PRIORITIZING FALL RISK MANAGEMENT: IRRESPECTIVE OF PARKINSON’S DISEASE PROGRESSION DURING REHABILITATION

Background and Aims: It has been established that the hazard of falling in Parkinson's patients is a primary cause of loss of independence, and hence it is a significant component to the disease's burden. As a result, the goal of this study is to evaluate the relationship between level of disease progression and the risk of falling in order to understand the critical need for rehab intervention in Parkinson's disease. Methodology: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 24 participants participated in study through convenience sampling technique from primary and tertiary care institutes/ hospitals. Tinetti balance and gait test was used to evaluate the risk of fall among patients while The Hoehn and Yahr Scale was used to track the progression of Parkinson's symptoms and disability. Results: Total 24 (n=24) participants with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease were enrolled in the study in which the majority of the participants belong to age group 59-69 years. The balance and gait of Parkinson’s patient is strongly negative correlated i.e. -8.33 with the severity of Parkinson’s disease with .000 level of significance which is strongly negative correlated with the severity of Parkinson’s disease (p<0.05). Conclusion: This demonstrates that the balance and gait of a Parkinson’s person is not related to the severity level Parkinson’s disease thus fall management in PD patients must be kept in priority during the rehab intervention for ADL independence and social participation.

An Investigation of Primary School Teachers’ ‘Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge’ in District Matiari, Sindh

This work purported to investigate the 'technological pedagogical and content knowledge' of public and private primary school teachers in district Matiari, Sindh. Quantitative data were gathered through a cross-sectional survey with a sample of 97 teachers teaching at primary level in district Matiari. TPACK survey instrument by Schmidt et al. (2009) was used after translation into the national nomenclature, i.e., Urdu and the local language of Sindh, i.e., Sindhi to fit the milieu of Sindh. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics, correlation and MANOVA. The survey discovered that teachers rated themselves higher on TPACK while in the sub domains of TPACK, they received the highest scores in 'Pedagogical Knowledge' (PK). All teachers generally scored lowest in 'Technological Knowledge' (TK) and 'Technological Content Knowledge' (TCK). A comparative analysis was executed between the two groups of the teachers and it was found that teachers from government schools scored more than their counterparts from the private sector. From a gender position, female primary school teachers scored more than their counterparts and female teachers from private school scored higher than their male counterparts as well as teachers from public school.