Research and Training Center on Community Living

RTC on Community Living Research Projects

The RTC/CL will conduct six research projects that use existing data (Core A) to analyze how barriers to and experiences of community living may differ across socio-demographic and geographic groups. ("R" is used to number the projects.)

With this information as a foundation, five projects (Core B) will test interventions designed to improve community living opportunities for individuals with disabilities, focusing on housing, health, recreation and community and civic involvement.

In addition, two systematic scoping reviews of the literature (Core C) will inform the RTC/CL interventions.

Core A includes six projects that analyze secondary (pre-existing) data:

• R-1. Housing and Transportation Access. This project will conduct secondary analyses of American Housing Survey (AHS)data to identify the proportion and demographic characteristics of people with disabilities who experience significant housing and transportation barriers.
  
  
• R-2.Time Use Among People with Disabilities. This project will conduct secondary analyses of American Time Use Survey (ATUS) data to explain time use characteristics (e.g., type and location of activities) reported by people with and without disabilities and by sub-populations of people with disabilities.
  
  
• R-3. Relation of Sociodemographics and Local Characteristics to Community Participation/Living. This secondary analysis of American Community Survey (ACS) data will investigate the association of community living and participation with sociodemographic factors, features of the built housing environment, local public policies, and the nature of an individual’s disability.
  
  
• R-4. Multiple Chronic Conditions and Healthcare Access. Using the Anderson Theoretical Model, this project will conduct a secondary analysis of Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data to assess common combinations of chronic conditions among four subgroups of people with disabilities, and what predicts these comorbidities.
  
  
• R-5. Does VR Effectively Support Community Living? This project will conduct secondary analyses of 75 years of the State of Illinois’ vocational rehabilitation (VR) sociodemographic and geographic data to examine the impact of VR services on the community living of recipients.
  
  
• R-6. Personal and Environmental Factors Influencing Community Living for People with Disabilities. This project will analyze data collected using a system of measurement (CORE/SPARC) that explores the relationships between community participation and environmental facilitators, as well as person (demographic), health-related, geographic, and impairment factors. 
  
  

Core B contains five intervention projects:

• R-7. Health Navigator Training. This project will design, develop, and measure the efficacy of an intervention to teach center for independent living (CIL) case managers health navigator skills they can incorporate into their consumer services. The goal is to begin to provide consumers with the skills necessary to proactively manage their health and in so doing, will help ensure continuity of community living and community participation.

• R-8. Development and Testing of an Informal PA Training Program. This project will develop, implement and test a training program for providers and consumers of informal personal assistance. The goal is to improve informal care providers and consumers’ knowledge and skills concerning how to best assist consumers to avoid disruptions in community living and to enhance community participation.

• R-9. Fair Housing Compliance Assessment and Advocacy. This project will develop measures and new advocacy methods that CILs and other advocates can use to enhance accessible housing stock through monitoring compliance with and advocating for adherence to federal housing laws.

• R-10. Community Engagement Initiative Knowledge Transfer (KT) Project. This study, an expansion of the Community Engagement Evaluation (CEE) project tested in the RRTC/MCIL, will use a grassroots community engagement technique to assess both the efficacy of the CEE method to address recreation access for this population and effective knowledge transfer methods for using the CEE.

• R-11. Building Capacity for Full Community Participation. This study will examine whether an existing Community Participation Training and Technical Assistance (CPTTA) intervention effectively enables CILs to more successfully bring about community and systems change to create more opportunities for civic engagement and community participation for people with disabilities.
  

Core C includes two systematic scoping reviews (numbered "SSR") of the literature:

• SSR-1. A Systematic Scoping Review of the Literature on Risks for Institutionalization of People with Disabilities. The purpose of this project will be to assess the literature and identify gaps in it regarding factors that are barriers to remaining in the community for people with severe disabilities age 18-65 (versus senior citizens).
  
  
• SSR-2. Updating a Systematic Scoping Review of the Literature on Healthcare Use and Receipt of Clinical Preventive Services by People with Disabilities. This project will extend by two years a review conducted by the DRRP on Health Disparities for the years 2000-2009.  The purpose of this project is to assess the literature and identify gaps in it regarding how persons with disabilities use clinical preventive services to address subsequent interventions.