Our Team & Process
Disability & Health Research Team
Disability Integration Toolkit
The Disability Integration Toolkit (DIT) provides resources to help integrate disability related
content into medical education.
Disability Integration Toolkit Logic Model
History of the DIT
The Disability Integration Toolkit was initiated at SUNY Upstate Medical University in 2017. There has been extensive growth to the tools available and to the information for collaborators. Along with new collaborations, an evaluation process has also been initiated. Please visit the links below for more information about the history of the DIT, the Disability and Health Research team that created it, and the partners who are supporting the ongoing progress of the DIT.
Timeline of the History of the DIT
Design
Each of the tools in the Disability Integration Toolkit has been designed by the Disability and Health Research Team, or in collaboration with one of our partners. Our goal is to create educational tools that can be easily integrated into the medical school curriculum, which are academically appropriate, contain accurate information about disability, emphasize medical knowledge and skills, and represent people with disability in a respectful and inclusive way. We work closely with clinical experts and experienced health professionals whose insight informs our clinical modules and educational tools. Each of our products contain documentation identifying the people responsible for their development and its review.
For more on integrating disability into the medical school curriculum and the rationale underlying our design process, please review the webinar we presented to the AAMC in partnership with the Group on Diversity and Inclusion:
Integrating Disability into Medical School Curriculum: Practical Strategies & Resources
Review
The review process for the Disability Integration Toolkit ensures that each of the tools on this site have been assessed and modified based on feedback from clinical experts who are independent from the development and team. To accomplish this, we have partnered with the Association of Academic Physiatrists (AAP). Our partnership with the AAP helps us to ensure that our tools are accurate and up-to-date, and meet the educational needs of medical students with respect to disability. Each tool is assessed in terms of its content and its instructional design. Reviewers are also asked to provide any recommendations for modifications. The full review tool can be viewed online, and is linked below.
Evaluation
All of the tools in the DIT are designed to introduce medical students to the knowledge and skills they need to provide effective care for people with disability. The evaluation has been developed to systematically assess the DIT’s core outcome objectives. Given the focus of the DIT, the emphasis of the evaluation is on knowledge and self-efficacy. Many of the items in this evaluation have been tested and developed through a pilot process. A pre-, post-, and longitudinal posttest design is utilized to evaluate the Disability Integration Toolkit. Please refer to the Evaluation Matrix for more information about the outcome objectives and specific evaluation items.
Please contact Dr. Margaret A. Turk at [email protected] with any questions regarding the evaluation process, or if you are a clinician and would like to partner with us to design a tool.