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News Releases
MARRTC Investigator Featured in Magazine
Columbia, Mo. (Jan. 5, 2000) - Kristofer Hagglund, Ph.D., a MARRTC investigator and MU Associate Professor, was featured on the November 1999 cover of the American Psychological Association's magazine, the APA Monitor.
The November issue focused on current research in rehabilitation psychology. Hagglund's research was featured in the article, "Knocking down walls for people with disabilities."
The Monitor article described Hagglund's research on Missouri Medicaid's new personal assistance program for adults with disabilities.
A personal assistant is an individual who typically goes to a consumer's home to provide help with activities such as bathing, dressing, meals,laundry and shopping. Most adults with disabilities receive their personal assistance services through a home-health agency.
In contrast, the new Medicaid program entitled the "Independent Living Waiver" will expand the ability of adults with disabilities to hire and manage their own personal assistants, rather than working through a home health agency.
The Independent Living Waiver is called a consumer-driven program. Such programs are popular among persons with disabilities because it gives them more choices.
If a person with a disability can choose his or her personal assistants, the assistant is accountable to the consumer, instead of the home health agency. When personal attendants are employed by home health agencies, adults with disabilities cannot control who their attendants are or what services they provide and when.
In the winter of 2000, Hagglund will begin a two-year survey to determine if it's cost-effective for persons with disabilities to hire and direct their own personal attendants. He predicts that adults given responsibility for their own care will have fewer medical expenses and live more independently.
"People with disabilities should be able to obtain and schedule the services they need, and have control over their bodies, lives and futures," Hagglund said in the Monitor article.
The APA Monitor goes to more than 115,000 subscribers, most of who are APA members. Members include psychology researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students.
Similar to the research featured in the article, Hagglund's MARRTC research is part of a larger effort to determine the impact of "health-care delivery models" on people with chronic illnesses and disabilities. Hagglund directs MARRTC Project 3, which examines the effect of managed care on persons with arthritis.
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