Rehabilitation delivery models to foster healthy ageing-a scoping review.
Vanessa Seijas, Roxanne Maritz, Patricia Fernandes and 4 others
PMID 38660395WHAT IT FOUND
Rehabilitation for older adults is mostly delivered through outpatient, telerehabilitation, home, community, inpatient, and eldercare models.
Physical therapists lead most interventions, often focusing on single diseases rather than multimorbidity. Assistive technology and environmental adaptations are rarely provided.
Key findings
01Six main delivery models emerged: outpatient, telerehabilitation, home, community, inpatient, and eldercare.
02Physical therapists were the most frequent providers, appearing in 45.9% of studies.
03Provision of assistive technology and environmental adaptations was rare across all models.
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 search was limited to indexed databases (MEDLINE and EMBASE) and did not include grey literature, potentially missing unpublished or non-indexed models. Only 35% of hits were double-screened, which might have excluded some relevant papers. Most included studies were from high-income countries, so findings may not generalize to low-income settings. The review did not assess the effectiveness of the interventions or the methodological quality of the included studies.
Declared interests
Funding was received from the Velux Foundation, which had no role in the design, analysis, or interpretation of the data.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret this as evidence that these models are effective for improving outcomes. The review describes how services are delivered, not whether they work, as effectiveness was not assessed.