Summary of reliability study of matrices

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Burke, Courtney Eagles

Affiliations: Technology Related Assistance for Idividuals with Disabilities (TRAID) Project, New York State Office of Advocate for Persons with Disabilities, One Empire State Plaza, Suite 1001, Albany, NY 12223, USA. Tel.: +1 800 522 4369; Fax: +1 518 473 6005; E-mail: eaglesco@nysnet.net

Abstract: Seating, positioning and wheeled mobility systems are frequently purchased by individuals with disabilities. Mechanisms for effectively prescribing and evaluating the potential uses of these systems to maximize individual function and assure positive health outcomes do not generally exist. Consequently, a committee of experts in the field of rehabilitation technology, along with consumers and others, developed a set of guidelines and decision matrices to assure more consistency for choosing these systems in a way that could improve consumer satisfaction, improve function and health outcomes, and decrease costs associated with improper prescription of these systems. The reliability of these decision matrices was recently tested. The development of these matrices and the methods for testing the reliability of the decision matrices and the results are discussed.

Keywords: wheeled mobility, Medicaid, decision matrices, guidelines, reliability

DOI: 10.3233/TAD-1999-10307

Journal: Technology and Disability, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 181-185, 1999