Factors Influencing Provision of Community–based Rehabilitation Services to Children With Disabilities in Kenya. A Case of Disability Community Centre in Maua, Meru County

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to establish the factors that influence the provision of community based rehabilitation to children with disabilities in Meru County, Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were to establish how availability of funds, stakeholder’s participation, the physical environment and the attitude of the service provider’s influence provision of community–based rehabilitation services to children with disabilities in Meru County. The study adopted a descriptive survey as the research design. The study focused on 191 children with disabilities, 1 adminstrator, 9 personnel and 7 volunteers in the DCC CBR centre. The researcher used census sampling as the target population was small and the study information was gathered from all the study respondents. Data was collected using structured questionnaires, focus group discussions and interviews. The collected data was analyzed by use of descriptive, inferential statistics using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. The results were presented in tables and figures. The results of the study established that most parents and guardians are highly dependent on the availability of funding to be able to access the services offered at the rehabilitation centres. The study also established that increased stakeholders participation is fundamental to successful provision of service delivery by the CBR centre. Furthermore the study found out that the physical environment influenced the provision of community based rehabilitation services to a moderate extent and finally that the attitude of caregivers greatly affects accessibility of community based rehabilitation services for children with disabilities. Therefore the factors of availability of funds, stakeholder’s participation, the physical environment and the attitude of the service provider’s influence the provision of community based rehabilitation. The study recommended to increase the number of community based rehabilitation centres that offer services to children with disabilities in all parts of the country. It is also recommended that the CBR centres strengthen partnerships with the different stakeholders such that they can be relied upon to assist programs consistently and to needed make the rehabilitation services free and compulsory to provide rehabilitation to the children with disabilities.