Services provided by Independent Living Centers (ILC) have not been clearly related to their effects on the quality of participation of the recipients. A focus of one study under the RRTC on Full Participation in Independent Living involves developing a measurement system to assess changes in participation before and after service provision of personal assistance services. A repeated measures group design is being used to assess pre- post-test differences in participation by eighty people with disabilities who receive personal assistance services from an ILC. The Participation Survey (PARTS/M), the Facilitators and Barriers Survey (FABS) and the CDC-Core are being used to assess participation, environment, and personal factors respectively. This project will describe participation characteristics including time taken to prepare for several major life activities, evaluative reports, assistance used, and attribution for limited participation as person or environment based. In addition, duration, type, satisfaction, choice and importance of personal assistance will be addressed. Participant survey responses may provide feedback on the service providers in the strengths and weakness of the personal assistance services in changing the participation in activities they deem to be of importance. In addition, the survey responses may give the service providers valuable information on the consumer’s choice and satisfaction in participating in activities not directly measured by the standard protocols used in the narrow band of factors considered of importance in evaluation of service delivery programs (hours of personal assistance received). This project is being conducted in collaboration with the University of Kansas. |