Other Related Activities

The ICRC Long-Term Rehabilitation Outcomes Database

UAB ICRC researchers have developed and maintain one of the world’s only long-term longitudinal databases on injured persons. This database provides a unique opportunity to examine the long-term outcomes of injury and rehabilitation. There are three phases: Phase I focused on outcomes immediately after injury; Phase II on the medical aftermath over months and years; and Phase III on in-depth profiling of the subjects’ psychological health. Now, UAB ICRC workers are adapting the database to make it readily available to other scientists via the Internet.

Although the study is ongoing, its findings have already been disseminated in 16 presentations, 12 published manuscripts and five abstracts. Among its findings:

• Patients have higher levels of life satisfaction if they are more socially integrated.
• Individuals have higher levels of self-efficacy if they are younger at the time of injury.
• Depression among survivors negatively impacts life satisfaction.

THE ICRC Minority Enrichment Program With
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Faculty

With the national goal of eliminating racial and ethnic health disparities as described in Healthy People 2010, the ICRC has placed substantial focus on the development of minority investigators. Recognizing that Alabama’s geographic location and its significant African American population bring additional responsibility, the ICRC is committed to making increased contributions toward a better understanding of health disparities within the context of our theme Injury Over the Life Course. (Click here for a newsletter article on HBCU/ICRC fellow dr. Benjamin Blagogee, in PDF)

Southeastern Regional Injury Control Network (SERICN)

For many years, local, state and federal agencies in the Southeast worked independently on injury prevention and control. Although they did good work, their overall impact was diminished by a lack of interaction between them. This situation was remedied in 1991 by the creation of the Southeastern Regional Injury Control Network (SERICN), the nation’s oldest such organization and a model for subsequent regional networks.

SERICN brings together public health departments from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee – supporting each state’s public health initiatives, providing training sessions and information exchange, and facilitating the development of statewide and interstate injury control programs.

UAB’s ICRC contributes to the network’s goal of reducing injuries by fostering interagency collaboration and underwriting network travel expenses. Other state and federal agencies are involved with SERICN, including the University of North Carolina Injury Prevention Research Center (UNC IPRC), the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Children’s Safety Network (CSN), the Child Passenger Safety Council (CPSC), and the Kentucky Injury Prevention Center, to name a few.

Katherine Terry, Program Administrator II and Special Assistant to the Associate Director for Education, Training and Science at ICRC, served as chair of the network for two concurrent terms, from 2003 through June 2005. The UAB ICRC is proud of her leadership role in this important gathering of injury prevention personnel from across the Southeast.