Community Based Rehabilitation: Does It Really Improve the Level of Productivity among Persons with Physical Disabilities?

BACKGROUND The Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) is a common approach to work with disable people to improve their quality of life by improving the level of productivity and integrating them into society. But the effectiveness of CBR varies by country to country. OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to find out whether CBR programs really improved the level of productivity among persons with physical disabilities. METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted among equal number of respondents (n=51) from each CBR coverage and non-coverage areas from two different upazilla (sub-districts) located 40 km away from the capital city of Bangladesh. Respondents were selected purposively and data were collected by face to face interviews. Willer's (1994) version of the Community Integration Questionnaire (CIQ) was used to measure the level of productivity among adult with physical disabilities. RESULTS The mean score of total productivity integration in CBR coverage and non-coverage areas were 4.3 ± 2.4 and 4.5 ± 2.2 respectively. This difference was statistically non-significant (p=0.602).The levels of productivity integration between CBR coverage and non-coverage areas varied only 2-4% (p=0.793). CONCLUSION The mean score of productivity integration and levels of productivity were not different significantly in CBR coverage and non-coverage areas.