A Framework for National Rehabilitation Policy and Strategies in Iran: A Scoping Review of Experiences in Other Countries

The main objective of this study was to review the goals and programs of rehabilitative care in different countries to achieve a framework for a national operational plan for expanding rehabilitation services in Iran.

In this qualitative study (scoping review), national rehabilitation documents were reviewed in a selected list of countries. We searched several databases including Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar and main website such as WHO. Then, the review results were presented to a panel of experts to receive their feedback and opinion for a framework of national rehabilitation policy and strategies in Iran.

In the preliminary phase, 1775 documents were found and 17 documents were selected from Asia, Europe, three islands near Australia, America, and Australia continents. National policies and programs regarding rehabilitation could be categorized in three fields: 1) Removing the barriers to access rehabilitative health services, 2) strengthening and improving rehabilitation, relevant appropriate technologies, Supportive Services, and Community Based Rehabilitation, and 3) Collecting international data on social support and improving the quality of research and services related to rehabilitation.

To achieve a successful national rehabilitation framework in any country, it is required to strengthen information and research database, implement annual monitoring of policymaking, assess the next year rehabilitation needs of society, finding causes of disabilities for effective planning.