UCSF Receives 5 yr. Grant To Research Personal Assistance Services For Peopl

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UCSF Receives Five-Year Grant To Research Personal Assistance

Services For People With Disabilities

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/114997.php

The UCSF School of Nursing has received its second $4.25 million,

five-year grant from the National Institute on Disability and

Rehabilitation Research to continue the work of the Center for

Personal Assistance Services (PAS).

The funding, for which the school competed with other institutions

nationwide, will enable UCSF to continue its research and training

activities related to personal care services provided to people with

disabilities.

" Being awarded this grant for the second time in a row is a testament

to the important work that the Center for Personal Assistance

Services has accomplished in the past five years, " said Kathleen

Dracup, RN, DNSc, dean of the School of Nursing. " We are excited

about the progress we can make for people with disabilities in the

next five years. "

The Center will continue to study issues regarding the availability

and quality of services provided by formal and informal caregivers to

some 15 million people nationwide who need help performing activities

of daily living, according to Charlene Harrington, PhD, RN, UCSF

professor emerita of sociology and nursing, and the Center's director

and principal investigator.

" The emphasis of our work is on providing support so that people with

disabilities can live and work independently in their community, as

opposed to being institutionalized in a nursing home, " Harrington

said.

In the last five years, research through the UCSF Center has

determined a more fiscally feasible cost for such care than was

previously estimated by the Congressional Budget Office for the

Community Choice Act (CCA). The CCA would allow Medicaid to pay for

home and community-based services, rather than solely placement in a

nursing home, for those who qualify for nursing home level of care.

Center research also found that wage levels for PAS workers fell

behind those of comparable occupations and that health benefits are

scarce and job turnover rates are high among workers.

Common services provided by a personal care attendant include help

with bathing, eating, dressing, walking, taking medication and

shopping for groceries, Harrington said.

The UCSF Center will continue to conduct research in workforce issues

related to home-based and community care. Other research and training

topics will include:

Improving access to PAS for people with disabilities

Strengthening the PAS workforce to support individuals who are

employed or seeking employment

Understanding the economics behind PAS, including the relationship

among PAS, employment, employment supports, and assistive technology

(assistive technologies are those products that improve or enhance

the functional capabilities of those with disabilities)

The Center also will continue to seek guidance and feedback from the

community by working with its advisory committee, which is composed

of local and national PAS users, disability advocates, business

leaders, independent living center directors and academics. In

addition, the Center will collaborate with faculty members at the

Burton Blatt Institute, InfoUse, PHI (formerly the Paraprofessional

Healthcare Institute), Research Triangle Institute, and the Topeka

Independent Living Resource Center, and will work with consultants at

the University of land, University of Michigan and the Cardiff

Business School.

Since 1994, work conducted in the UCSF School of Nursing, and

specifically in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and

the Institute for Health and Aging, has focused on research and

advocacy issues facing people with disabilities. Harrington said the

Center's faculty members are among the nation's leading researchers

in their field, with decades of research and policy experience,

hundreds of academic publications, and teaching experience in

disability, health, long-term care, and policy studies.