Repositori URV

Identifier: TDX:746

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX746

Authors:
Cid Rodríguez, María José

Abstract:
The main goal of the thesis is to assess the effect of multisensory stimulation on adult people with profound mental disabilities. The work includes an in-depth review of the scientific literature concerning the effects of multisensory stimulation and an experimental study with 23 individuals. The literature review showed that there is little work aiming to quantify the effects of multisensory stimulation in a systematic and objective way. The experimental work was carried out in a Snoezelen room, where stimuli can be programmed and controlled. This is a space specifically designed to produce basic multisensory stimulation to disabled people, through vestibular, tactile, visual, auditory, olfactory and other sensations, in order to increase the quality of life (defined through several quantifiable variables).A new methodology to quantify the effect of the Snoezelen sessions on individuals has been developed by defining and measuring several variables before and after the session. The general hypothesis is that the participation of profound mentally disabled people in Snoezelen sessions increases his quality of life. This global variable is measured through several response behavioural variables such as disruptive behaviour, motivation level, activity level, emotional wellbeing and relaxation level. Other measured variables were heart rate, smiles, visual attention and pleasure vocalizations. These variables were measured before starting the session, at the end of it and 30 minutes after. A total of 1618 individual sessions were analyzed in order to determine statistically significant differences in the measured variables using the non-parametric Wilcoxon test.Results showed a significant increase of the quality of life of most of the individuals after the Snoezelen sess