Satisfaction of patients with amputated lower limb wearing external prostheses

Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out at the National Center for the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities-Cardinal Paul Emile Leger and the Jamot Center in Yaoundé from 7th November 2016 to 29th March 2017. Only patients over 5 years of age were included in the study. The data collection was carried out using a data sheet derived from SAT-PRO.

Results: Seventy seven patients with prostheses were recruited. Their mean age was 46.02 years and they were predominantly males. The prevalence of amputated patient with prosthesis was 39.44%. The main etiology of the amputation was traumatic and the trans-tibial amputations were the most common, followed by trans-femoral amputations. Thirty-nine percent of these patients were physically dissatisfied and 11% very dissatisfied. The rate of dissatisfaction was related to the patient’s weight, displacement constraints, pain and sores generated by wearing the prosthesis, the look of the prosthesis and its cost. Psychologically, 26% of the patients were dissatisfied and 17% were very dissatisfied. Dissatisfaction here was related to low self-esteem and poor acceptance of the prosthesis. Socially, nearly 17% were dissatisfied. The prosthesis however favored a better social (family and friendly) acceptance of the handicap. This encouraged a return to routine activities, although some had marital problems and others lost their jobs. Overall, 75.3% of patients were satisfied, and up to 24.7% of patients were dissatisfied.

Conclusion: The satisfaction of patients, with an amputated lower limb, with respect to their prosthesis was not optimal in the sense that some criteria like the appearance of the prosthesis, patient’s weight, displacement constraints, price, and quality of the prosthesis still needed to be improved. Nevertheless, patients were mostly satisfied.