Study of programs for homebound handicapped individuals : Letter from Secretary, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare transmitting a report on a study of programs for homebound handicapped individuals, with recommendations, pursuant to Public Law 565, 83d Congress.

  • United States. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Vocational Rehabilitation Administration.
Date:
1955
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Study of programs for homebound handicapped individuals : Letter from Secretary, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare transmitting a report on a study of programs for homebound handicapped individuals, with recommendations, pursuant to Public Law 565, 83d Congress. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The Hunterdon County study is a five-part project designed to measure the needs of various types of long-term patients for care, rehabilitation, and other services. The five steps in the project are: 1. Questionnaires delivered to every household in the county to obtain facts on overall community health needs. 2. Interviewing a sample of 4,000 families—about one-third of the population. (Data used in pt. II, p. 9 of this report were obtained from this phase of the survey.) 3. Checking medical records of patients identified in step 2. 4. Diagnosis and evaluation, by a team including a physician, nurse, social worker, and vocational rehabilitation counselor, of the services needed and rehabilitation potential of about 1 000 long-term patients. 5. Multiple screening tests for several chronic diseases, given to a sample of 8,000 persons. Step 4, in particular, will provide more definitive information on the nature and extent of the homebound problem than has yet been available from any survey. As part of the evaluation procedure, the mobility ‘‘status” of a patient is to be determined, including the bed status, ability to move about, walk, climb stairs, travel, or attend to personal safety. Tabulation of schedule information from this phase : the study is the responsibility of the National Opinion Research enter. The Baltimore chronic illness study.2—In Baltimore, Md., plans for the urban counterpart of the Hunterdon County health survey were crystallized in 1952. Many groups and individuals have contributed to the study. The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare has furnished technical aid in study plans and also, through the Public Health Service, a research grant. The Baltimore study involves four major phases: 1. An interview by trained interviewers to obtain information about illness and disability, in approximately 4,000 households, including about 12,000 people and representing a random sample of the population of the city. 2. A clinical evaluation of a subsample of about 1,000 persons. This evaluation consists of a review of existing medical informa- tion obtained from hospitals and private physicians; a complete diagnostic examination, including all indicated laboratory tests, at a special clinic established for the purpose at Johns Hopkins Hospital; and, for a special group, an evaluation of the social, nursing, and rehabilitation needs by a team, including a physician, nurse, social worker, and vocational counselor. 3. A series of simple screening tests to all members in the 4,000 households who were not included in step 2 and who were over 16 years of age. The provision of rehabilitation services for those persons in step 2 identified as having a rehabilitation potential. The Maryland State Division of Vocational Rehabilitation has assumed the responsibility for this step in order to give a practical test to the process of estimating rehabilitation potential. In December 1952, the Commission on Chronic Illness contracted with the Bureau of the Census for that agency to carry out most of 2 Cominission on Chronic Illness. Chronic IIness Newsletter, Progress Report on the Baltimore Chronic Illness Study, vol. 5, No. 9, November 1954,