Malkin worked as a therapeutic recreation specialist and administrator before coming to SIUC in 1989. Most of her research projects have built on her experience in psychiatry and substance abuse treatment. She has been moving her own research more in the direction of such efficacy studies. For example, in a new project she is working with her husband, Tim Brossart, and with doctoral student Erik Rabinowitz to test computer games as a therapy for adults with head injuries. But one important consideration these days in terms of health care is that, because of cost containment, many people who need rehabilitation services get only 10 or 12 days in an inpatient setting.
Most services are outpatient now.
The silver lining to cost containment, he adds, is that recreation specialists are developing innovative outpatient programs in new settings. The students gained experience, and the facility, which had recently received some funding for recreation services, got program ideas. Well, as Teaff explains, their quality of life tends to be low. They're often weak, they tend to be homebound and not to do a lot, and many of them are low-income. Isolation is a particular danger for one group that Malkin has worked with extensively.