Mission of the CIRRIS

The mission CIRRIS

Contribute to the development and knowledge transfer 
in the field of the rehabilitation and social integration

 
This mission is made possible with research activities studying the personal factors (impairments and disabilities) and the environmental factors (barriers and facilitators) that influence the social participation of persons with disabilities. This research is focussed on interdisciplinary and intersectoral approaches that allow the study of complex issues with an integration of biomedical and social research. 
 
Academic teaching at all university levels is at the very heart of this mission thus contributing to the training of future stakeholders, researchers and clinical researchers in various fields, mostly those in the health sciences and the social sciences. 
 
The transfer of knowledge and expertise of its members along with a strong link with clinical and community settings allow the CIRRIS to support the development of evidence-based practice in these different environments. 
 

The production of new knowledge stems from a research process centered on three final goals and integrates the specific activities of the CIRRIS researchers. These goals all contribute to the mission of developing and disseminating new knowledge. Each research activity is part of one or more of the three purposes and is committed to one of the six research themes, as shown in the graphic below.



 
This conceptualization – based on an approach of hierarchical grading of knowledge – is essential to understand the products of research in the rehabilitation sciences and the social integration field. 
 

1) The understanding mechanisms, phenomena and needs (purpose 1).

Many CIRRIS researchers strive to better understand:

a. ​the biological mechanisms that generate disabilities linked to mobility or perception skills (motor control, neuromuscular deficits, pain), language (hemispheric dominance), or cognitive functions (information processing, cognitive impairments).

b. the social phenomena such as inclusive urban development, accessibility obstacles to social integration services or innovative practices to support families. 

This purpose illustrates an essential contribution to basic knowledge in several of the scientific fields of rehabilitation and social integration.

2) The development and validation of measurement tools, interventions or technologies (purpose 2) refers to:
 

a. the development of measures or evaluation procedures in areas such as mobility, social cognition, language, urban transportation or quality of social participation for various populations with disabilities.

b. the development of interventions to improve motor skills, to treat neuropathic pain, to develop innovative practices to support families or to develop behavioural interventions to prevent psychopathologies.

This purpose is achieved by conducting experiments either in laboratories or in restricted environments before introducing or applying the findings to real-life situations (rehabilitation centre or the home environment).

 
3) The evaluation and analysis of practices, policies and programs (purpose 3).

This purpose includes activities such as the assessment of the effects of interventions using assistive devices, the relationship between intervention intensity and rehabilitation outcomes, analysis of the cost-effectiveness of telerehabilitation, the evaluation of the Kangaroo Mother Care Program on the development of premature infants, the testing of decision-making tools for the management of mobility assistive devices. 
 
This phase of research typically involves a rehabilitation setting or an individual’s real-life setting.
 

 

 

CIUSSS-CN Université Laval Alliance santé Québec