abstract: 'Objective Despite initiatives promoting research and development,

  financing, and distribution programs for assistive technology (AT),

  people with diverse disabilities still experience a critical gap in

  awareness and acquisition of suitable technology products. The nature of

  significant barriers to the effective use of AT service delivery has

  been the subject of considerable speculation, but has not been well

  researched. There is a lack of scientifically rigorous research on which

  specific elements of AT service delivery achieve improved employment

  outcomes with efficient management of costs, and why. Additionally,

  service providers lack an evidence-based and validated framework to

  internally examine their own service delivery processes, policies, and

  practices and assess their effectiveness in generating successful

  employment and other participation outcomes for consumers.

  Main Content This paper will discuss the conceptualization, development,

  and testing of quality indicators of AT service delivery that result in

  successful employment outcomes. This work is being conducted by the

  Center on Effective Rehabilitation Technology (CERT) service delivery

  which has used a rigorous mixed methods process to generate quality

  indicators: (a) thorough literature review to identify core assessment

  categories, (b) feedback from a diverse panel of stakeholders, (c)

  results from a baseline survey of AT practice in the United States, and

  (d) an iterative review and feedback method to generate and rate the

  quality indicators with a panel of experts. The framework will be

  further tested and validated through mixed-methods studies with diverse

  service providers, including employers, throughout the United States.

  Results Indicators of quality have been identified across nine major

  categories which are: (1) Organizational Governing Structures, (2)

  Personnel, (3) Consumer Outcomes, (4) Policies and Procedures, (5)

  Stakeholder Collaboration, (6) Service Delivery Models, (7)

  Individualized Matching of Person and Technology, (8) Funding, and (9)

  Quality Control and Evaluation.

  Conclusion An evidence-based framework for identifying the quality of AT

  service delivery will offer service providers an efficient and important

  tool to assess the quality of their systems and will work towards

  bridging gaps to ensure that AT services promote consumers'' employment

  and other participation goals. The quality indicators framework will be

  customizable for use with different types of service providers such as

  Vocational Rehabilitation agencies, Independent Living Centers, and

  employers.'
affiliation: 'Scherer, M (Corresponding Author), Syracuse Univ, Burton Blatt Inst,
  Syracuse, NY 13244 USA.

  Samant, Deepti; Adya, Meera; Scherer, Marcia, Syracuse Univ, Burton Blatt Inst,
  Syracuse, NY 13244 USA.

  Babirad, Jurgen, Rehabil Technol Associates Inc, Kinderhook, NY USA.

  Scherer, Marcia, Univ Rochester, Med Ctr, Inst Matching Person \& Technol, Rochester,
  NY 14627 USA.'
author: Samant, Deepti and Adya, Meera and Babirad, Jurgen and Scherer, Marcia
author_list:
- family: Samant
  given: Deepti
- family: Adya
  given: Meera
- family: Babirad
  given: Jurgen
- family: Scherer
  given: Marcia
booktitle: EVERYDAY TECHNOLOGY FOR INDEPENDENCE AND CARE
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.3233/978-1-60750-814-4-245
editor: Gelderblom, GJ and Soede, M and Adriaens, L and Miesenberger, K
files: []
isbn: 978-1-60750-814-4; 978-1-60750-813-7
issn: 1383-813X
keywords: 'assistive technology; assistive technology service delivery; quality

  indicators; employment; workplace'
keywords-plus: TECHNOLOGY OUTCOMES RESEARCH
language: English
note: '11th Bi-Annual AAATE Conference, Maastricht, NETHERLANDS, AUG 31-SEP 02,

  2011'
number-of-cited-references: '33'
orcid-numbers: Scherer, Marcia/0000-0001-8374-6526
pages: 245-253
papis_id: b59f0e74bccc9ca74e3ea24bf411fef9
ref: Samant2011qualityindicators
series: Assistive Technology Research Series
times-cited: '0'
title: A Quality Indicators Framework for effective AT service delivery
type: proceedings
unique-id: WOS:000393465400032
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '0'
volume: '29'
web-of-science-categories: Rehabilitation
year: '2011'