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State of the Science Conference
September 15-16, 2005
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Remote Workplace Assessments
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- Remote Workplace Assessments
- Remote Workplace Assessments
- Problem
- Background
- Methods
- Why a Comprehensive Assessment?
- Systematic, organized, & structured
- Analytic decision making
- Baseline for evaluation of solutions
- Remote Workplace Assessments Activities to Date
- Remote Workplace Assessments Activities to Date
Remote Workplace Assessments
Carrie Bruce, MA, CCC-SLP, ATP and Jon Sanford, M.Arch.
From the Work RERC at CATEA, Georgia Tech
Remote Workplace Assessments
Purpose:
Develop and evaluate a comprehensive remote assessment method for workplace accommodations.
Problem
Workplace accommodation is an effective strategy to enable people with disabilities work, yet implementation on a broad basis has not yet occurred.
Lack of rehab professionals in rural areas to perform assessments.
Graphic on slide depicting a map of the United States and the population densities, demonstrating the areas considered to be "rural".
Background
Teleconferencing technology has great potential for providing interactive, cost-effective assessment of people with disabilities in their place of work.
Documented studies demonstrating the effectiveness of a variety of telecommunications technologies for monitoring physical condition and physiological status, and for diagnostics.
Despite its enormous potential to provide workplace assessments, the use of teleconferencing technology as a cost-effective means to deliver these specific services has not been investigated.
Methods
- Review existing instruments to evaluate comprehensiveness and applicability/adaptability for use with the remote teleconferencing technology.
- Pretest assessment with tele-technology.
- Modify assessment to fit strengths and limitations of technology.
- Evaluate effectiveness of tele vs. on-site assessments
Why a Comprehensive Assessment?
- Problem identification. A problem needs to be identified before it can be solved. It is a way of precisely defining the whole problem so that the solution is more likely a "best fit".
- Better solutions. The process is intended to ensure that adequate, accurate, reliable and relevant information is available for making accommodation decisions. Increases the probability of "best fit" solutions.
- Practicality. Provides the practitioner with a practical means of not only (i) systematically accumulating data, but of (ii) analyzing, organizing and translating info into appropriate recommendations and (iii) evaluating accommodation decisions.
Systematic, organized, & structured
- Promotes accumulation of all pertinent facts before making judgments or decisions;
- Provides a structured framework for organizing the multiple, diverse factors that affect a client;
- Helps assure that the practitioner will cover all of the relevant issues of client need;
- Helps ensure that client interests and requirements are addressed and that information needs for plan development are met.
Analytic decision making
Promotes objective analysis of data rather than application of data.
Enables practitioner to base accommodation decisions on evidence obtained through objective, systematic procedures rather than solely on assumptions, prejudices, or personal experience.
Baseline for evaluation of solutions
Baseline against which accommodation solutions are evaluated after implementation to determine how well they meet defined needs.
Supports outcomes measures and evidence-based practice.
Remote Workplace Assessments Activities to Date
Acquired ~50 tools currently being used to perform AT evaluations or assess the workplace.
Sent requests through listservs, organizations, companies and professionals, reaching over 6000 people.
Searched for journal articles through EBSCOhost, ProQuest, PubMed, Georgia Tech E-Journals, physical library at CATEA.
Google search terms: AT, employment, evaluation, assessment, work, accommodation, adaptation.
Preliminary analysis of tools
- Who developed: commercial, organization developed, and personal tools
- Purpose: AT, functional capacity, job analysis, ADA
- Settings: school, work, community, home, and non-specific work settings
Remote Workplace Assessments Activities to Date
Primary Analysis of Tools
- Identified a representative sample of tools across each of the major settings
- Deconstructed tools and developed a framework to categorize information according to type and purpose
- Adapted framework and developed a model that represents the assessment process based on measures
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