A socioecological approach to understanding and positively affecting the intersectionality between disability, race and ethnicity, climate change, and rehabilitation outcomes: A scoping review.
Prateek Grover, Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, Thiru Annaswamy
PMID 40542703WHAT IT FOUND
Climate events disrupt rehab care for people with disabilities, especially those with mobility, temperature regulation, or ventilator needs.
The review found no tested interventions, only expert recommendations for disaster planning, telerehabilitation, and policy advocacy to protect continuity of care.
Key findings
01The review included 11 articles, most of which were reviews, surveys, or opinion pieces rather than clinical trials.
02Disruptions to rehabilitation services, including inpatient facilities, skilled nursing, home health, and outpatient therapy, were a common theme in the identified literature.
03Proposed strategies included telerehabilitation for physical, occupational, and speech therapy, but the review noted that persons with disabilities face specific barriers to telemedicine access.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The review included only 11 articles, most of which were reviews, surveys, or opinion pieces, so it does not provide evidence from clinical trials or tested interventions. The search was limited to three databases, and the authors noted that additional relevant articles likely exist but were not included. The review did not quantify the magnitude of resources available or the effectiveness of the proposed strategies. Most included studies were from the United States, limiting generalizability to other healthcare systems.
Declared interests
The provided text does not include a disclosure statement, so funding and conflicts of interest are not reported.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the recommended strategies as evidence-based interventions that have been tested and proven effective. The review identified these as expert opinions and proposed approaches from a small set of non-experimental studies, meaning their impact on actual rehabilitation outcomes during climate events remains unverified.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →