Author's School

Brown School

Author's Department

Social Work

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

9-5-2014

Originally Published In

Mauro, V., Biggeri, M., Deepak, S., & Trani, J. F.(2014). The effectiveness of community-based rehabilitation programmes: an impact evaluation of a quasi-randomised trial. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 68(11): p.1102-8.

Abstract

Background Community based rehabilitation (CBR) programs have been described as highly effective means of promoting the rights and opportunities of persons with disabilities (PwD). Although CBR are often the main way in which PwDs in low and middle income countries access rehabilitation services, there is little literature providing rigorous evaluation of their impact on people’s well-being. Methods Data was collected in the Mandya and Ramanagara Districts of Karnataka state, India, between December 2009 and May 2010. 2,540 PwD were identified and interviewed using stratified random sampling: 1,919 CBR beneficiaries (who joined the program between 1997 and 2009) and 621 persons who were living in villages not covered by the program. We controlled for the systematic differences between people joining and not joining the program using the propensity score matching (PSM) method. We assumed that all covariates that influence both the outcome and probability of participating in the CBR were observed. We evaluated the impact after four and seven years of joining the CBR.Results We observed a positive and significant impact of the program on access to services, rights and opportunities of PwDs. The results indicate that compared to the control group access to pensions and allowances, aid appliances and paid jobs increased by 29.7%, 9.4% and 12.3% respectively after seven years. Secondary results show an increase in personal-practical autonomy of 36.2%.Conclusions The CBR program analysed has a positive impact on access to services and the wellbeing of PwDs.

Comments

This article has been accepted for publication in Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health following peer review. The definitive copyedited, typeset version [Mauro, V., Biggeri, M., Deepak, S., & Trani, J. F.(2014). The effectiveness of community-based rehabilitation programmes: an impact evaluation of a quasi-randomised trial. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 68(11): p.1102-8 doi:10.1136/jech-2013-203728] is available online at : http://jech.bmj.com

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