ABSTRACT
Background: Assistive devices (ADs) improve or maintain functional activities and It has a great influence on our views of disability generally and of individuals with specific disabilities. Culture has a great influence on our views of disability generally and of individuals with specific disabilities.
Aim: Determining the impact of cultural and religious belief of patients towards usage of ADs in selected hospitals in Benin City.
Method: A purposive sampling technique was used to recruit 103 adults who make use of ADs from the physiotherapy department of selected hospitals and clinics in Benin City. A 33-item scale questionnaire from a previous study was adopted for this study. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze data . Alpha level was set at p<0.05.
Results: 54.4% of the respondents were male, 33% were aged (above 65 years) and majority had tertiary education 55.3%. The reason for the use of ADs was movement difficulty accounting for 57.3%. About 81.6% of the ADs used by the participants were prescribed by health practitioners. 36.9% of the participants has been using the ADs for 2-6 months. 56.3% were currently using ambulatory aid while 31.1% were currently using supportive aid. The participants had positive cultural (56.3%) and religious belief (96.1%). Age (P = 0.05) and gender (P < 0.001) had significant influence on AD’s currently used, Religion (P = 0.659) and Culture (P = 0.495) had no significant influence on the usage of AD’s but Social and economic limitation significantly influenced the attitude (P < 0.001) and perception (P = 0.016) towards ADs.
Conclusion: This study participants are familiar and have experience on the use of ADs, they have positive religious and cultural beliefs towards the use of these ADs. Religion and culture have no influence on the use of these devices but rather socio-economic limitations influences their perception and attitude towards these devices overtime.
KEYWORDS
Religion, Culture, Assistive devices.
