Effectiveness assessment of the medical-social rehabilitation of adolescents with mild mental retardation

Abstract

Issues of treatment and rehabilitation of adolescents with mental retardation, improvement of old and new therapies using an integrated approach to rehabilitation, which allows increasing social activity of adolescents with mild mental retardation and improving their quality of life, are remaining relevant and needing further study. The aim of the work is a comprehensive study of clinical and phenomenological structure, comorbid pathology, socio-hygienic factors and criteria for assessing the limitations of life and its quality among adolescents with mild mental retardation, and to develop recommendations for rehabilitation measures in modern conditions. Materials and methods. At the Kryvyi Rih Psychoneurological Dispensary, 154 patients born in 2003–2008 who were under the dispensary observation of a teenage psychiatrist were examined. The study consisted of two stages: the first – at the initial visit for psychiatric care of patients with mild mental retardation, and the second – follow-up, at the age of 18–23 years. Clinical and epidemiological, clinical and psychopathological, psychodiagnostic and statistical methods were used in the study. The main tool of the study was the “Map for clinical and epidemiological studies”, which included socio-demographic and anamnestic information, the clinical part with a description of existing symptoms and syndromes. Results. As a result of rehabilitation measures, there was a decrease in cases and in the severity of comorbid pathology, improved cognitive functioning (attention, memory, language and writing skills, reading, arithmetic), motility, spatial orientation. Adaptive skills of statodynamic functions were improved in 36.4 % of cases, self-care ability – in 22.7 %. At the time of the study completion, 73.38 % of all respondents could be considered socially adapted. Among adolescents with mild mental retardation and comorbid mental and other pathologies, in addition to positive dynamics, there were negative dynamics (19.04 %) or no dynamics (14.29 %), emphasizing the need for longer time and larger number of rehabilitation measures among this category of patients. Conclusions. Biopsychosocial model of care for adolescents with mental retardation with the inclusion of medical-biological, psychological-pedagogical and social aspects helps to increase the effectiveness of rehabilitation measures aimed at reducing the severity of the underlying disease and improving social adaptation.