth interviews with 8 women with physical disabilities, 6 theme clusters and 14 sub-themes have appeared. Participants have vividly revealed their experiences with regard to the various support and help of their family. They were provided physical, emotional and financial supports which helped at great extent to overcome the anger and loss resulted from the acquired disabilities. Although most of the participants have experienced failure in job finding several times, they have at last succeeded in it by the consistent help of their family. In particular, the support and help given from the family were substantial and specific which promoted maintaining and developing their career. Therefore the participants could obtain more confidence in themselves and this made the participants to speak for themselves. Although the family roles for the job finding and maintaining of the participants are played in various ways which is positive, effective and specific, there remains some significant problems and limitations. Participants expressed their uncomfortableness in opening their most in-depth thinking and emotions to their family. They have also experienced a great deal of difficulties in maintaining job because of the housework load and child bearing work which is mainly regarded by the family members as the woman's(participant's)duties. In addition to this, sexual needs and sexual identity of the participants are neither recognized nor dealt with seriously in family, The participants also mentioned about the inequal relationships and their self-consciousness among family member as well as the lack of career guidance role of the family. Based on these research findings, we have made a number of suggestions to promote the positive roles and overcome the limited roles of the family.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.227-237
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• 2011

Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the utilization and its determinants of rehabilitation services of people with disabilities in a rural area. Methods: From March 2 to April 1, 2011, we interviewed 101 disabled people with either physical disabilities or brain lesions. The subjects completed questionnaires about the utilization of rehabilitation services, general characteristics (age, sex, marital status, education level, economic status, health insurance, housing, and employment) and disability characteristics (type, level, comorbidity, reason for the occurrence of the disability, self-rated degree of disability, and daily life care giver). Frequency, Pearson's chi-square test, and a multiple logistic regression were used for statistical analysis. Results: This study showed that 70.3% of the people in this rural area with disabilities were using rehabilitation services. The two most common reasons for not using the services were "doubt about the effectiveness of the service" and "no facilities nearby." The facilities that the disabled people were currently using, in the order of most used to least, were general hospitals or clinics, rehabilitation centers, oriental medicine clinics, and public health centers. Only 19.7% of those who received rehabilitation responded that they were satisfied with the service. Significant factors in the utilization of rehabilitation services were sex, employment, self-rated economic status, and the reason for the occurrence of the disability. Women, people who were currently working, people who were of middle or higher economic status, or people who had acquired a disability were significantly more likely to use the services. Conclusions: A large number of people with disabilities in a rural area use rehabilitation services at present, but accessibility and satisfaction were low. Quantitatively and qualitatively, rehabilitation services for disabled people in a rural area should be centered around Community-based Rehabilitation (CBR). Effective strategies, for example reaching those who have not used the rehabilitation services, will be needed to improve services in rural areas.