Westat Logo Image - link to Westat.com home page

Disability and Long-term Care Research

Westat activities in this area include evaluating programs, developing performance measurement tools, performing case studies of promising practices for service delivery, measuring service quality, and assessing consumer satisfaction.

  • The National Nursing Home Survey (NNHS) for NCHS is a part of the Long-term Care Component of the National Health Care Survey. It is designed to collect baseline and trend statistics about nursing home facilities, their services, and residents. Westat developed a CAPI system for implementation in a field test and the national study, and collected data from a sample of 1,500 nursing homes and 18,000 residents in 2004. Funding from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in HHS supported a related CATI survey of a sample of about 6,000 nursing assistants in half of the nursing homes.
  • The National Home and Hospice Care Survey (NHHCS) for NCHS is also part of the Long-term Care Survey. It collects baseline and trend statistics about home health care and hospice care agencies, their services, patients, and discharges. Westat is adapting the NNHS CAPI and CATI applications for the NHHCS and a related study of nursing assistants who work in the sampled agencies. A pilot study and a pretest in 2006 will be followed by national data collection in 2007.
  • Westat completed a Study of Health Promotion and Preventive Measures (HPPM) in persons with multiple sclerosis (MS) for the Health Care Delivery and Policy Research Division of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The purpose of the study was to examine the degree to which persons with MS use HPPM and the role health care providers and health care plans play in their use of this kind of health care. We conducted the study by telephone with a national probability sample of 2,554 persons with MS. Westat compared the study results to health promotion and prevention behaviors in the national population using the 1999 Behavior Risk Factors Surveillance System.
  • Research suggests that visual impairment may be an important public health problem among Hispanics because those populations tend to underutilize preventive health services, including eye examinations. Westat staff interviewed approximately 5,600 Hispanic adults over 40 and recruited about 4,350 to undergo a physical examination at the University of Arizona. Our research aims in the Study of Blindness and Visual Impairment Among Hispanics included the following:
  • For the pilot study of the National Study of Health and Activity for SSA, Westat screened approximately 7,000 persons to determine eligibility and selected a sample of 4,000 persons for in-depth interviews about disability status and related factors. We conducted approximately 400 medical examinations on a sample of participants. Study results were used to determine the following:
  • For the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Westat conducted the 2002 Transportation Availability and Use Study of Persons with Disabilities, an RDD telephone survey of more than 2,000 households to gather information on the travel patterns, challenges, and accommodations made by persons with disabilities in comparison to persons without disabilities. We applied advanced sampling and screening techniques to obtain random and comparable samples of persons with and without disabilities.
  • Westat completed a Housing Choice Voucher Tenant Accessibility project that studied the difficulties of people with physical disabilities participating in the Housing Choice Voucher Program. Westat staff employed literature reviews, case studies, telephone interviews, and data analyses in this project.
  • Westat performed the Women's Health and Aging Study for the National Institute on Aging in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) medical institutions. The study of 1,000 elderly women examined changes in the relationship between disease and disability over a 3-year period. In-home data collection by Westat staff included six CAPI interviews, physical performance testing, and a medical examination.


    • Picture of a patient being examed
  • For the JHU, Westat conducted Outcomes of Dementia and Treatment (ODAT), a longitudinal study on memory and the use of health services among community-dwelling elderly persons at high risk for dementia. The study addressed the following:
  • Under subcontract to JHU, Westat conducted telephone interviews for the National Study on Costs and Outcomes of Trauma Care, a study of patients hospitalized for a trauma injury. Funded by CDC, the purpose of the study was to determine the extent to which differences in care received from trauma centers versus nontrauma centers correlate with major functional patient outcomes, as well as morbidity and mortality at approximately 3 months and 12 months after injury. Study coordinators working for JHU routinely identified eligible patients from the discharge records of approximately 75 hospitals covering 16 metropolitan areas nationwide.
  • Under contract to the Transportation Research Board, Westat is working on improving public transit options for older persons. We are studying the demographic characteristics and functional status of the elderly and recommending a range of options, including paratransit, for use by public transit agencies to address the mobility needs of the elderly.

 

For more information about the Health and Medical Studies Research Area, please send us a message.

Back to Top