Overview
To ensure that research improves the lives of individuals with disabilities, NIDRR will support efforts to enhance the capacity of the field to conduct research that is scientifically excellent and relevant to the concerns of disabled individuals, service providers, and the science community. Capacity-building involves training those who participate in all aspects of the disability research field, including scientists, service providers, and consumers.
For the future, training efforts will be based on the new paradigm of disability and emphasize cross-disciplinary collaboration and participatory research. They will take into account trends in science, society, and disability culture itself. NIDRR will make creative use of funding mechanisms to meet these challenges.
Priorities in Capacity Building
NIDRR’s capacity-building responsibilities are multifaceted. Its principal statutory mandate for training is to support advanced instruction for researchers and service providers. NIDRR also has an implied mandate, strengthened in the 1992 amendments, to train consumers in the applications of new research knowledge and in the uses of assistive technology.
To advance the disability and rehabilitation field, NIDRR will expand the scope of its capacity-building activities to:
- raise the level of rigorous qualitative and quantitative research and increase the use of state-of-the-art methodologies by providing advanced training in disability-related research for scientists, including those with disabilities and those from minority backgrounds;
- teach researchers to conduct research that explicates disability as a contextual phenomenon;
- prepare researchers to conduct disability studies that are holistic, interdisciplinary, and cognizant of the cultural context of disability;
- develop the capacity of researchers to conduct studies in new settings, (e.g., homes, workplaces, schools, recreational facilities, community-based organizations);
- train rehabilitation practitioners in the application of research-generated knowledge and new techniques; and
- train consumers, family members, and advocates how to use research findings, in part to facilitate participatory research efforts.
Additional information on each of these priority areas is provided in the following sections.
Training for Advanced Research Studies
It is crucial to NIDRR’s mission that research in disability and rehabilitation reflects sound scientific practices and uses rigorous qualitative and quantitative methods. Adherence to sound methodology and research design strengthens the credibility of NIDRR’s research and, consequently, the ability of NIDRR’s constituencies to use the research findings in advocacy, service delivery, and policy-making. To this end, NIDRR will increase its emphasis on scientific rigor in generating research agendas and in reviewing research applications. Scientific rigor may encompass methodological approaches such as controlled studies, longitudinal studies, or increased sample sizes. Constructing carefully defined hypotheses tied to theory is an important element in improving research methods. For qualitative research efforts, rigor includes strict adherence to analytical frameworks, improved data collection methods, and careful selection of subjects.
The capability to conduct first-rate research depends on a commitment to learning the multiple skills required for designing scientific studies, selecting appropriate research methods, analyzing data, and interpreting findings. NIDRR will continue its support of research training initiatives, including those that emphasize research training opportunities for minorities and people with disabilities. This training focus reflects NIDRR’s commitment to participatory research methods that enhance the relevance of research findings.
Training in Application of Research Findings
The NIDRR Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers (RRTCs) will advance further the statutory requirement to train service providers in the application of research findings to real-world needs of people with disabilities. Training can occur at many levels, including pre-service, graduate, and in-service. NIDRR will support training aimed at transferring research findings into practical use. Such training must be sensitive to the rapidly changing service delivery environment, which is de-emphasizing inpatient care and experiencing growth in post-acute and community settings.
Training in New Paradigm Research
As discussed throughout this plan, the new paradigm conceives of disability as a function of the interaction between impairments and other personal characteristics, and the larger physical, social, and policy environments. Unidimen-sional and static measures of function, improvement, outcomes, and other aspects of disability and the rehabilitation process will not be sufficient.
Any paradigm of science that limits research to modifying the disabled person’s functions without equally emphasizing the need to change the person’s environment cannot capture the important phenomena associated with living as a disabled individual. Nor will it accommodate scientific and social advances in the multiple, interactive sectors of society that will characterize life in the future. Although developments in both the biological and biomechanical sciences will bring new treatments and devices that will improve personal functions, these advances must be adjusted to meet the demands of the person living in his or her environment of choice, doing activities that are of significance to that individual.
A framework for asking new questions for NIDRR-funded research has been provided by the major provisions of the ADA. Researchers must develop measures that capture the contributions of the social and physical environments to the disability. The need for researchers capable of investigating disability in context, and explaining the adapting process, has several implications for the research training endeavor. The training must:
- emphasize interdisciplinary research and design of methodologies that can test complex hypotheses;
- attract researchers from disciplines that are not usually involved with disability and rehabilitation research. These include law, economics, architecture, business, marketing, demographics, public policy, and administrative sciences, among others;
- incorporate an understanding of disability policy and disability studies among researchers in all disciplines;
- apply the principles of the ADA—universal access and accommodations—in all research areas;
- include consumers in the research endeavor; and
- focus on the adapting process, which refers to adjusting to changes. The interaction of these changes provides the basis for understanding how best to proceed in improving participation in society among people with disabilities.
Supporting Disability Studies
The cultural context of disability is a key element in the emerging field of disability studies. Major societal changes have influenced how disability is perceived by those with disabilities and by those who study people with disabilities. People with disabilities are now viewed as individuals who are adapting to challenges (e.g., personal assistance services, use of assistive technology, access, accommodations, civil rights) in their response to society (e.g., sociopolitical analysis of activism, disability culture, independent living), and in society’s response to them (e.g., stigma, policy, economics, transportation, housing). The merging of these issues into an encompassing academic area is the genesis of disability studies.
In disability studies, there is a convergence of theory, technique, and methodology from a range of disciplines to enhance one’s understanding of a complex phenomenon. The perspective of the subject group in disability studies is reflected in the methodology and body of core knowledge. Individuals from the subject group must have the opportunity to participate in the development and promulgation of the methodologies and the curricula.
NIDRR has four long-term objectives for providing priority support to this area:
- creation of a body of knowledge that is comprehensive and holistic;
- training of a cadre of researchers and policy-makers familiar with that knowledge base;
- inclusion of the perspectives of individuals with disabilities in designing curriculum and research to reflect the experiences of people with disabilities; and
- creation of opportunities for individuals with disabilities to study, in a variety of settings, the history, politics, economics, sociology, literature, culture, psychology, and other aspects of disability.
Increasing Capacity for Research Under New Conditions
The research questions and the types of training needed for rehabilitation professionals will change as the paradigms of science change and economic realities force reductions in the duration of rehabilitation service programs. Many rehabilitation researchers today are accustomed to conducting research in hospital-based or other clinical sites, applying methodologies and protocols developed in these traditional settings.
In the future, sites for conducting research and for training new rehabilitation scientists will be homes, workplaces, schools, recreational facilities, and community-based support programs. This change involves adapting to reduced access to subject and control groups, working with paraprofessionals and disabled peers in the data collection effort, and working with shared or preexisting databases.
Increasing Consumer Capacity and Participatory Research
Consumers and consumer organizations have important roles in the research endeavor, including planning research priorities, assessing real-world relevance, and educating researchers in the realities of their aspirations, needs, obstacles, and daily living conditions. Consumers also must review and evaluate research findings and reinterpret them for application to their lives. Finally, consumers can disseminate and advocate for research. The disabled individual as a whole person operating in a given environment is the focus of NIDRR’s research, and it is important that individuals with disabilities willingly provide data about themselves in the role of research subjects.
Consumers are more likely to trust the research endeavor if they believe it is relevant to their needs or if researchers are appropriately sensitive to their concerns. NIDRR will continue to take an active role in forging cooperative partnerships between researchers and the disability community. These endeavors must feature an honest and respectful exchange of knowledge and seek cooperative endeavors around common ground. Studying the social, contextual, and environmental aspects of disability provides a promising impetus for the new, strengthened partnership. NIDRR will support participatory research and disability studies as strategies to achieve the goals of an informed and active consumer community. Education, training, awareness, and partnerships are among the techniques that will be used to address this goal.
NIDRR has supported the principle of appropriate and effective participatory research; that is, research that incorporates the perspectives and efforts of people with disabilities. Participatory research is evaluated by standards of scientific excellence and real-world relevance. NIDRR grantees have developed a number of innovative approaches to implement this principle of participatory research. Additional studies of participatory research concepts, fundamental principles, operating guidelines, and most appropriate applications will enhance its future use. NIDRR will sponsor research on the conditions under which participatory research enhances the process and improves the products of research. NIDRR will sponsor research, development, demonstration, and dissemination efforts to enhance the understanding of participatory research applications and techniques.
Funding Mechanisms to Enhance Capacity Building
Clearly, a shift has occurred in the social and scientific paradigms used to define, study, and explain disability. Consequently, the training models, research methods, and issues studied also must change.
Funding excellent research projects depends, to a large extent, on the quality of grant applications. In turn, the subject matter and quality of research reflect the competencies the investigators acquired in their training. The context for training is nested in the types of programs funded by NIDRR. NIDRR will expand these existing mechanisms—RRTCs, RERCs, Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training Grants (ARRTs), Switzer Fellowships, the NIDRR Scholars Program, and the Minority Development Program—to help meet future challenges.
Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers and Rehabilitation Engineering
Research Centers
NIDRR has a long tradition of funding RRTCs at universities, medical rehabilitation facilities, and vocational and social service agencies. Recently, training has been given increased importance in the mission of the RERCs as well. Enhancing the capacity to conduct disability and rehabilitation research requires planning and coordination of three key components of research training: mentors and trainers, relevant topics, and appropriate sites.
NIDRR Centers have the critical mass of expertise and knowledge to provide:
- advanced, experiential training for researchers;
- classroom training for researchers and clinicians at undergraduate and graduate levels;
- short-term training to teach scientists new methodologies;
- in-service training for rehabilitation practitioners;
- training for consumers, their families, and representatives in implications and applications of new research-based knowledge;
- community-based training in disability studies and related areas, particularly in those centers with a strong focus on independent living, community integration, and policy issues;
- education and training in disability professions and in disability research for individuals with disabilities and for minority individuals; and
- training of rehabilitation educators and educators in a range of related disciplines.
Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training Grants
ARRTs will provide advanced research training that integrates disciplines; teaches research methodology in the environmental, or new paradigm, context; and trains researchers in disability studies and rehabilitation science. These training programs must operate in interdisciplinary environments and provide training in rigorous scientific methods.
Mary Switzer Fellowships
These fellowships will augment scholarly knowledge in the field, and function in an integrative capacity to define new frontiers of disability and rehabilitation research. NIDRR plans to provide more opportunities for interaction among the fellows and for exposure to established researchers and policy-makers.
NIDRR Scholars Program
This program will recruit undergraduates with disabilities to work in NIDRR-funded centers and to develop projects that will expose them to disability and rehabilitation research issues, while at the same time providing work experience and income. This program is an innovative approach aimed at generating interest in research careers for people with disabilities.
Minority Development Program
This program has focused on Historically Black Colleges and Universities and institutions serving primarily Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian students. NIDRR will evaluate this program to determine the extent to which it is achieving the objectives of Section 21 of the Rehabilitation Act and to implement necessary strategies to enhance outcomes. Meanwhile, NIDRR is implementing new strategies for capacity-building among minority researchers focusing on collaboration, exchange of expertise, and advanced training.
New Technologies for Training
Educators, students, clinicians, scholars, and consumers are turning more frequently to the use of new media and telecommunications technology for conveying information and imparting skills. NIDRR respects the efficiency and impact that distance learning and Web-based education can achieve. As a research institute, NIDRR also will undertake evaluations of the effectiveness of using these techniques with various types of trainee populations, subject matter, and objectives.
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