title: The effectiveness of community-based rehabilitation programmes: an impact evaluation of a quasi-randomised trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Community-based rehabilitation (CBR) programmes have been described as highly effective means of promoting the rights and opportunities of persons with disabilities (PwD). Although CBR is often the main way in which PwD in low-income and middle-income countries access rehabilitation services, there is little literature providing rigorous evaluation of their impact on people's well-being.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected in the Mandya and Ramanagar districts (Karnataka state, India), between December 2009 and May 2010. In total 2540 PwD were interviewed using stratified random sampling: 1919 CBR beneficiaries (who joined the programme between 1997 and 2009) and 621 persons who were living in villages not covered by the programme. We controlled for the systematic differences between people joining and not joining the programme using the propensity score matching method controlling for covariates at individual and village level. We evaluated the impact of the programme on the subgroups of PwD who are disadvantaged on the dimensions of interest: access to pensions, use of aid appliances, access to paid jobs and improvement in personal-practical autonomy after 4 and 7 years of joining the CBR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We observed a positive and significant impact of the programme on access to services, rights and opportunities of PwD. The results indicate that compared with the control group access to pensions and allowances, aid appliances, access to paid jobs and personal-practical autonomy increased by 29.7%, 9.4%, 12.3% and 36.2%, respectively, after 7 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The CBR programme analysed has a positive impact on access to services and the well-being of PwD who are particularly deprived on outcomes of interest.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mauro
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Biggeri
authors.affiliation: Associazione Italiana Amici di Raoul Follereau (AIFO), Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Sunil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Deepak
authors.affiliation: Brown School of Social Work and Institute of Public Health, Washington University in St Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
authors.forename: Jean-Francois
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9187-0946
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Trani
mesh_terms: D003153:Community Health Services / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D004651:Employment / Q000191:economics* / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011203:Poverty; D011209:Power, Psychological; D015397:Program Evaluation; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012050:Rehabilitation, Vocational / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012931:Social Environment
keywords: DISABILITY; EDUCATION; EMPLOYMENT