Assessment of Rehabilitation Capacity in Ghana
Purpose: This study describes a cross-sectional assessment of infrastructure, human resources, and types of rehabilitation interventions provided in a sample of healthcare facilities in Ghana. The objectives were to (a) develop and pilot a questionnaire assessing rehabilitation capacity in LMICs, and (b) provide initial data regarding available rehabilitation care in rural Ghana.
Methods: Data was collected from a sample of rehabilitation workers at 9 facilities, comprised of 5 regional and 4 district hospitals, located in seven of the ten geographical regions of Ghana. Participants completed a modified version of the World Health Organisation's Tool for Situational Analysis to Assess Emergency and Essential Surgical Care, adapted to reflect core indicators of rehabilitation infrastructure. Participating facilities were mailed questionnaires and agreed to subsequent site visits from the first author.
Results: There were several limitations associated with basic rehabilitation infrastructure. Consistent with previous research, significant human resources limitations were observed as hospital-based rehabilitation services were primarily rendered by 20 physiotherapists and 21 physiotherapy assistants across the 9 participating sites. No rehabilitation physicians were identified at any of the surveyed facilities. With regard to therapeutic interventions, management of musculoskeletal impairments was generally consistent with current evidence-based practices, whereas rehabilitative approaches for neurologic conditions were limited to physical rather than sensory-motor modalities.
Conclusions: For the first time there is study data which details the rehabilitation infrastructure, human resources, and interventions in Ghana. This study furthers the field through the adaptation and initial piloting of a rehabilitation assessment instrument that can be used in LMIC contexts.
Limitations: The questionnaire used for the study was modified from the questionnaire for assessing surgical care in resource poor countries, and has not yet been validated. Since the study was conducted in a convenience sample of rehabilitation/physiotherapy centres in Ghana, generalisability may be limited.
Keywords
Authors
How to Cite
Download Citation
License
Copyright © 2016 The Author(s)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License By-NC-ND 4.0 that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access ).
Similar Articles
- Suzanne van Hees, Huib Cornielje, Prakash Wagle, Evert Veldman, Disability Inclusion in Primary Health Care in Nepal: An Explorative Study of Perceived Barriers to Access Governmental Health Services , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 25 No. 4 (2014): Winter 2014
- Eric Badu, Maxwell Peprah Opoku, Seth Christopher Yaw Appiah, Elvis Agyei-Okyere, Financial Access to Healthcare among Persons with Disabilities in the Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 26 No. 2 (2015): Summer 2015
- Patricia Solomon, Nancy M Salbach, Kelly K O’Brien, Stephanie Nixon, Larry Baxter, Nicole Gervais, An Educational Intervention to Promote Access to Rehabilitation for People Living with HIV , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 30 No. 4 (2019): Winter 2019
- Emily R. Kelly, Jamie L. Tingey, Jessica Ott, Helena Hahn, Jacob A. Bentley, Stephen T. Wegener, Zehra Zaidi, Nukhba Zia, Abdulgafoor M. Bachani, Features of Telerehabilitation and Considerations for Resource-Limited Settings: A Scoping Review , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 35 No. 1 (2024): Spring Issue
- Marcus Hodge, Amable Bolinas, Erlynn Jaucian, Rebecca Boneo, Allan Schapira, Mary Mediatrix V. Villanueva, Cross-sectional Survey to Assess Prevalence of Disability and Access to Services in Albay Province, The Philippines , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 28 No. 3 (2017): Autumn 2017
- Lamech Emoru, Enos Mirembe Masereka, Richard Kabanda, Lived Experiences of Women with Disabilities in Accessing Sexual and Reproductive Health Services in Lira District, Northern Uganda , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 33 No. 2: (Summer) - 2022
- Saul Cobbing, Bernhard Gaede, Verusia Chetty, Theresa Lorenzo, Pushing Down the Walls: Advocating for “Rehabilitation for All” in South Africa , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 33 No. 3: (Autumn) - 2022
- Annang Yemoson Abraham, Peter Agyei-Baffour, Cosmos Yarfi, Utilisation and Satisfaction with Health Services among Persons with Disabilities in Accra, Ghana , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 29 No. 1 (2018): Spring 2018
- Maxwell Peprah Opoku, Beatrice Atim Alupo, Naomi Gyamfi, Lois Odame, Wisdom Kwadwo Mprah, Eric Lawer Torgbenu, Eric Badu, The Family and Disability in Ghana: Highlighting Gaps in Achieving Social Inclusion , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 28 No. 4 (2017): Winter 2017
- Peter Evans, Shaheen Shah, Adam Huebner, Selvaraj Sivasubramaniam, Chhoeurn Vuthy, Kao Sambath, Lucy Haurisa, Yim Borun, A Population-based Study on the Prevalence of Impairment and Disability Among Young Cambodian Children , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 25 No. 2 (2014): Summer 2014
You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.
Most read articles by the same author(s)
- Emily R. Kelly, Jamie L. Tingey, Jessica Ott, Helena Hahn, Jacob A. Bentley, Stephen T. Wegener, Zehra Zaidi, Nukhba Zia, Abdulgafoor M. Bachani, Features of Telerehabilitation and Considerations for Resource-Limited Settings: A Scoping Review , Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development: Vol. 35 No. 1 (2024): Spring Issue