WORKSHOP: Summit on New Strategies for Measuring Assistive Technology Outcomes

今天，美国有超过5600万人报告有某种程度的残疾，随着所谓的“婴儿潮”一代的年龄增长，这个数字在未来几年可能会增长。然而，衡量针对残疾人的干预措施的结果几十年来一直是残疾和康复研究界面临的挑战。由于每个个体的极端可变性和独特情况，在试图衡量使用辅助技术（AT）的真实效果时，随机对照试验（RCT）的黄金标准变得不可行。这让研究界和那些依赖干预措施有效性证据的人（例如资助机构和保险公司）陷入了两难境地。这笔资金将用于支持“衡量辅助技术成果新战略”峰会（研讨会），该峰会将于7月10日至14日在弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿的凯悦水晶城举行的2016年RESNA年度会议的一部分并紧随其后。RESNA，即北美康复工程和辅助技术协会，是唯一一个专注于为残疾人提供技术的国际组织。RESNA的会员包括个人和机构，涵盖了一系列学科（包括研究人员、临床医生、供应商、制造商、消费者和教育工作者，他们在非营利和营利性环境中工作），所有这些人都致力于促进思想和信息的交流，以促进辅助技术的进步。有关RESNA及其年会的更多信息，请访问http://www.resna.org。PI计划利用即将召开的RESNA会议将汇集具有辅助技术研究和服务相关专业知识的国家组织和专业人员这一事实，以比其他方式所需的成本低得多的成本组织一次关于这一关键主题的首脑会议。考虑到这一点，会议组织者在整个会议计划中编织了一个人工智能成果主题（包括一整天的课程，全体会议和平台会议，研讨会等），这将为会议结束后立即进行全天关于改进人工智能成果测量方法的高级讨论提供背景和基础。首脑会议产生的新方法的共识建立和文件编制将有助于采取关键步骤，转变基于证据的实践，并接受结果数据收集、分析和决策的新方法。会议结束时的全天邀请峰会将汇集当前的科学思想，为向新的评估方法转变的基本原理奠定基础，描绘创建新的基于证据的实践方案所需的步骤，并开始概述这种新方法所需的关键变量框架。峰会成果将包括一份报告，该报告将：1)总结人工智能成果研究的科学现状。2)总结了AT结果研究方法的科学现状。3)描述当前制约科学现状的问题。4)为新的AT成果研究方法产生可操作的想法。5)阐明具体的人工智能成果方法，供研究和资助机构考虑。预计这些未来的方法将需要从从业人员、消费者和辅助技术分销商的整个实践中收集广泛的数据，并且这些来自不同来源的数据将需要汇总到一个中央数据库中进行查询和分析。

Today, over 56 million people in the United States report some degree of disability, a number which will likely grow in coming years as the so-called "baby boomer" generation ages. Yet measuring the outcomes of interventions for persons with disabilities has challenged the disability and rehabilitation research community for decades. Because of the extreme variability and unique circumstances of each individual, the gold standard of randomized control trials (RCT) becomes infeasible when trying to measure the true effects of using assistive technologies (AT). This leaves the research community and those who rely on evidence of the efficacy of interventions (e.g., funding agencies and insurance companies) in a quandary. This is funding to support a Summit (workshop) on New Strategies for Measuring Assistive Technology Outcomes, which will take place as part of and immediately following the 2016 annual RESNA conference to be held July 10-14 at the Hyatt Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia. RESNA, the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America, is the one organization with an international focus that is devoted solely to technology for individuals with disabilities. RESNA's membership consists of individuals and institutions covering a range of disciplines (including researchers, clinicians, suppliers, manufacturers, consumers and educators who work in both non-profit and for-profit settings), all of whom are dedicated to promoting the exchange of ideas and information for the advancement of assistive technology. More information about RESNA and its annual conference is available online at http://www.resna.org. The PI plans to leverage the fact that the upcoming RESNA conference will bring together national organizations and professionals with expertise related to assistive technology research and services, to organize a Summit on this critical topic at much less cost than would otherwise be required. With this in mind, the conference organizers have woven an AT outcomes theme (consisting of a full day course, plenary and platform sessions, workshops, etc.) throughout the conference program, which will provide a backdrop and foundation for a full day of advanced discussions on ways to improve measurement of AT outcomes immediately following the end of the conference. The consensus building and documentation of new methodologies resulting from the Summit will contribute key steps in transforming evidence based practice and its acceptance in new methodologies for outcomes data collection, analysis, and decision making.The full-day invitational Summit at the end of the conference will aggregate current scientific thinking to lay the foundation for a transformative shift in rationale toward a new assessment methodology, to delineate steps that are required to create a new evidence based practice schema, and to begin sketching the key framework of variables required for such a new methodology. Summit outcomes will include a report that will:1) Summarize the state of the science of AT outcomes research.2) Summarize the state of the science of AT outcomes research methodologies.3) Delineate the current issues that restrain the current state of the science.4) Generate actionable ideas for new AT outcomes research methods.5) Articulate specific AT outcomes approaches for consideration by research and funding agencies.It is anticipated that these future methodologies will require broad data collection from practitioners, consumers, and assistive technology distributors throughout their practices, and that these data from varied sources will need to be aggregated into a central database for inquiries and analysis.