This Campbell Collaboration systematic review assesses the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of community-based rehabilitation (CBR) for people with physical and mental disabilities in low- and middle-income countries, and/or their family, their carers, and their community. This review identified 15 studies that assessed the impact of community-based rehabilitation on the lives of people with disabilities and their carers in low- and middle-income countries. The studies included in the review used different types of community-based rehabilitation interventions and targeted different types of physical (stroke, arthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and mental disabilities (schizophrenia, dementia, intellectual impairment). The authors conclude that the evidence on the effectiveness of CBR for people with disabilities in low- and middle-income countries suggests that CBR may be effective in improving the clinical outcomes and enhancing functioning and quality of life of the person with disabilities and his/her carer and recommend future studies will need to adopt better study designs, will need to focus on broader clients group, and to include economic evaluations
“As there are many tools available for evaluating impact in the international literature, CBM commissioned this review in order to obtain clear guidance on how research can be carried across their programmes in order to generate high quality and reliable evidence on the impact of their programmes in the lives of people with disabilities and their families”
“Poverty and mental illness compound one another, creating an environment of despair for some of the most vulnerable people in low and middle-income countries. Mental health intervention programmes in resource-poor settings such as rural Northern India must understand and address the economic burden of mental illness, in addition to clinical and functional outcomes. The BasicNeeds [BN]- Nav Bharat Jagruti Kendra [NBJK] intervention programme, located in rural Northern India, aims to improve quality of life for people with mental disorders and their families, through treatment, livelihoods and capacity building interventions based on the Mental Health and Development Model. This prospective evaluation assessed economic outcomes of 138 people with mental disorders involved in the BN-NBJK programme over a period of two years”