Mapping the Disability Experience: Using Geographically-Explicit Ecological Momentary Assessment to Understand Community Participation After Spinal Cord Injury (848673)

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

12:45 PM – 2:00 PM EST

Presenter(s)

Amanda L. Botticello, PhD, MPH

Senior Research Scientist
Kessler Foundation
West Orange, New Jersey

Presentation Slides Presentation + Audio

Panelist(s)

Denise C. Fyffe, PhD

Senior Research Scientist
Kessler Foundation/Rutgers-NJMS
West Orange, New Jersey
Lauren F. Murphy, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow
Kessler Foundation
West Orange, New Jersey
Rachel Byrne, MA

Senior Research Coordinator
Kessler Foundation
West Orange, New Jersey

Non-presenting Author(s)

TR

Tanya Rohrbach, MS

Adjunct Associate Professor
Raritan Valley Community College
Branchburg, New Jersey

Geographically-explicit ecological momentary assessment (GEMA) methods allow researchers to investigate the mechanisms and situational factors that affect chronic conditions. The purpose of this symposium is to demonstrate the insights gained from using GEMA to study the complex interplay between environmental features and community participation in people with spinal cord injury (SCI). The procedures developed to collect GEMA data with Smartphones and the data analytic techniques used to integrate information from maps, repeated survey measures, and in-depth interviews will be discussed. Mapped activity data yields daily information about locations and the range and duration of community participation. Supplemented by repeated daily measures of trip purposes, strategies used, and destination features experienced, researchers are further able to identify the conditions that shape real-life behaviors from the perspective of participants. Such information is essential for identifying the targets of interventions and public policy that will improve community integration for people with SCI.

Learning Objectives:

Discuss the advantages of using geographically-explicit ecological momentary assessment to study the complex relationship between disability and contextual factors, such as the physical and social attributes of communities.
Describe the mixed methods data collection and data analytic procedures used to implement a GEMA study.
Identify personal strategies and motivations reported by participants in repeated surveys as well as key destination features observed from geo-located activity data.
Discuss participant feedback on what people with SCI may find useful to know in order to accomplish their participation goals and successfully navigate their communities.