Community-Based Input on VR-ROI Models
The VR-ROI team seeks input from all stakeholders through community-based participatory research. This helps us create better VR-ROI models and products to improve VR services.
What is Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR)?
CBPR is a collaborative research approach. It treats all partners equally and values their unique strengths. It's like everyone working together as a team.
North Carolina Consumer and Stakeholder Forum
Hearing from the People Who Know
An important component of the project is the convening of a North Carolina Consumer and Stakeholder Forum. This provides an opportunity for researchers to hear from consumers and stakeholders familiar with the North Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation programs and services. They provide input on model development and usability of information in helping with career counseling and consumer informed choice.
Listening to VR Policy and Management Staff
Another important audience is VR policy and management staff. The researchers are interested in their perspectives on two broad aspects of the VR-ROI model.
- The first is how we group services to look at their impact on employment and earnings.
- The second is whether service intensity or the amount or duration of services provides useful information for VR policy staff and administrators as well as counselors and consumers when developing an IPE. Most importantly, we are very interested in VR direct service staff perspective on information that would be useful in making decisions on services and program effectiveness.
Stakeholder Meetings
- Leadership Teams of VR Agencies: We have planned meetings with the leadership teams of North Carolina's two Vocational Rehabilitation agencies.
- Consumer Forum: We organize a Consumer Forum for members of the agencies' State Rehabilitation Councils and other stakeholders. This helps us learn how useful VR-ROI information is to them.
- Broader Stakeholder Meeting: In the second year of the project, we'll have a bigger stakeholder meeting. It will include representatives from various groups like consumer organizations, service providers, VR program administrators, and policymakers. The meeting will be held either virtually or in conjunction with national meetings that bring VR administrators, service providers, consumers, and advocates together.
- The stakeholder group will review preliminary findings of the updated VR-ROI model with the intensity of service measures and provide feedback on the practicality and usability of the model.
- Feedback will also be solicited on feasibility of use of the updated VR-ROI model by VR agencies.
- Members of the Advisory Committee will be asked to assist in recruiting participants to ensure broad representation of the various stakeholders.
The VR-ROI project is all about working together with different groups to make VR services better. We want to hear from the community, VR staff, and leaders to create models that improve career counseling and services. Stakeholder meetings are where we discuss our findings and get feedback to make these models more useful.
