Living Well with a Disability, a Self-Management Program.

Approximately 56.7 million persons in the United States have functional impairments that can lead to disability. As a group, persons with disabilities show disparities in measures of overall health when compared with the general population.

Integration of chronic disease and disability and health state programs in Montana.

This paper describes the strategies used in one state, Montana, to improve the health of individuals at risk for or living with chronic conditions associated with disability. These strategies demonstrate capacity to intervene at individual and environmental levels, and reveal opportunities for public health professionals to collaborate with independent living and long term care partners. In this paper we attempt to outline some of the challenges inherent in these collaborations and suggest strategies to overcome them.

Participatory action research designs in applied disability and rehabilitation science: protecting against threats to social validity.

Researchers and disability advocates have been debating consumer involvement in disability and rehabilitation science since at least 1972. Despite the length of this debate, much confusion remains. Consumer involvement may represent a spirit of democracy or even empowerment, but as a tool of science, it is necessary to understand how to judge its application.

A systematic scoping review of measures of participation in disability and rehabilitation research: a preliminary report of findings.

Purpose/objective: The concept of participation is emerging as a gold-standard of outcome measurement in disability and rehabilitation. We aimed to assess the status of methods to measure this new concept.

Method/design: We conducted a scoping review and a content analysis to assess the literature on participation.

Working well with a disability: health promotion as a means to employment.

Purpose/objective: The purpose of this study was to test the utility of the Working Well with a Disability health-promotion program with vocational rehabilitation (VR) clients. Health-promotion interventions have been shown to reduce limitation from secondary conditions, which can be a significant barrier to labor force participation among people with disabilities. The state and federal VR system represents a potential access point for delivery of health-promotion activities.

Nursing home emancipation: A preliminary study of efforts by centers for independent living in urban and rural areas.

Background: The U.S. Supreme Court's Olmstead decision affirmed the right of individual with disabilities to live in the community.

A prospective study to examine the influence of secondary health conditions on vocational rehabilitation client employment outcomes.

Background: Adults with disabilities experience a variety of secondary health conditions that have a negative association with employment. Vocational rehabilitation (VR) provides one possible access point for providing health promotion activities to help clients manage these conditions.

Objective: To build the case for providing health promotion services in the VR setting, this research assesses how secondary health conditions impact employment closures over time for VR clients.

Disability and health behavior change.

Objective/hypothesis: We conducted a review of four health behavior change (HBC) theories (Health Belief, Theory of Planned Behavior, Social Cognitive, and Transtheoretical) to consider how these theories conceptually apply to people with disabilities.

Methods: We identified five common constructs across HBC theories and examined how these commonalities fit within the International Classification of Function (ICF).

Results: Four of the HBC constructs appear to be Personal Factors within the ICF, while the fifth represents Environmental Factors.

Guidelines and criteria for the implementation of community-based health promotion programs for individuals with disabilities.

Health promotion programs for people with disabilities are in the early stages of development. This critical review utilizes a credentialed expert panel to develop a set of guidelines for community-based health promotion programs for individuals with disabilities. The procedures include a review of background material, systematic literature review with drafted guidelines consisting of operational, participation and accessibility recommendations.

Nutritional intervention improves menu adequacy in group homes for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities.

Background: Research documents that adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD) living in the community experience nutritional deficits, inadequate diets, and poor nutritional status.

Objective: We developed a nutrition intervention that was targeted at improving the food systems in group homes for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities, called MENU-AIDDs (Materials Supporting Education and Nutrition for Adults with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities).

Methods: MENU-AIDDs was implemented for 8 and 16 weeks in four community-based group homes for adults with IDD.

Nutrition and adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities: systematic literature review results.

Approximately 4.5 million Americans have an intellectual or developmental disability. Concern is increasing about these individuals' nutrition-related behavior and its implications for their health.

Nutrition education and support program for community-dwelling adults with intellectual disabilities.

To test the efficacy, acceptability, and appropriateness of a nutrition education and support program, 4 community-based group homes for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities participated in a pilot intervention with extended baseline period and pre-post-test design. Adults (N = 32) with intellectual or developmental disabilities, 20 direct service staff, 4 managers of group homes, and 2 health specialists at private service providers participated in the intervention, consisting of a system of nutrition supports in nutrition education and guidelines, menu and meal planning, grocery shopping, and cooking designed for the special needs of this population. Positive impacts were found using the program, including fidelity measures, food systems changes and acceptability to users, planned and served foods, and cost changes associated with implementation.

Self-employment and economic leadership as two promising perspectives on rural disability and work.

A defining difference between rural and urban circumstances for people with disabilities involves opportunities for work. One of the most significant elements of the rural context is that economic conditions in rural communities consistently trail the national economy. This paper presents an overview of disability in rural America and outlines an ecological model for guiding the development of rural solutions to rehabilitation problems.

Assessing secondary conditions among adults with developmental disabilities: a preliminary study.

Pope (1992) asserted that there was a significant need to examine secondary conditions among individuals with development disabilities. In the present study we focused on that need. The development of a secondary conditions surveillance instrument is described, as are the results of a pilot survey conducted with adults receiving state developmental disabilities program supports and with their direct-care service providers.