Families Can Make a Difference: A Family-based Rehabilitation Project in China

Abstract

The People's Republic of China has more persons with disabilities than any other country in the world. Many of these individuals remain in their homes with family members providing care. Occupational therapy theory suggests that the environment, including the social environment can either enable or hinder participation in occupations. Family members are an important part of this social environment. A project was undertaken to examine the effectiveness of education provided to family caregivers in improving occupational performance of family members with disabilities. Thirty-six families participated in a family education programme. Families were provided with strategies to assist their members with a disability to lead more independent lives. Due to the difficulty with transportation for people with a disability in China, the programmes were designed so that only non-disabled family members needed to attend. Prior to the education and six to twelve months after the programme was completed, members with a disability were asked to evaluate changes in their occupational performance and their satisfaction with that performance. Both occupational performance and satisfaction scores significantly improved(P < 0.000). It was concluded that families are effective in assisting their members to become more independent.