Southwest Educational Development Laboratory
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National Center for the |
Your Knowledge Translation Resource Facilitating effective use of NIDRR-sponsored research results in shaping new technologies, improving service delivery, and expanding decision-making options for people with disabilities. |
Volume 4, Number 1, 1999
→ D & U that Meets the Needs of Diverse Audiences: A Word from the Director
Disability, Diversity and Dissemination: A Review of the Literature on Topics Related to Increasing the Utilization of Rehabilitation Research Outcomes among Diverse Consumer Groups
PART 1 - Theoretical Framework Introduction: Seeing and hearing "from a different position"
The socially constructed nature of race, culture, and disability
Cultural power and the perpetuation of inequity
Cultural and other considerations that can influence effectiveness within the rehabilitation system
A Look Ahead to Part 2:
Applying the Concepts to Research and D&U
A Word from the Director
After years of effort and the substantial literature regarding dissemination and utilization, why do gaps remain between research and its use? The most frequently cited reason is the lack of communication and cooperation between researchers and their intended audiences (Leung, 1992). Researchers who do not know their audiences well may not understand their need and use for research results.
The ranks of under-represented groups in disability research include people with disabilities who are also members of racial, ethnic, or cultural minority groups. Frequently, dissemination strategies do not take into consideration the special factors that would enhance the utility of disability research to minority group target audience members. An understanding of the information and research needs of multicultural groups should be a basic, rather than peripheral, tenet of research and dissemination design.
Research results should be stated in user-friendly language, and provided in formats and modes of information that are accessible by targeted audiences. The NCDDR has received requests from a number of NIDRR grantees for help in identifying strategies to ensure that knowledge generated from NIDRR-funded research can be utilized more fully to improve the lives of all people with disabilities and their families.
The review of the literature presented in this and following issue of The Research Exchange was prepared to help researchers better understand the interaction of disability, diversity and dissemination.
The first part provides a theoretical framework examining the concepts of race, ethnicity, and culture, and their influences within the rehabilitation system. The second part (to be presented in Volume
4, Number 2) will describe the characteristics of effective ‘culturally competent’ systems, and the impact of attending to diversity in conducting research as well as in dissemination and utilization.
A number of organizational, research, and D&U recommendations are suggested.
John D. Westbrook, Ph.D.
Director, NCDDR
Leung, P. (1992).Translation of knowledge into practice. In Walcott & Associates, NIDRR National CRP Panel Final Report. Washington, DC: Walcott & Associates.
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