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Activities

The Activities section reports status, sub-project listings, and draft documents. The bibliographies provide full listings of the project's publications and presentations. Materials that result from these activities and that are ready for distribution and use can be found under the Products section.

The ATOMS Project was designed with three primary components, consistent with the original NIDRR request for proposals.

  1. Needs assessment
  2. Exploratory research and development projects (instrument development)
  3. Abandonment analysis

Additionally, a fourth category summarizes dissemination efforts in each of the primary components.

  1. Publications, presentations, and bibliographies

The fifth and sixth categories contain information regarding other research activities.

  1. Course Outline
  2. SPP/I3

 

I. Needs Assessment

    1. Field Scans
    2. Stakeholder Focus Groups
    3. Existing Database Analyses
    4. Collaborative Meetings and Consensus Building
    5. Assumptions, Projects, and Discoveries

A. Field Scans

Browse and comment on the field scans by type

FS1. AT Instrument Update and Review

FS2. Treatment of AT in Current/Emerging Health & Rehabilitation Outcome Measures

FS3. Outcome Measures Used in AT Research & Development

FS4. Next Generation Data Collection Technology

FS5. Comparison of Cost Outcome Methods

FS6. Use of Multi-attribute (MAU) and Bayes Approaches in Outcomes Data Collection

FS7. Review of Taxonomies Related to Domains of Assistive Technology Outcomes

FS9. Legal Implications of Assistive Technology Outcomes Instruments

FS12. History of Assistive Technology Outcomes

FS13. Methods to Identify Assistive Technology Device Use

FS14. Review of the Literature on AT Satisfaction Measurement

B. Stakeholder Focus Groups

Focus groups will be held to isolate the needs that different populations have for AT outcomes information.

  1. Consumer/user groups (4)
  2. Service directors
  3. Funding agencies for AT devices & services
  4. Researchers, developers, & manufacturers
  5. Parents & caregivers

C. Database Analyses

The project will evaluate existing databases that contain assistive technology device and service data to determine outcomes information that is currently available.
  1. Clinical (public schools, rehabilitation programs, vocational services)
  2. National population databases
  3. Vocational rehabilitation

D. Collaborative Meetings and Consensus Building

  1. Technical Report - Qualitative Research Discussions, April
    29-30, 2003 (Version 1.0)
  2. NIDRR Collaboration Meeting Notes, St. Louis, September 19, 2003

E. Assumptions, Projects & Discoveries

  1. ATOMS Project 2002-2003: Assumptions, Projects & Discoveries

II. Exploratory R&D Projects

  1. The Ohio ATOMS Project
    • The ATOMS Project partnered with the state of Ohio AT Infusion Project, which provided AT devices to students throughout Ohio using a grant application process to award funding. Assisting with outcomes development, the project has AT outcome data reported on more than 1760 students.
    • Technical Report - The Ohio Infusion Project
    • Technical Report - The Assistive Technology Infusion Project (ATIP) Database
  2. Bifocal use
    • Recognizing that the importance of examining positive and negative outcomes of AT are equally critical in order to reveal an accurate picture of the impact and effects of AT, and that negative aspects of AT are often overlooked in AT outcomes research, the ATOMS Project initiated a research path investigating the functional effects of bifocal use. Two pilot studies (Joerger, 2003, and Brayton, 2005) led to the proposal of and an award for the BIFOCAL Project a NIDRR funded three-year project investigating functional and fMRI outcomes in new wearers of multi-focal lenses
  3. Instrument development
    1. Subjective measure of the percent contribution of AT
      • Recognizing the need to have a method for identifying the amount of contribution an assistive technology device or service has on an outcome when obtained using an ecological approach outside of a laboratory controlled environment and that subjective and objective data are both important, the ATOMS Project developed and revised an instrument to meet this need. During its development, the name of the instrument has evolved as it was utilized across various populations of AT users. Initially,
        • the RAATS, and then
        • the SPP, and finally
        • the A/D-CS
    2. OT FACT
      1. MED-AUDIT (R3)
        • Partnered with the RERC-AMI the ATOMS Project prototyped and is testing the MED-AUDIT. This instrument, building on the original OT FACT, has innovated a new strategy using a branching question method to quantify accessible medical devices. This project runs through 2007.
      2. ICF-FACT
        • The ICF-FACT is a developing measure that we have explored as a potential future outcomes instrument. This exploration has allowed us to demonstrate in software the outlining branching process with the ICF. This has pointed out specific advantages and disadvantages of using the ICF as a taxonomy for AT outcomes: ATOMS Project Technical Report: The ICF in the Context of Assistive Technology (AT) Interventions and Outcomes .
      3. SFA-AT
        • The SFA measures performance focusing on school based functional activities. We have maintained a thread of studies running with our graduate students over the years addressing the reliability and validity of the AT supplement
          • Silverman, M. & Smith, R. O. (2006). Consequential validity of an assistive technology supplement for the School Functional Assessment. Assistive Technology, 18(2), 155-165.

III. Abandonment Analysis

Factors in Assistive Technology Device Abandonment: Replacing “Abandonment” with “Discontinuance”

IV. ATOMS Project Bibliographies

The ATOMS Project activities have resulted in a large number of publications and presentations. These publications and presentations serve to both disseminate information to and gather information from the field. Please see the Products section for detailed listings and examples.

V. Course Outline

Course Guide for Teaching a Graduate Course in Assistive Technology Outcomes

VI. SPP/I3

Student Performance Profile and I3 Documents