Activity Limitation of People Affected by Leprosy in an Endemic District in West Bengal, India

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Purpose: This study aimed to assess the level of activity limitation, and the factors associated with it, among people affected by leprosy who were reporting at a leprosy referral centre of Purulia, in West Bengal state, India.

Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 358 individuals affected by leprosy. Persons recruited for this study were above 18 years of age, married, and had been diagnosed with leprosy for at least 1 year at the time of the interview. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to gather information about the respondents’ socio-economic and disease status. The Screening of Activity Limitation and Safety Awareness (SALSA) Scale was used to measure activity limitation.

Results: Of the 358 respondents, 59% were male, 60% were between 18 and 45 years of age, and 42% were illiterate. About 144 or 40% of the respondents had Grade 2 disability and 60% had disease duration of more than 3 years. There were 229 individuals (64%) who had no limitation in activities, 103 (29%) had mild limitation and 26 (7%) had moderate to severe limitation in activities. There is a significant association between gender, age, occupation, physical disability and disease duration with activity limitation.

Conclusion: It appears that limitations in activities among persons affected by leprosy are associated with being a woman, a housewife, an aged person, and with longer disease duration. The physical disability was intrinsically associated with limitation in activities.

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Authors

Pitchaimani Govindharaj
Dr. Pitchaimani is a Lecturer in Sociology at the Department of Allied Health Science in Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research (Deemed University) at Chennai, India. He is actively involved in social research on leprosy and physiotherapy.
Sampathkumar Srinivasan
Dr. Sampathkumar is a Professor and Head of the Department of Sociology and Population Studies at Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. He is actively involved in social research on disability.
Joydeepa Darlong
Dr. Joydeepa Darlong has worked in the field of leprosy as a Clinician for more than 20 years and has been involved in research and training for many years. She specialises in leprosy diagnosis and treatment and works as Head – Knowledge and Management at The Leprosy Mission Trust India, New Delhi. She has been involved in several multicentre, national and international as well as individual research projects.

How to Cite

Pitchaimani Govindharaj, Sampathkumar Srinivasan, Joydeepa Darlong (2020-12-19). Activity Limitation of People Affected by Leprosy in an Endemic District in West Bengal, India. Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development, Vol. 31 No. 3 (2020): Autumn, 46-63. https://doi.org/10.47985/dcidj.391

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