Assessing the Living Well in the Community Program for people with disabilities in the context of COVID-19.

The study had no control group, making it impossible to determine if the results were due to the program, natural variation, or the effects of the pandemic. The sample size was small (69 participants analyzed), which reduced the ability to detect significant differences. There was significant attrition and demographic skew: the post-test group had significantly more White participants, more older adults (45-64), and fewer young adults (18-29) and people with independent living disabilities compared to the initial group. Data collection occurred during the unique and disruptive context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have influenced outcomes in ways unrelated to the intervention. The healthcare utilization survey had technical errors requiring manual data cleaning, which may have affected accuracy.

Funding from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) is acknowledged in the background, but no specific conflict of interest statement for the authors is provided in the text.

Do not conclude that the LWC program is ineffective or effective based on this study. The lack of a control group and the confounding effects of the pandemic mean that neither the null findings nor the positive engagement findings can be attributed to the intervention itself.