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

Abstract #67092

Melissa Sendroy Terrill, BA¹, CA Brooks, MSHA¹, and Gale Whiteneck, PhD². (1) Research, Craig Hospital, 3425 S. Clarkson Street, Englewood, CO 80110, 303 789 8307, msendroy@craighospital.org, (2) Director of Research, Craig Hospital, 3425 S. Clarkson Street, Englewood, CO 80110

The Craig Hospital Inventory of Environmental Factors Follow-up Questionnaire (CHIEF-FQ) was designed to gather specific examples of environmental barriers and how these barriers are addressed. The CHIEF-FQ was administered to 330 Coloradoans, identified through the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System who agreed to a follow-up interview. Fifty-five percent of the sample was identified as “disabled” based on positive responses to five screener questions. These interviews resulted in the identification of 1026 varied descriptions of environmental barriers, as well as, descriptions of strategies people used to reduce the barrier impact, and whether or not the strategies worked. Analysis demonstrated that ignoring the problem was the most frequently used strategy for both the disabled (39.8%) and non-disabled (43.0%) across all types of barriers, but only 14.5% of the disabled and 11.8% of non-disabled people reported that doing nothing fixed the problem. For the disabled group, when they employed the strategy of asking for help, this tactic was effective 79.1% of the time as opposed to 69.2% reported by the non-disabled. Of the people who described a problem with an organization, 66.7% of the non-disabled people were able to remove the barrier to fix the problem; verses only 20.0% of the disabled people. These results, and others to be presented, demonstrate that people with disabilities not only encounter more environmental barriers than people without disabilities, but they also have less success in addressing the barriers they encounter. The implications of these results for environmental interventions will be discussed.

Learning Objectives:

• Learning Objectives
• Participants will be able to:
• 2. Identify descriptions of environmental barriers
  4. Learn the different solutions used to solve the environmental problems.
  6. Discuss similarity and differences in incidences, strategies, and the effectiveness of the strategy cited by people with disabilities and those without.

Keywords: Environment, Research

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.