Measuring rehabilitation research capacity: report from the AAPM&R Research Advisory Committee

There is considerable concern regarding the paucity of individuals pursuing biomedical research in general and rehabilitation research in particular. The Research Advisory Committee (RAC) of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AAPM&R) accepted the task to explore the barriers to biomedical research careers for physicians and rehabilitation scientists and, in particular, those factors pertaining to successfully conducting rehabilitation research. Concurrently, the Foundation for PM&R was also exploring the related issue of building capacity for rehabilitation research and planning a Rehabilitation Research Summit to address this issue for the spring of 2005. The goals of the Research Summit included the identification of barriers to rehabilitation research and development of an active agenda to enhance research capacity. As such, AAPM&R and the Foundation for PM&R worked through the RAC survey to provide some key information that would help the summit leaders achieve their goals. This report presents portions of the survey related to research capacity and outlines the methodology of the data collection and analysis within the context of the capacity taxonomy framework as presented at the Research Summit, "Building Research Capacity," held in the spring of 2005. This survey report provides quantitative information about researchers and academicians, their research environment, as well as their barriers and incentives for conducting rehabilitation research. Observations here provide a platform for future work in understanding the adequacy of the rehabilitation research enterprise, its appropriateness, and ability to meet societal needs for those with disabilities.