Conducting Accessible Research: Including People With Disabilities in Public Health, Epidemiological, and Outcomes Studies

Overview

Journal Am J Public Health

Specialty Public Health

Date 2016 Oct 14

PMID 27736212

Citations 44

Authors

Dianne Rios

Susan Magasi

Catherine Novak

Mark Harniss

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

People with disabilities are largely absent from mainstream health research. Exclusion of people with disabilities may be explicit, attributable to poorly justified exclusion criteria, or implicit, attributable to inaccessible study documents, interventions, or research measures. Meanwhile, people with disabilities experience poorer health, greater incidence of chronic conditions, and higher health care expenditure than people without disabilities. We outline our approach to "accessible research design"-research accessible to and inclusive of people with disabilities. We describe a model that includes 3 tiers: universal design, accommodations, and modifications. Through our work on several large-scale research studies, we provide pragmatic examples of accessible research design. Making efforts to include people with disabilities in public health, epidemiological, and outcomes studies will enhance the interpretability of findings for a significant patient population.

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