Daicy Rojas de RangelPedro José SalinasYolanda Monzón de BriceñoJesús Contreras2026-03-222026-03-221999http://www.saber.ula.ve/bitstream/123456789/21660/1/articulo6.pdfhttps://andeanlibrary.org/handle/123456789/63627In the state of Merida there are few medical rehabilitation services, showing their scarce coverture in the whole country. The application of the Community Based Rehabilitation (RBC) program to integrate disabled people to their social, schooling and/or working environment is therefore, a must. The present study (experimental, prospective, longitudinal) consists in capacitation of the health staff and disabled relatives in the community in rahabioitaiton activities from an OMS edited rehabilitation handbook. The study for the identification of the disabled population was carried out in all rural communities of the state of Merida where health primary attention is given. Five communities (5763 inhabitants) where the largest number (298) of disabled people was reported were selected later on for the application of the RBC program. Teachers, health agents, community leaders, families and related persons were trained in the handling of disabled people with the RBC manual. Patients were evaluated with the Formulary No 2 of the RBC Handbook, 6 and 12 months afterwards, and an average percentage of disabled people of 7.075% was observed. The most frequent limitations were the ones of socialization with a 42.2% and motor faculties with 31.8% with a significance of P=0.000 in the area of socialization, motor faculties and personal care. It was shown that the RBC program is an efficacious means to integrate disabled people and, therefore, to decrease the impact of disability and to increase the scope of the rehabilitation serviceesRehabilitationSocializationPopulationDisabled peopleCommunity serviceGerontologyPsychologyNursingarticle