Midwest Alliance Research Projects
The Midwest Alliance has developed three major research streams:
R1: Barriers and Facilitators in Postsecondary Education
This research is designed to determine, from the student and alumni perspective, both barriers and facilitators in pursuing STEM and non-STEM educational programs and careers. It is anticipated that findings will aid in developing evidence-based practices and programs in postsecondary institutions as well as employment settings that capitalize on facilitators and reduce or ameliorate barriers to the greatest extent possible.
Accomplished Tasks:
- 1. Literature review of barriers and facilitators for individuals with disabilities in PSE and employment.
- 2. Pilot study involving personal interviews with 13 Beckwith alumni with severe physical disabilities in STEM and non-STEM fields.
- 3. Submission of an NSF Focused Research Initiative grant expanding on the Beckwith alumni research to include larger, national samples of individuals with a variety of disabilities.
Additional Outcomes/Products:
- 1. Programmatic recommendations in PSE and employment for addressing barriers, maximizing facilitators.
- 2. Manuscript of systematic literature review of barriers and facilitators (in process).
- 3. Manuscript of results of personal interviews with Beckwith alumni (submitted).
- 4. White paper to be presented at the National PAS in PSE Workshop in June 2008.
R2: Personal Assistance for Individuals with Severe Physical Disabilities
The purpose of this research is to investigate the availability of personal assistance services to individuals with severe physical disabilities in postsecondary institutions across the country. When successful practices are discovered and described, the intent is to determine the feasibility of providing such services and promoting their implementation at additional campuses nationwide.
Accomplished Tasks:
- 1. Literature review of personal assistance services in PSE.
- 2. Manuscript on PAS in PSE published in Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 2009.
- 3. National survey of personal assistance services in PSE being conducted with results expected in May 2008.
- 4. Workshop/discussion on personal assistance services in PSE scheduled for June 2008.
Additional Outcomes/Products:
- 1. Manuscript on personal assistance services survey, to be submitted to Health Affairs.
- 2. Manuscript on the "trade-offs" between personal assistance services and assistive technology (in process).
- 3. White paper to be presented at the National PAS in PSE Workshop in June 2008.
R3: Assistive Technology for Individuals with Severe Physical Disabilities
The purpose of this research is to determine the need for, the use and abandonment of and the impact of assistive technology on individuals with severe physical disabilities. This research encompasses customized assistive device development by rehabilitation engineers, national assistive technology user surveys, as well as systematic literature reviews to best inform assistive technology development and use.
Accomplished Tasks:
- 1. Device development in rehab engineering lab (see accompanying article on AT development).
- 2. Literature review on assistive technology's impact on independence, education, employment.
- 3. Manuscript printed in Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 2009.
- 4. Web survey of assistive technology-pre-purchase decisions and effect on abandonment being conducted with results expected in May 2008.
Additional Outcomes/Products:
- 1. Additional AT design development.
- 2. Manuscript on assistive technology-pre-purchase decisions and abandonment (in process).
- 3. End users' evaluations.
Please contact research consultant Dr. Norma J. Stumbo at njstumbo@gmail.com if you would like additional information about or would like to participate in any of our research activities.
