Better Rehabilitation Through Better Characterization of Treatments: Development of the Manual for Rehabilitation Treatment Specification [Methods Study], United States, 2014-2018 (ICPSR 39571)
Many people have health problems that affect how well they can do normal activities, either for a short time or for their lifetime. These problems may be present from birth or result from illness, injury, or aging. Rehabilitation, or rehab, can help patients regain the ability to do normal activities. Rehab providers include doctors, nurses, psychologists, and physical, occupational, speech, or language therapists.
Rehab treatments often lack a common definition. Rehab providers often name treatments by the type of professional who delivers them or the problem they treat, rather than by the content of the treatment. Also, treatments can vary across rehab providers. Using a standard way to define rehab treatments may help researchers compare these treatments.
In this study, the research team created and tested a manual to help rehab providers use standard ways to define rehab treatments.