Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #115696

Joseph T. Mullan, PhD¹, Brian R. Grossman, ScM¹, Alice Wong, BA¹, Mauro Hernandez, BA¹, and Rani Eversley, PhD². (1) Center for Personal Assistance Services, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California Street, Room 455, San Francisco, CA 94118, 415 476-7287, mullan@itsa.ucsf.edu, (2) Social and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF, Box 0612, San Francisco, CA 94143

Personal Assistance Services (PAS) refer to help that people use to assist them with daily tasks so that they can continue to live as independently as possible in the community. Despite its importance, there is limited information about the experiences of those who use PAS and particularly about how physical and social contexts affect those experiences. This paper will present an analysis of data from eight focus groups composed primarily of people of color who use paid PAS. The groups were conducted in four distinct geographic locations, two rural and two urban (the Southwest, Midwest, SF Bay area, and Washington, DC) by researchers from the Center for PAS at the University of California, San Francisco. Three of the groups were composed of African American participants, two of Native Americans, and one each of Asian Americans and Latinos. Sixty-seven participants with a variety of self-defined disabilities were recruited with the help of local Centers for Independent Living. Four broad areas were covered in each group: 1) experiences of PAS in their daily lives; 2) difficulties encountered obtaining or using PAS; 3) positive experiences with PAS; and 4) how consumers arrange for their PAS. Analyses revealed common themes emerging across groups: Finding capable and responsible attendants; negotiating with a bureaucracy; obtaining an appropriate level of help; problematic attendant behavior; and friends and family as primary or back-up helpers. Each of these issues was conditioned by the geographical, social and cultural contexts within which participants were embedded.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize common challenges of PAS users.
• Distinguish how people of color describe these challenges differently.
• Recognize the physical and social contexts that influence PAS user experiences.

Keywords: Personal Assistance, Culture

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation