Reply To: Discussion Forum 1

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1. What evidence do I have (or need) to identify those factors and levels posing the greatest barriers to rehabilitation in my population?

There is need to carry out socio demographic study which will help to highlight the factors posing barrier to rehabilitation. With my years of practice, l was able to identify some of the barriers to rehabilitation such as distances to the facilities that has rehabilitation services, cost of public transport, few facilities offering rehabilitation services, poor referral by other health professional and ignorance about rehabilitation services among others.

2. How does my own professional expertise and organizational access suggest where I might be most be effective in developing and launching an intervention?

At the moment working with ReLAB-HS as rehabilitation technical officer seconded staff to Ministry of Health offering technical support to the division of Disability and Rehabilitation, am able to voice my concern on taking rehabilitation services to the last mile by advising the division to adopt the WHO training of Basic Rehabilitation Package for primary health care workers to help in task shift.

3. What formative research might be needed to understand the precise intervention that would be most appropriate and impactful towards overcoming the challenges I identify?

Carry out a research with the title of rapid assessment on the status of rehabilitation services within the targeted population

4. When considering potential interventions, what factors related to implementation do I need to consider?

The factors l can consider are; Acceptability which highlight the perception among stakeholders that the intervention is “agreeable, palatable, or satisfactory”, feasibility which help to know Whether the intervention can be successfully carried out in my setting, the cost impact of the intervention; appropriateness which is the “perceived fit, relevance, or compatibility” of the intervention with the particular stakeholder group or organization

5. What implicit biases may be at work in my culture or context and how do those implicit biases impact an individual’s ability to access and benefit from rehabilitation?

The implicit biases in my culture are socioeconomic, gender, stigma about disability and age where the healthcare service provider sees like there is no need for older persons to seek rehabilitation services because they take it as a waste of time to rehabilitate them.