The Use of Personal
Assistance Services by Persons with Spinal Cord Injury: Policy Issues Surrounding
Reliance on Family and Paid Providers
Nosek MA, Fuhrer MJ, Rintala DH, Hart KA. The use of personal
assistance services by persons with spinal cord injury: Policy issues surrounding
reliance on family and paid providers. Journal of Disability Policy
Studies 1993;4(1):89-103.
ABSTRACT
Previous discussions of personal assistance have focused on census data
and descriptions of service programs. The current study examines patterns
of usage of personal assistance among a community-based sample of 284 persons
with spinal cord injury and how these patterns relate to other aspects
of their lives. Expected significant relationships were found among variables
of who provides assistance, whether they are paid, and with whom participants
live, and between the amount of assistance received and severity of disability.
Unexpectedly high rates of use of unpaid nonrelatives and paid relatives
were found, as was the use of a combination of relatives and nonrelatives
and assistants. Use of nonrelatives increased with education level. The
effect of usage pattern on productivity could not be examined due to a
staggeringly high unemployment rate (89%). Implications of these results
for development of a national policy on providing personal assistance services,
the expansion of formal service delivery systems, and the further investigation
of the use of personal assistance are discussed.
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