Research Policy and publications

The ICHCC receives requests for participation in research from many different groups or individuals who have an interest in making their contributions to the disability examination and life care planning service delivery fields. Due to the increasing number of requests, the ICHCC administration has had to establish a policy of acceptance for any research proposal submitted to this office regardless of the entity making the request. This policy ensures that standards are maintained in a manner that protects all parties involved from potentially substandard research investigative techniques, weak or non-defensible designs, inappropriate statistical applications, and misleading applications of results to field practice settings. Therefore, the ICHCC requires the following to be met before recognizing, supporting, or condoning any research activities:

1. Established Academic Affiliation - The research group must demonstrate an affiliation with a University or College (community, junior, or 4 year institution). Affiliation is defined as a relationship between the requesting research party(ies) and a university/college whereby the academic institution maintains control over the research project and assumes full responsibility of any consequential outcomes.
   
2. Human Subject Committee - The research group must comply with the rules of human subject involvement established by the academic institution's human subject committee.
   
3. Written Proposal - The ICHCC expects a written proposal that reviews literature within the area targeted to be researched and one that details the specific purpose and research questions, statistical analyses, and the applied benefit(s) of the proposed research to the respective profession or service delivery system. Additionally, with regards to survey research, instrument validation protocols must be documented; regarding empirical research, group design must be delineated and supported.
   

As a precaution to maintaining the above documented standards and to ensure the privacy of our listed certified professionals in disability evaluation and life care planning, these listings are to be used for research purposes only with the expressed written consent of the ICHCC administration upon review of a submitted research proposal and when the above standards have been met.