Overview of the NCDDR's SCOPE OF WORK
(2006-2010)
Goals and Objectives
The long-term goal of the NCDDR is:
To expand production, access, dissemination, and use of disability and rehabilitation research evidence among NIDRR management and grantees, people with disabilities and their families, and disability-oriented professionals, practitioners and service providers.
This goal will be addressed through the following five performance objectives:
- To identify standards of evidence addressing the rigor and sensitivity of NIDRR-sponsored research.
- To increase the number of systematic reviews that address disability and rehabilitation research topics.
- To increase opportunities for NIDRR-sponsored research to be included in systematic reviews.
- To facilitate access to and use of evidence-based knowledge addressing disability and rehabilitation research topics.
- To provide ongoing assistance to NIDRR grantees in improving the quality and scope of their dissemination, utilization, and knowledge translation outcomes.
Target Populations
As has been true of the NCDDR's work since its inception, this scope of work addresses multiple target populations. Ultimately, the work is intended to address the needs of people with disabilities, their families, and their service providers, and some project activities and services are directly targeted to these groups. However, for the most part these groups represent indirect target populations — that is, those who can benefit from and take advantage of improvements in the quality and accessibility of disability-related research. The primary direct target population for this work is current and future NIDRR grantees — that is, the researchers whose products and findings are intended to improve the lives of persons with disabilities and their families.
The detailed descriptions of activities and services presented in this proposal demonstrate that SEDL will provide extensive supports for NIDRR grantees and also will involve grantees in planning, implementation, and decision-making related to key aspects of the work. Both research and experience indicate that such involvement is essential to ensuring the relevance of project activities and participation in project-sponsored training, technical assistance, and related activities. Moreover, SEDL's plans respond to the results of a needs-sensing survey of NIDRR-supported research grantees conducted in July-August 2005.
Project Design
SEDL's project design for the NCDDR responds directly to NIDRR’s concern for increasing the effective use of NIDRR-sponsored research results in shaping new technologies, improving service delivery, and expanding decision-making options for people with disabilities and their families. SEDL's design effectively addresses each of the six functions outlined under the absolute priority for this competition, as follows:
- "Identify standards, guidelines, and methods appropriate for developing evidence-based systematic reviews of disability and rehabilitation research" — SEDL will establish a Standards and Research Review Board comprised of NIDRR grantees that will develop standards of evidence, with facilitation and support from NCDDR staff and expert consultants. This approach ensures both the rigor and quality of standards and the buy-in necessary for their actual use. SEDL also proposes mechanisms for developing guidelines and methods for conducting evidence-based reviews, drawing on the substantial and internationally recognized expertise and infrastructure of the Campbell and Cochrane Collaborations.
- "Serve as a technical assistance resource to NIDRR grantees to ensure that research studies will meet standards for inclusion in evidence-based systematic reviews" — SEDL will conduct technical assistance organized around the standards of evidence and strategies for addressing them in research designs, implementation, and reporting; and to facilitate discussions among NIDRR staff, NIDRR grantees, and expert consultants regarding refinements that may be needed in the agency’s research priorities, agenda, and review criteria. In addition, the NCDDR will provide information resources and consultations to help current research grantees assess whether there may be no-cost or low-cost modifications to their current activities — particularly in terms of reporting formats — that will facilitate inclusion in systematic reviews.
- "Develop partnerships with existing collaborations and registries to identify gaps and opportunities and to facilitate the systematic review of disability and rehabilitation research" — SEDL has secured the support and involvement of key representatives from the Campbell Collaboration and the international and U.S. offices of the Cochrane Collaboration, which, as noted earlier, are leaders in facilitating systematic reviews in disciplines related to disability and rehabilitation research. SEDL's supporting partners and expert consultants also include representatives from registries of research and guidelines, including the Evidence-Based Practice Center, the National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices, and the National Guideline Clearinghouse. SEDL's NCDDR will facilitate the establishment of a Disability Research Collaborating Group within the Campbell Collaboration, a critical step in building and sustaining a support structure for the conduct of systematic reviews. In addition to coordinating with existing research registries, SEDL also will establish a registry of NIDRR-funded research and a registry of evidence-based systematic reviews addressing topics of relevance to persons with disabilities, their families, and their service providers.
- "Identify and promote the use of evidence-based reviews in topic areas developed in collaboration with NIDRR and its grantees" — SEDL interprets this function as both facilitating the conduct of new systematic reviews (see the preceding description), and facilitating the use of evidence from systematic reviews in identifying research questions, developing research designs, developing and applying guidelines for programs and practices, and providing evidence-based information and resources targeted to consumers. SEDL proposes a number of activities in this area, including technical assistance for grantees; consultations with NIDRR staff; work with other NIDRR-funded projects whose functions include identification and development of guidelines; and supports for development of plain-language summaries and information digests of evidence from systematic reviews.
- "Identify, develop, and assess the effectiveness of strategies for dissemination of high quality information to diverse target populations" — As it has for the past 10 years, the NCDDR will continue to identify, develop, and test dissemination strategies that are effective and appropriate for people with disabilities, their families, and their service providers, and to provide technical assistance and information resources to strengthen NIDRR grantees’ dissemination plans and practices. SEDL also will continue to focus heavily on strategies to address three interrelated groups that typically have been least well served: people with emerging disabilities, people living in poverty, and those from racial, ethnic, or cultural minority groups.
- "Serve as a technical assistance resource to NIDRR research grantees to ensure the use of effective strategies for dissemination of high quality information to diverse target populations" — SEDL will continue to build on its extensive history of working closely with NIDRR grantees to respond to their technical assistance needs related to disseminating high quality research knowledge. Technical assistance will include on-site and off-site consultations, workshops, print and Web-based resources in accessible formats, and linkage with experts.