University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: October 27, 2005

By LOIS BAKER
Contributing Editor

CIRRIE, the Center for International Rehabilitation Research Information and Exchange at UB, has received a $2.5 million, five-year competitive renewal grant from the National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research.

The grant, funded by the U.S. Department of Education as part of its Knowledge Dissemination and Utilization Program, will allow the center to continue its mission of making the rehabilitation research community in the United States more aware of useful developments in other countries and to promote collaboration with colleagues outside of the U.S.

The center accomplishes these goals by facilitating the exchange of ideas, information and rehabilitation personnel. John Stone, clinical associate professor of rehabilitation sciences, is center director.

During its second funding cycle, the center will expand its Database of International Rehabilitation Research established during the first funding cycle and develop state-of-the-science digests on rehabilitation issues for use by professional and consumer organizations.

CIRRIE also will produce an online, multilingual, international encyclopedia of rehabilitation in English, Spanish and French, in cooperation with the Quebec Institute for Physical Rehabilitation.

To support collaborative activities between the U.S. and other countries, CIRRIE will conduct four international exchange programs involving researchers and technical-assistance experts. These will consist of short-term exchanges of individuals, institutional linkage exchanges, programs for institutions that serve minorities predominantly and a program to gather information overseas for dissemination to U.S. audiences.

The center also plans to undertake several projects aimed at increasing understanding and use in the U.S. of the International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health (ICF). The ICF, developed by the World Health Organization, provides a shared international language of rehabilitation, which makes collaboration and information sharing easier, Stone said.

Increasing understanding of different cultures has been a CIRRIE goal from its inception, and the center will continue these efforts during the next five years. Center staff developed in-service training procedures and training materials on cultural competence for rehabilitation service providers in the U.S. during its previous cycle. This cycle will concentrate on improving cultural competence in students in rehabilitation programs.

"Today, more than 10 percent of the U.S. population was born in another country," said Stone. "Understanding their cultural perspectives related to disability and rehabilitation is important for improving services for this growing and underserved segment of our population."

The materials will be developed and tested at UB and disseminated to university programs across the country.

CIRRIE will develop a new textbook on cultural competency in rehabilitation, as well as produce a second edition of the book "Culture and Disability: Providing Culturally Competent Services," published in 2004 by SAGE Publications.

An international conference on providing culturally competent disability services also is planned, in conjunction with the Toronto-based Joint Centre of Excellence on Research on Immigration and Settlement.

UB's Health Sciences Library, Graduate School of Education and the Department of Communicative Disorders in the College of Arts and Sciences will collaborate on the projects.