EFFECTS OF SUPPORTIVE SURFACES ON CUTANEOUS RESPONSE (DECUBITUS ULCER).
Contributors: University of Texas at Austin.
Published: 1985
Number of pages: 178
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: One of the major problems immobilized individuals have to deal with is the development of a decubitus ulcer. The development of a decubitus ulcer is not a simple problem but occurs as the result of the interrelationship of a number of variables including pressure, temperature, moisture, nutrition, age, and the percent of adipose tissue. Supportive surfaces are often used to decrease the interface pressure between the bony prominences and the surface to decrease the risk of developing a decubitus ulcer. Research, undertaken to determine the effects of supportive surfaces, usually studied only the variable of pressure.

This study's main research question was: Did common supportive surfaces affect the individual in such a manner that would decrease the individual's likelihood of developing a decubitus ulcer?.

The sample consisted of fifteen subjects who were between twenty-six and forty-seven years of age. A split plot design with repeated measures was used for the study so that the subjects also acted as the controls. The presentation of the supportive surfaces was randomized. A pilot study was conducted. The study had four dependent variables of interface pressure, temperature, thermal conductivity, and tissue diffusion. The interface pressure was measured with one inch pressure transducers connected to a mercury manometer; the temperature, thermal conductivity, and tissue diffusivity were measured by the use of non-invasive, self-heated thermister probes attached to the heel, sacrum, and scapula. The subjects were divided into three groups according to the precent of adipose tissue. The groups were used as a blocking variable. Each hypothesis was tested using Analysis of Variance and Tukey's HSD Post Hoc Test.

The findings of the study included the fact that the amount of the subject's adipose tissue was statistically related to the temperature of the sacrum and scapula and sacral pressure measured on the different supportive surfaces. The type of surface was also found to be statistically related to the amount of interface pressure of the heel, sacrum, scapula, elbow, and occiput; thermal conductivity of the scapula; and temperature of the heel. There was not a statistical interaction between the support surfaces and the amount of adipose tissue except for the sacral interface pressure.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-10, Section: B, page: 3395.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, 1985.

School code: 0227.