Using Ecological Momentary Assessment to Monitor Community Participation of People with Mobility-Related Disabilities

Abstract

Increased community participation of people with disabilities is a goal of many community-based disability organizations. Researchers used an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) approach to investigate factors that might increase community participation of people with mobility-related disabilities. EMA is a measurement method that captures self-report data on participant's behavior and experiences in a community based context. This paper will report on the community participation behavior of five individuals with severe mobility-related disabilities. These individuals each used a personal digital assistant (PDA) device to keep track of their community participation activities. In Study 1, two participants enrolled and received an education and skills training package and weekly peer support meetings. Both participants increased knowledge and skills scores on their posttests by an average of 22.5% (Mick 55-77%) (Don 55-78%), indicating they acquired knowledge and skills taught in the two-day Get Out & About! training workshop. One participant slightly increased community participation frequency after training, while the other did not increase community participation over baseline level. Using PDAs to collect and measure target behavior was successful and reliable; however, the PDAs appeared to have a prompting effect. Independent variables for Study 2 included the components of visual and oral feedback, and bus passes to facilitate increased community participation of three participants. In addition, one of the participants also received a review of the study goals as part of his intervention. Study 2 findings suggest that this multi-component intervention package had some effect on increasing frequency and duration of community participation. Overall, these findings support the feasibility and durability of using EMA to continuously measure community participation of people with mobility-related disabilities.