The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #62346

Charles E. Drum, JD, PhD¹, Willi Horner-Johnson, PhD¹, and Gloria L. Krahn, PhD, MPH². (1) Oregon Office on Disability and Health, Oregon Health & Science University, PO Box 574, Portland, OR 97207-0574, 503-494-8047, drumc@ohsu.edu, (2) Oregon Institute on Disability & Development, Oregon Health & Science University, PO Box 574, Child Development and Rehabilitation Center, Portland, OR 97207-0574

Historically, research on the health of people with disabilities has focused on health care utilization and secondary medical conditions. Research has only recently begun to focus on life satisfaction, well-being, and health promotion. The BRFSS Health Behaviors and Outcomes project seeks to assess positive health among people with disabilities and identify factors related to positive health status. Part of this process involves understanding what respondents mean when they describe their health status in certain ways, and whether this differs systematically for people with and without disabilities. The project utilizes data from the 1998 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System aggregated across 15 states. The total sample size is 46,993. Of these, roughly 18% were identified as people with disabilities. Preliminary results indicate that people with disabilities report more days of poor physical and mental health and more days when poor health prevented usual activities than people without disabilities who describe their general health status in the same way. The difference between people with and without disabilities in the same health status categories suggests that people with disabilities consider additional factors in evaluating their health status. The findings will be discussed in the context of other research (e.g. Oschwald & Powers, 2002) on factors that people with disabilities consider important to overall health and well-being. Data on the relationships between these factors (e.g. employment, social support) and health status will be presented.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will have an increased awareness of how and why people with disabilities construct health status differently than people without disabilities.
• Participants will be able to discuss the implications of differential constructions of health status for applying generic public health interventions to people with disabilities.
• Participants will understand the importance of utilizing the BRFSS to track health status and related constructs by disability status.

Keywords: Disability, Health Assessment

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.