Compliance with Colorful Scoliosis Braces

[karate_girl_01]

I am currently doing my Orthotic Residency at Hanger Prosthetics & Orthotics. One of the requirements for my residency is for me to do a research project. I have chosen to do mine on patient compliance with scoliosis bracing. This is important because wearing scoliosis braces for the prescribed time helps achieve maximal correction. The purpose of my project is to determine if offering patients who wear hard plastic braces such as the Boston brace, Providence Brace, or Charleston Bending Brace the choice to have patterns such as butterflies or camouflage or solid colors other than white on their braces would make a difference in how many hours a day and/or where the brace is worn.
This is where I would like your help. I have created a short survey to help me determine if this has any affect. All that I ask is for you to take a couple minutes of your time to answer the questions in this survey honestly. If you are a parent of a child that is too young to fill out this survey themselves I would still appreciate your input. After all, at a young age the parents are the ones that decide what the children wear.
I would like to make sure that you understand that the color of your scoliosis brace does not in any way affect the fuction of your brace. You would get the same results whether it is white, rainbow, NFL, Looney Toons, etc. The only difference is the color.
I would like to thank you for taking your time to read this and answer this survey. My hopes are that this study can be used in the future to help improve compliance with scoliosis braces.


1. I would like to make sure that you understand that the color of your scoliosis brace does not in any way affect the function of your brace. You would get the same results whether the brace is white, rainbow, NFL, Looney Toons, etc. The only difference is the color. Please select your answer.
a. I understand
b. I do not understand

2. How many years have you been wearing a scoliosis brace to treat scoliosis?
a. Less than 1 year
b. 1-2 years
c. 2-3 years
d. 3-4 years
e. 4-5 years
f. Other (please specify):___________

3. How many hours a day are you suppose to wear your scoliosis brace?
a. 0-5 hours a day
b. 6-10 hours a day
c. 11-15 hours a day
d. 16-20 hours a day
e. 21-24 hours a day

4. How many hours a day do you actually wear your scoiosis brace?
a. 0-5 hours a day
b. 6-10 hours a day
c. 11-15 hours a day
d. 16-20 hours a day
e. 21-24 hours a day

5. Do you currently have a pattern such as butterflies, camoflauge, or a solid color other than white on your scoliosis brace?
a. Yes
b. No

6. If you had the option, would you want a pattern such as butterflies, camoflauge, or a solid color other than white on your scoliosis brace?
a. Yes
b. No

7. Would having the option of having a pattern such as butterflies, camoflauge, or a solid color other than white on your scoliosis brace affect how many hours a day you would wear the brace?
a. Yes, I would wear the brace more often
b. Yes, I would wear the brace less often
c. No, I would wear it the same amount of time I am currently wearing it

8. For some having the option of having a pattern such as butterflies, camoflauge, or a solid color other than white on their scoliosis brace may affect where they would be willing to wear the brace. Please select for each situation if you would wear the brace more often, less often, or if there would be no change if you had the option to have a pattern or solid color other than white on your brace.
a. Spending time with friends
1. More often
2. Less often
3. No change
4. N/A
b. Dances
1. More often
2. Less often
3. No change
4. N/A
c. School
1. More often
2. Less often
3. No change
4. N/A
d. Shopping
1. More often
2. Less often
3. No change
4. N/A
e. Dates
1. More often
2. Less often
3. No change
4. N/A
f. Church
1. More often
2. Less often
3. No change
4. N/A
g. Other (please specify location or activity & if you would wear the brace more often or less often):
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ___________________

9. What is your age?
a. 0-5 years old
b. 6-10 years old
c. 11-15 years old
d. 16-20 years old
e. Other (please specify age):______________

10. What is your gender?
a. Male
b. Female


Again, thank you for taking the time to answer this survey & helping me complete my residency requirements.

[LindaRacine]

Hi...

Hope you don't mind that I moved this thread to the kid's bracing forum. I'm not sure how many kids read the Research forum.

You're doing an interesting study. I hope you get good data, and am looking forward to hearing the result. One thing you might want to address is that you're really looking for kids in hard plastic braces (as opposed to soft braces like Spinecor).

Regards,
Linda

[karate_girl_01]

LindaRacine thanks for moving it for me. I wasn't sure if it was okay to post it in this section so I did it in research just to be safe because I didn't want it to be deleted for being posted in the wrong section. Also, thank you for mentioning that I should be more specific on the type of scoliosis braces that I'm talking about. I have edited it to explain which types I'm referring to.

Alicia

[mamandcrm]

Hi Alicia, I'll have my daughter do your survey soon. I wanted to add as kind of a sidebar to your research that I think the colorful brace helped a lot with her initial acceptance of the brace (first couple of weeks) which I think was important to her future compliance (which is excellent). Now, I don't know that wearing a white brace would affect her compliance one way or the other because she doesn't mind the brace overmuch.

[mamandcrm]

Question re survey

Are the answers supposed to be "hot" meaning you just click on them to respond or do you have to post a reply with a, b, b, a, whatever? They are not "hot" for me...thanks

[leahdragonfly]

How do I complete the survey?

Hi Karate Girl,

I would be willing to have my daughter do the survey, and I can do it also as a former brace-wearer. But what is the easiest way to submit the answers?

I agree with Chris that the colorful braces seems to help a bit for initial acceptance of the brace. But once it is on, I don't think the colors would necessarily help with increasing daily compliance. Kids don't want to take their brace off because the brace itself is a plain white, they want to take it off because it is uncomfortable and hot and tight and makes them feel freakishly different than their friends. That said, when I was a young teen I found my ugly white brace to be horrificly ugly, so I really do appreciate all the new colors and patterns they have available now.

Good luck with your studies,

[karate_girl_01]

Sorry the questions are not "hot". I am new to the site and not sure how to make them that way. If you could just post a reply with the question number and your answer (a, b, c, etc.) I would really appreciate it.

mamandcrm & Gayle - thank you for your opinions on initial compliance with the braces. That makes a lot of sense to me.


Alicia

[StephanieSmiles]

Hey! if you don't mind, I think I'll just underline my answers...

1. I would like to make sure that you understand that the color of your scoliosis brace does not in any way affect the function of your brace. You would get the same results whether the brace is white, rainbow, NFL, Looney Toons, etc. The only difference is the color. Please select your answer.
a. I understand
b. I do not understand

2. How many years have you been wearing a scoliosis brace to treat scoliosis?
a. Less than 1 year
b. 1-2 years
c. 2-3 years
d. 3-4 years
e. 4-5 years
f. Other (please specify):___________

3. How many hours a day are you suppose to wear your scoliosis brace?
a. 0-5 hours a day
b. 6-10 hours a day
c. 11-15 hours a day
d. 16-20 hours a day
e. 21-24 hours a day

4. How many hours a day do you actually wear your scoiosis brace?
a. 0-5 hours a day
b. 6-10 hours a day
c. 11-15 hours a day
d. 16-20 hours a day
e. 21-24 hours a day

5. Do you currently have a pattern such as butterflies, camoflauge, or a solid color other than white on your scoliosis brace?
a. Yes
b. No

6. If you had the option, would you want a pattern such as butterflies, camoflauge, or a solid color other than white on your scoliosis brace?
a. Yes
b. No

(I did have the option, and decided against it because i didn't want it showing through clothes)

7. Would having the option of having a pattern such as butterflies, camoflauge, or a solid color other than white on your scoliosis brace affect how many hours a day you would wear the brace?
a. Yes, I would wear the brace more often
b. Yes, I would wear the brace less often
c. No, I would wear it the same amount of time I am currently wearing it
8. For some having the option of having a pattern such as butterflies, camoflauge, or a solid color other than white on their scoliosis brace may affect where they would be willing to wear the brace. Please select for each situation if you would wear the brace more often, less often, or if there would be no change if you had the option to have a pattern or solid color other than white on your brace.
a. Spending time with friends
1. More often
2. Less often
3. No change
4. N/A
b. Dances
1. More often
2. Less often
3. No change
4. N/A
c. School
1. More often
2. Less often
3. No change
4. N/A
d. Shopping
1. More often
2. Less often
3. No change
4. N/A
e. Dates
1. More often
2. Less often
3. No change
4. N/A
f. Church
1. More often
2. Less often
3. No change
4. N/A
g. Other (please specify location or activity & if you would wear the brace more often or less often):
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ___________________

9. What is your age?
a. 0-5 years old
b. 6-10 years old
c. 11-15 years old
d. 16-20 years old
e. Other (please specify age):______________

10. What is your gender?
a. Male
b. Female


This is a really interesting study. I think that for young children, wearing a brace might seem a little more do-able if the brace was colorful or cute because it looks like something more familular and kid-friendly than just a medical contraption.

[karate_girl_01]

StephanieSmiles - Thank you for responding to the survey. Underlining your answers is just fine.

I'm still needing more people to answer the survery to help with my research project. I would really appreciate it if those that are currently wearing plastic scoliosis braces such as the boston brace, providence, or charleston bending brace would take a few minutes of your time to answer this short survey. Your answers are greatly appreciated.

Alicia

[leahdragonfly]

Hi Alicia,

here are the answers from my daughter:

1a
2a
3d
4c
5a
6a
7c
8a-3, b-3, c-3, d-3, e-4, f-4
9b
10b

Again, I think the colors and patterns help and are certainly welcome, but will not increase compliance hours. But please don't take the survey results to mean the colors aren't helpful, especially for the young kids.

Good luck with your studies!

[mamandcrm]

Hi there, here are my daughter's answers.

1. a
2. a
3. e
4. e
5. a
6. a
7. c
8. all "3"
9. b
10. b

Ditto what Gayle said. The pattern does not make a difference in terms of compliance but it makes acceptance easier and the wearing a little more fun. My daughter definitely prefers having a pattern.

Good luck

[karate_girl_01]

leahdragonfly & mamandcrm - Thank you for posting your daughters answers.

[karate_girl_01]

Thanks to all those that have answered this survey for me. I am coming close to the end of my orthotic residency and would still like more responses for my research project. If you have not answered the survey, I would greatly appreciate you doing so. Again thank you for taking you time to help me complete the requirements for me to finish my residency and then sit for my exams to become a certified Orthotist.

Alicia