Biomedical subjects

Roger O Smith

Publications and source records attributed to Roger O Smith.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Survey of state vocational rehabilitation counselor roles and competencies in assistive technology.

The delivery of assistive technology (AT) within the state and federal vocational rehabilitation systems in the United States has been developing and refining itself over the last twenty years. Many challenges have been confronted in an attempt to use this relatively new service to increase the employment options and success for individuals with disabilities. In this process, the rehabilitation counselor serves as a critical player in the planning and delivery of AT as it articulates with other rehabilitation services. This study investigated counselor views regarding their role and competence in providing AT services and devices to individuals with disabilities throughout the state of Wisconsin. The results of the survey indicated, in general, that counselors find AT to be a cost-effective service that can increase employment related outcomes. As with other service areas, the counselors' role in AT service delivery involves coordinating, purchasing and following up on services. Interestingly, while counselors expressed confidence in performing these overall functions, they reported a lack of confidence in identifying the need for AT services. Without a comfort level to make this determination, benefits from the implementation of AT may be quite limited. Results suggest that intervention is needed to improve counselors' abilities to make decisions regarding AT services.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

PubMed2005

Assistive technology in the measurement of rehabilitation and health outcomes: a review and analysis of instruments.

This article examines the scoring of assistive technology (AT) in health and rehabilitation outcome scales and delineates implications. Searches of MEDLINE, CINAHL, and PsychINFO databases and relevant functional assessment textbooks provided the basis for this investigation of 100 widely used health and rehabilitation outcomes instruments. Each of the 100 instruments was assessed to the nature and degree in which AT was included in the instrument scales, content, and scoring procedures. We classified instruments into categories according to the methods used to consider AT in the scoring. We found that 30% of the instruments ignored AT. When instruments included AT, 44% of the instruments lowered the score, 22% of the instruments allowed AT use for the highest score, and 4% of the instruments provided a mix. Analysis also revealed whether the 100 instruments isolated the effect of AT as a contribution to outcome. The results indicate that rehabilitation and health outcomes instruments inconsistently consider AT as an intervention for people with disabilities. This inconsistency in scoring leads to muddled and potentially invalid assessments of rehabilitation outcomes. Due to the common concurrent use of AT in rehabilitation intervention, if AT use is not documented or controlled within outcomes study research designs or by the instrumentation, the outcomes of any targeted intervention may be confounded by the contribution of AT in the overall assessment of the person's function, participation, or quality of life.

Persons with Disabilities↗

PubMed2005

Assistive technology outcomes in work settings.

Successfully documenting the outcomes of assistive technology (AT) interventions in the workplace benefits people with disabilities, service providers and agencies. However, no work related system currently exists that comprehensively collects the data needed to analyze such outcomes. Part of the reason for this absence of an outcome system is that, while the concept is simple, the process is complex and depends on the acquisition of data that represent many outcomes related variables. This article describes the exploratory work of the NIDRR (National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research) funded ATOMS Project (Assistive Technology Outcomes Measurement System) and its efforts to identify existing data that might be used as the basis for an outcomes measurement system. Sample records from four assistive technology service programs were acquired and evaluated for the data they housed. This study discovered that AT service programs fail to collect consistent or sufficient data for outcomes analysis. However, discussions with AT programs that provided services to State vocational rehabilitation agencies revealed an interesting potential. Assistive technology service data in combination with data collected by State vocational rehabilitation departments might coalesce the needed data. The Federal Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) 911 Report aggregates many variables of outcomes related information including employment status and the success of the vocational rehabilitation investment. This combined database could answer a range of assistive technology outcomes related questions of interest to service providers, people with disabilities, and vocational rehabilitation State agencies. This paper describes the data needed in an outcomes system, reviews the data that appear to be available today related to AT outcomes, and projects how data from two diverse programs might be used together to create a significant outcomes database.

Biomedical Enhancement↗