ABSTRACT

As the principles of empowerment, inclusion and recovery have received increasing support in a variety of systems, Participatory action research (PAR) has emerged as an important approach to research and social change in disability and rehabilitation communities (Balcazar, Keys, Kaplan, & Suarez-Balcazar, 1998). PAR is a model of research in which the people under study (traditionally called “research subjects”) actively participate with the professional researchers throughout the entire research process-from the initial conceptualization of the research, throughout its implementation, and even in the interpretation and presentation of findings (Danley & Ellison, 1999; White, Nary & Froehlich, 2001; Whyte, 1991).