title: Surveying for disability in the developing world: suggestions for a methodology.
abstract: In mid-1980 a pilot survey of major disability was undertaken in Papua New Guinea. The survey was limited to those conditions capable of detection by non-medical interviewers conducting a house-to-house guided questionnaire. The development of this survey and the principles underlying its particular style are discussed, and the questionnaire is described. It is argued that disability (impaired function), rather than impairment (clinical condition or consequence) or handicap (social malfunction), should be sought. Impairments are often too narrow to point to particular consequential disabilities or handicaps. Handicaps may be too general, and may arise from many different disabilities. On the other hand disabilities give reasonable clues about both their causative impairments and their resultant handicaps. However, it is recognised that to seek impairments which imply definite disabilities may be more practicable in field conditions. The value of a standardised approach, as far as is practicable among developing nations seeking to discover disability prevalence rates, is suggested as an important step in discovering similarities, differences and the reasons for them.
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods; D003906:Developing Countries; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D010219:Papua New Guinea