In response to a request from RSA, the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) conducted a study to examine the feasibility of developing functional status measures for planning and implementing services to consumers in the state-federal Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Services Program.

To investigate this issue, RTI used the 1994-95 National Health Interview Survey—Disability Followback (NHIS-D) and data available from the ongoing longitudinal study of the VR services program to develop composite measures of functional status in three areas:

1. gross motor function;
2. personal care function; and
3. cognitive function.

RTI then conducted analyses to address the study's questions regarding the robustness of these measures in comparison with traditional definitions of "significance of disability" for describing VR consumers' status and predicting outcomes of VR services.

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