How to Help Persons with Disabilities to Improve Their Everyday Life? – Report from Study with the Rational Behavior Therapy Application

Aleksandra Sierant, Monika Łętocha, Paweł Grzybek, Kamila Pytowska, Anna Wiśniewska-Małek, Marek Kiljański, Wojciech Kiebzak

A. Sierant, M. Łętocha, P. Grzybek, K. Pytowska, A. Wiśniewska-Małek, M. Kiljański, W. Kiebzak – How to Help Persons with Disabilities to Improve Their Everyday Life? – Report from Study with the Rational Behavior Therapy Application. FP 2016;16(4);40-46

Abstract

Introduction. People with disabilities face in their everyday life many challenges / difficult experiences / incidents of stress. Disability status is often accompanied by the lack of employment and by social isolation, moreover, the architectural barriers significantly hamper the lives of the people with disabilities, and reduce the life’s quality. Disabled persons are particularly vulnerable to depression and to suicidal thoughts, and therefore a_special care should be devoted to them. Thus, there is the need to establish methods and support system, which would be effective in the therapeutic work with this group of persons. Proven effectiveness in the treatment of critical situations, including the mental disorders, as well as coping with the everyday life stress, have the cognitive-behavioral methods.  The Rational Behavior Therapy is a_cognitive-behavioral method of therapy developed by Professor Maxie Maulsby  for patients with mental disorders and those, who have experienced crisis situations.  The aim of this method is to reformulate a_person’s thinking to more adaptive model, which should result in reduction in severity of the negative emotions and the undesirable behavior.
Aim. The aim of this study is to evaluate the RBT method, while working with disabled persons.
Materials and Methods. In the study participated 13 persons with disabilities, belonging to professionally active age group – 30 to 52 years old, with mean age of 41 years, and standard deviation of 6.13. Using a_distress thermometer, we measured stress level and the dispositional optimism, before and after two days of the RBT workshops. During workshops, the persons received useful information about mechanism in which emotions function, and about methods for coping with stress, and then, they performed exercises under the supervision of experienced therapists, and the whole session has been complemented by the presentation of films, illustrating the introduced materials.
Results. A_significant reduction in the average level of stress has been determined, from 7.54 before the RBT workshops, to 2.62 after the workshops. The average incidence rate of all tested problems (practical, family, emotional, physical) has been reduced. After application of the therapy, a_significant increase in the level of optimism has been noted.
Conclusion. The obtained results confirm the initial usefulness of the RBT method, in assisting the people with disabilities. There are, however, further multicenter longitudinal studies required, which would confirm the effectiveness of such intervention.

Keywords:

Stress, cognitive-behavioral therapy, RBT, disability, emotional problems, cognitive restructuring

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