Desenvolvimento de um exoesqueleto para movimentação/reabilita-ção de paraplégicos

People bedridden by paralysis/motor disability are subject to several problems due to lack of movement. Then, it is necessary to use equipments that enable the people bedridden stand up and walk, so as to reduce the problems due to lack of movement and the time of rehabilitation, impacting directly on its quality of life. The aim of this work is the development of an exoskeleton to make the movement of people with paralysis / motor impairment in the lower limbs, without help of third parties, to be activated by the user. To provide support, stability and security to the deficient, it was decided to use a structure formed by four legs, being each leg consisting of a parallel chain. The gait was obtained by combining the movement of two mechanisms: crank/rocker, responsible for oscillatory motion of the leg, and cam/follower, responsible for the foot motion on the desired trajectory. To achieve the aim of this work was conducted a study about the types of exoskeletons for locomotion/rehabilitation of people with lower limb paralysis and presented a study on the movement of the lower limb joints. It also presented a mathematical model to obtain the desired path to the foot of the exoskeleton, the static model and the design of the structure elements. In the sequence is presented the simulation of movements of a people during the human gait, experimental tests and the comparison with the human gait developed by a people without disabilities.

Sexualidade e saúde mental: construindo sentidos entre pessoas usuárias de um CAPS

When expressed by mental health services users, sexuality is typically denied by professionals, viewed as another symptom or as if these people are not capable of practicing it. Once Brazilian health professionals haven’t shown lots of investment in this theme, and few are the studies in this field, it is necessary the attention to be focused on researches involving this public. Therefore, the main goal of this study was understand the meanings of sexuality of the mental health services users, which were negotiated in sexuality workshops. The secondary goals were: a) understand the meanings of themes about sexuality brought by users through their experiences of everyday life; b) to evaluate the facilitating experience of the workshops on sexuality at CAPS. Thus, 10 workshops on sexuality were held, with an average of an hour and twenty minutes each, distributed from December 2014 and April 2015. There were 43 participants, 29 women and 14 men. The meetings had the following central themes: sexuality; sexuality and mental health; myths, beliefs and sexual taboos; gender identity; sexual orientation; sexual and reproductive rights; safe sex; and STD/AIDS. The data collection was through audio-recording of these meetings. Later, was made the transcript of the workshops, a careful reading of these transcripts and then its analysis. It was identified categories to analyze the interfaces that permeate the focus of the study. Initially, the categories relating to mental health and sexuality: meanings about sexuality; gender issues; gender and religion; sexual rights, STD/AIDS prevention and attention or denial of sexuality at CAPS. Later, those relating to the workshops facilitating process: challenges in facilitating the workshops; and the perception of the participants. A variety of meanings about sexuality could be noticed in the users’ statements, relating it more with affection and respect than with intercourse. The gender issues that emerged during the workshops were related to marital relationship, sexism, domestic violence, psychological violence and male and female roles in society. Moreover, were also revealed some situations that associated gender differences with religious issues, such as the submission of women and homosexuality. It was also noticed some experiences of the participants involving worrying situations of family violence, suicidal ideation and chemical castration, were often mismanaged or ignored by the service professionals. With regard to the facilitation of the workshops, it was possible to legitimize it as places where users were able to talk openly about the suggested themes and highlight its importance to the study site. Besides, it’s possible to list a few challenges of its facilitation in a mental health service, which was in general positively evaluated by the participants. Thus, the research highlights the need for sexuality theme discussion in mental health services, in order to understand, discuss and inform the users. Also, it’s important to problematize the stigma created in the theme relation with the users, the professionals and the society, working its specificities and avoiding a pathological bias.