Dr Marcia J Scherer
Dr. Scherer is President, Institute for Matching Person & Technology. She is also Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Rochester Medical Center. She is a member of the National Advisory Board on Medical Rehabilitation Research, U.S. National Institutes of Health, and Editor of the journal Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, an official journal of the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine.
Dr. Scherer has developed the consumer-focused model and assessments, Matching Person & Technology. She is author of the books, Living in the State of Stuck: How Assistive Technology Impacts the Lives of People with Disabilities and Connecting to Learn: Educational and Assistive Technology for People with Disabilities. She edited the book, Assistive Technology : Matching Device and Consumer for Successful Rehabilitation, and she co-edited the books, Evaluating, Selecting, and Using Appropriate Assistive Technology and Psychological Assessment in Medical Rehabilitation.
Dr. Scherer is a Fellow of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and she is a Fellow of APA in Rehabilitation Psychology as well as in Applied Experimental and Engineering Psychology and in Evaluation, Measurement, and Statistics.
SELECTING APPROPRIATE ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY:
Beyond Functioning to Participation
Marcia J. Scherer, PhD, MPH, FACRM
This keynote address will discuss the benefits of using a systematic process for AT selection and decision-making. Participants will be guided through an evidence-based process that examines key aspects of matching person, environment, and technology as well as considerations within each of these domains. The usefulness and feasibility of using this process for device selection will be discussed. There will be particular emphasis on establishing user priorities and ensuring on-going success. The presenter has extensive clinical, research and educational experience in AT and assisting people with disabilities to live independent, productive lives. The presentation will capitalize on an international understanding of issues, focusing on strategies and processes that cross borders.
1. The participants will be able to describe the steps to undertake when consumer and provider partner to select technology and the resources they require to support this process.
2. The participants will be able to describe aspects of the person, environment and technology that will impact on device selection.
3. The participants will be able describe how to establish priorities in collaboration with the consumer.
4. The participants will be able describe strategies that ensure the effectiveness of technology interventions.
Dr Carrie Britton
Dr Carrie Britton worked as an Occupational Therapist in rheumatology prior to her oldest daughter developing systemic onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis in 1992. She was a founder member of Amaze, the umbrella organisation for parents of children with any special need in Brighton & Hove (www.amazebrighton.org.uk). Working with families attending Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, Carrie completed her PhD research study ‘”Families’ Experience of the Management of Juvenile Arthritis In the Home: Views from the Inside” in 2002. She continues to be a Visiting Fellow of the University of Brighton and peer reviewer for the British Journal of Occupational Therapy.
She went onto found and manage CHOICES for Families of Children with Arthritis, an award winning parent support charity from 2002-08. this organisation offered key worker support for local families, and regular ‘fun and learning’ workshops which the whole family could participate in. Her handbook based upon the working experience and PhD research won an national award, having been nominated by the National Association of Occupational Therapists in Rheumatology. Over a thousand fact sheets were being downloaded from their website each week. CHOICES has now merged with Arthritis Care.
Carrie recently worked as the Children’s Services Engagement Advisor (Brighton & Hove City PCT) and set up the Parent Carers’ Council for Brighton & Hove. Carrie is currently Senior Associate at Amaze Research and Training and delivers consultancy and training support across the UK. She continues to work in a range of other capacities to improve the design, delivery and standards of services for families of children with disabilities or long term illness.
Carrie Britton, PhD., MSc., Dip.C.O.T.,
Making a difference together
This presentation is a reflection upon different strands of my experiences, starting with my family’s eighteen year experience of living with systemic onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Prior to the diagnosis, I worked as an Occupational Therapist in a range of roles including community practice and rheumatology. Later, my research explored other families’ experience of managing chronic illness in childhood, and the material became the basis for a handbook for families, and the core of a charity that provided information, support, and workshops for families locally and nationally. In the last ten years I have concentrated on developing service user participation, research and training, and attest to the best solutions occur when professional expertise is blended with service user experience.
This short presentation will ask delegates to reflect upon their own practice, and that of their colleagues, and suggests 4 themes for successful partnerships with individual service users and groups.