Project Description:
The Men=s Personal Assistance Services Abuse Research Project will be collaboratively conducted by the Center on Self-Determination at the Oregon Institute on Disability and Development of Oregon Health Sciences University, the World Institute on Disability and Berkeley Planning Associates. The purpose of the project is to increase the identification, assessment and response to abuse by formal and informal personal assistance service (PAS) providers of men with physical disabilities and physical and cognitive disabilities living independently in the community. This will be achieved by the following aims:1. Development of a culturally sensitive screening approach that can be used by men, advocates, health providers, and community agencies to identify PAS abuse;2. Development of a culturally appropriate PAS abuse assessment protocol that can be used by men, advocates, health providers and community organizations; and3. Identification of culturally appropriate response strategies that can be used by men, advocates, health providers and community agencies to prevent and manage PAS abuse.The methods proposed to achieve these aims are based on the following assumptions:? The meaning of abuse is different for men with and without disabilities.? Only men with disabilities can describe the meaning of abuse in their lives.? Men with disabilities will define abusive experiences with personal assistance providers thatare unique and not included in current definitions of abuse.? Culture is a lens that organizes and filters experiences that affect men's perception of abuse.? Men with disabilities have developed strategies for responding to abuse by personal assistance providers that must be identified and incorporated into response strategies. < This project, developed in collaboration with men who experience disabilities, will be conducted in three phases. The first phase, conducted during Year 1, consists of a focus group study of culturally diverse men with physical disabilities and physical and cognitive disabilities. African American, Asian American, Hispanic, and European-American men will be asked to describe their definitions of PAS abuse, the strategies they used to respond to the abuse, and their recommendations for abuse prevention and management strategies to be used by men, service providers and advocates. The second phase, conducted during Years 1 and 2, will use focus group findings as the foundation for a survey study of 260 culturally diverse men with physical disability and physical and cognitive disability from organizations across the country. The primary purpose of the survey is to have men respond to statements describing PAS abuse and strategies to manage PAS abuse. Men will be asked if the events described have happened to them, if they consider them abusive, how they would rate their severity, and the strategies they would use and want others to use to manage them. In addition, respondents will be asked to answer demographic questions and to complete a current screening tool for abuse designed for men without disabilities.The third phase, conducted during Year 3, will address development of a protocol for screening, assessment and response to PAS abuse. A culturally-sensitive PAS abuse screening tool and an assessment and support protocol will be developed based upon the findings from the focus group and survey studies. We will evaluate the extent to which the screening tool discriminates between known groups of men who have experienced PAS abuse and those who have not experienced abuse. The final products of this research will be a comprehensive package of PAS abuse intervention materials that will include: 1) a culturally sensitive screening approach that can be used by men, advocates and providers; 2) a culturally appropriate assessment protocol; and 3) culturally appropriate response strategies. All findings and products from the project will be comprehensively disseminated to consumer, professional, and advocate audiences.
