People

Assistant Scientist, Gerontology Center
785-864-0574
kgrobe@ku.edu

Related Links
Project Workout on Wheels

Research Interests
My research focuses on issues related to independent living and health promotion for people with physical disabilities. Specifically, I'm interested in promoting health, function, and independence for people with disabilities through increasing regular participation in physical activity; reducing the prevalence of obesity and weight-related chronic conditions; reducing the prevalence and severity of secondary health conditions; and improving access to health care, particularly to preventive health screening services. I have conducted numerous health promotion studies over the past several years and in January of 2006 began a 5 year, NIH-funded study to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention to promote home- and community-based physical activity among wheelchair users. With the funding of a small pilot study, I have also begun to investigate the role of stress in lives of people with disabilities and its effect on their health by developing a disability-related stress measure for people with physical disabilities.

Selected Publications

Fox, J. H., Rowland, J. L., Froehlich-Grobe, K., Vernberg, D., White, G. W., & Haskett, L. (2008). Determining paralysis prevalence in the United States. Disability and Health Journal, 172-179.

Froehlich-Grobe, K., Figoni, S.F., Thompson, C., & White, G.W. (2008). Exploring the health of women with mobility impairments. Women’s Health, 48(1).

Froehlich-Grobe, K., Andresen, E., Caburnay, C., & White, G. W. (2008). Measuring health-related quality of life for persons with physical disabilities: An enabled version of the Short-form 36 (SF-36E). Quality of Life Research, 17, 751-770.

Froehlich-Grobe, K., Regan, G., Booth, K., Reese-Smith, J., and Lee, R. E. (2008). Physical access in urban public housing authorities. Disability and Health Journal, 1, 25-29.

Pohl, P., Froehlich-Grobe, K., McKiernan, B., Vacek, K., Donnelly, M., & Gaughan, J. G. (2006). Access to polling places in the 2004 Presidential Election: the experience of one metropolitan Midwestern city. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 60(4), 404-408.

Froehlich-Grobe, K., & White, G.W. (2004). Promoting physical activity among women with mobility impairments: A randomized controlled trial to assess a home- and community-based intervention. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 85, 640-648.