Scoping review: Community‐based programmes with people affected by leprosy

Abstract

Objective To analyse community intervention programmes for people affected by leprosy in ‘global priority countries’. Methods Scoping review of articles in the databases PubMed, Scopus, SciELO, Lilacs and Web of Knowledge that made reference to community intervention programmes aimed at people affected by leprosy in global priority countries and which presented an evaluation of results. Analytical variables analysed were methodological characteristics of the study, type of intervention classified according to the Community‐Based Rehabilitation Matrix, indicators and results of the evaluation, and the degree of participation of the community, which was graphically represented as a spidergram. Results Thirty articles met the inclusion criteria. They were mostly related to the health component of the RBC matrix and aimed at the adult population. All evaluated the indicators used positively. The degree of participation generally ranged between mobilisation and collaboration. Conclusion Community intervention programmes for people affected by leprosy have a positive effect on health. There are attempts to include affected people and the community in implementing these programmes, but it is not possible to establish a direct relationship with effects of their participation on health due to the study designs used. Future research using more robust methods that include leprosy patients are necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of community participation.