The REACH Lab is pleased to announce that we have a newly published article.

For a limited time, the Journal of Transport and Health has provided a link to download a copy of the article for your future reference. 

https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1ij9O7tR-3QdGK

As part of a Field Initiated Project (FIP) funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), our research team developed Ready to Ride, a travel training curriculum for transitional aged youth with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD). The curriculum consists of 6 lessons and provides powerpoint slideshows for the trainer as well as the trainee. Click here to see more about this and other resources we have developed.

The REACH Lab is happy to announce that we received funding through the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILR) to develop and refine a Community Mobility Intervention for adolescents and young adults with intellectual disabilities that will help them plan community outings from start to finish and increase independence and participation in their favorite activities. Soon we will be recruiting participants in the development phase of this study. More information to come!

The Temple University Gallery of Success, which honors esteemed alumni, has named College of Public Health graduate Beth A. Pfeiffer to its 2023 list of honorees. Now in its 25th year, the Gallery of Success celebrates outstanding professional achievement by graduates of Temple’s 17 Schools and Colleges.

Beth Pfeiffer has gained international prominence for her work in occupational therapy for people with autism and other intellectual and developmental disabilities. An associate professor of health and rehabilitation sciences at the College of Public Health, Pfeiffer earned her master’s degree in occupational therapy at CPH in 1997.

In 2008, she co-founded an outpatient pediatric clinic in the Lehigh Valley area that continues to serve families. As a professor she has conducted research fueled by more than $15 million in funding, with approximately $5 million channeled directly to her Research, Engagement and Advocacy for Community and Health (REACH) lab. In 2022, she presented her research at the World Federation of Occupational Therapists in Paris and was awarded the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health Intellectual Disability Services Community Leadership Award of Excellence.

Pfeiffer’s clinical and research work focuses on helping individuals with IDD, including adolescents and young adults, engage more fully in their communities, feel productive, and become participating stakeholders in research and practice that concerns them.

“Working with kids in the school system and seeing them transition into adult roles and life has always been really rewarding,” she says. “I just love what I do. It means so much to me, the opportunity to make changes that are meaningful in people’s lives.”

Research Coordinators Amber Davidson and Laura Slugg were happy to participant in the AAUW Lansdale Branch Annual Discover Your Future STEM Event for girls 5th – 8th grades on March 4th at Montgomery County Community College!

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) is an organization that works towards greater gender equality in the workplace.

There was a wonderful turn out and we were pleased to lead 4 groups in fun learning activities about different ways to collect data and how research can help identify problems and solutions to issues of Public Health. We talked about quantitative data collection like surveys, and then highlighted an emerging qualitative data collection method called PhotoVoice.

Looking forward to next year.

Social and Behavioral Sciences PhD Students Shine

Returning students in the College of Public Health’s SBS PhD program are riding a wave of success as they aim for another productive year. Last year, they published or had in press 16 peer-reviewed journal articles, with eight as first authors, and collaborated on 21 peer-reviewed conference presentations, 12 as presenting first authors. Two students, university fellow Ariel Hoadley and part-time student/full-time employee Amber Davidson, were particularly productive. For Amber, this means being currently funded by not one, not two, but three research grants as a PI or multi-PI. Last year, she was awarded two new grants: a mentored research grant ($10,000) from ARDRAW (Analyzing Relationships between Disability, Rehabilitation and Work) as PI; and another research grant ($15,000) as co-PI with Dr. Beth Pfeiffer.  She also submitted five journal articles (three as co-author, one as first author, and another under review) and had four first-author presentations at conferences. As for Ariel, she was a co-author on seven peer-reviewed journal articles (two as first author) and made it into double digits on presentations: a whopping 11, with three as first author. Congratulations, SBS doctoral students!

Check out what our grad student have been working on this semester. Helping young adults express what makes it easier or harder to participate in the community.

click here!

The Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health Intellectual disAbility Services honored two members of our research team with the Community Leadership Award of Excellence at the 30th Annual Brighter Futures Awards

Community Leadership Award recipients are persons who have demonstrated exemplary leadership skills and/or outcomes that support the needs of individuals with disabilities at the forefront related to the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure an everyday life for all.