| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of the study was to investigate the responses of the Seventh Day Adventist Church (SDAC) to the spiritual, educational and health needs of children with disabilities in Kisii County, Kenya. The government of Kenya estimates that 2.2% of the Kenyan adult population and children above 5 years have disabilities. It is for this reason that this research investigated the responses of SDAC to the needs of Children with Disabilities (CWDs) in Kisii County, Kenya. The research problem is that despite the efforts of many actors in responding to the needs of children with disabilities, these children continue to have inadequate access to their spiritual, educational and health needs. The study sought to research on the mentioned problem with regards to efforts by the SDAC church. The objectives of the study included: To determine the Seventh Day Adventist Church’s response to spiritual needs of children with disabilities; To examine the SDAC’s response to educational needs of children with disabilities and to assess the SDAC’s response to health needs of the children with disabilities in Kisii County, Kenya. The theory upon which the study was anchored was the most recent theory on disability that is the Models of Disability and Human Rights: Informing the Improvement of Built Environment Accessibility for People with Disability at Neighbourhood Scale. The study used a cross sectional survey design. The target population of the study was 841 churches with 192,002 Seventh Day Adventist Members. The study was confined to the Kisii County region because the area is predominantly SDA. The study utilized both primary and secondary data. Simple random and purposive sampling technique was used in selecting a representative sample of 84 churches from the 9 sub counties in Kisii County, that constituted 10% of the 841 SDA churches in Kisii County and 376 respondents using the specified mathematical formula above adopted from the works of Krejcie and Morgan(1970). The data for this study was collected using questionnaires, oral interviews, and a focused group discussion (FGD). The data was quantitatively summarized, described, and analyzed using SPSS software version 20 hence generating statistical information of the study. Qualitative data was analyzed through thematic analysis. The findings of the study included the highest numbers of children with disabilities in Kisii County were those with physical disability and those with lowest number were those with visual disability. The study established that over 67% of children with disabilities had spiritual needs that were common and 32% that were rare. It was established in the study that over 69 percent of children with disabilities had educational needs that were most common and over 30 percent of educational needs that were rare. It was also established in the study that over 71% of children with disabilities had medical needs that were most common and over 28.2% that were rare. The study recommended that, the SDA church in Kisii County to be sensitized on the need not to isolate children with disabilities in their congregations. The SDA church in Kisii County to sponsor children with disabilities through paying for their school fees and provision of physical facilities like infrastructure and learning materials. Church sponsored special schools to be strengthened so that these children with disabilities learn well through provision of assistive devices. Future research recommendation includes a comprehensive study to be undertaken to assess the level of spiritual needs of children with disabilities in SDA churches in the other 46 Counties in Kenya. More research to be done on why majority of children with disabilities don’t attend school in Kisii County, | en_US |