Center for International Rehabilitation Research Information and Exchange: One hour roundtable on traumatic brain injury

Providing Culturally Competent Disability Services to Persons Born in other Countries
May 6 - 8, 2002

One hour roundtable on traumatic brain injury – The Argentina Project

Chestnut, R.
Oregon Health & Science University
Portland, Oregon USA

Round table: Petroni, G.; Carney, N.

Abstract

Cross-cultural research is important in developing culturally competent disability services. Research findings direct service providers to the most effective methods for amelioration of disability. Such research must include treatment and recovery as well as rehabilitation and service provision. In August of 2000, NIDRR funded a study to compare outcomes from traumatic brain injury (TBI) between the United States and Argentina. In this roundtable we will present challenges unique to cross-cul tural research, and their potential solutions. Specific topics will be:

Comparability of care in the initial treatment of TBI, and how that effects evaluation of subsequent disability.
Calibration of socio-economic status in measuring disability.
The role of family in the introduction of alternative methods for provision of disability services.

Our goal is to illustrate how the specific experiences of this team of American and Argentine investigators can be usefully applied to other cultural settings and mechanisms of disability.

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