ENGAGED - Medical Rehabilitation Research Center - Resource Core

RESOURCE CORE: ABSTRACT Community-engaged research (CEnR) is an approach to research that employs rigorous methods while involving communities as coequal partners, recognizing that community perspectives are crucial to advancing health and participation outcomes. CEnR conducted in collaboration with people with disabilities has the potential to address health and participation differences caused by social determinants of health (SDoH) in ways that are mutually beneficial for MRR and disability communities. Therefore, there is a critical need for knowledge products and trainings to build MRR’s knowledge, skills, and capacity to conduct CEnR with and for people with lived experience of disability. There is a parallel need to build capacity among members of the disability community to engage in rigorous and ethical MRR as full and equal partners. The Resource Core (RC) will apply the principles of Open Science, Integrated Knowledge Translation, and Citizen Science to co-create knowledge products and training supports to strengthen the national medical rehabilitation research (MRR) infrastructure for rigorous CEnR that addresses SDoH and their impact on people with disabilities’ (PWD) functional performance and social participation. The ENGAGED Resource Core will serve as a national resource to rehabilitation researchers by creating (1) tangible resources and knowledge products to support rigorous community engaged medical rehabilitation that is inclusive of and accessible to people with disabilities, and (2) technical assistance and mentoring programs for medical rehabilitation research and disability community members. Specifically, the Resource Core will: Aim 1: Create accessible, evidence-informed, and data-driven knowledge products about community-engaged research and social determinants of health among people with disabilities for a range of end users, including rehabilitation researchers, people with disabilities, funders, and policy makers. Aim 2: Create, implement, and evaluate the technical assistance and mentoring programs to support early career scientists, MRR, CEnR, and disability communities. Aim 3: Create a Digital Storytelling Achieve that centers the lived experiences of people with disabilities experiencing SDoH (n=50) using a strengths-based approach and co-design processes. Aim 4: Create, implement, and evaluate a Disability Citizen Scientist Training Program among people with disabilities interested in participating in MRR research (n= 50).