About us
Worldwide, more than two billion individuals have conditions that could benefit from rehabilitation. This includes more than one billion persons with disabilities who face significant barriers to participation and inclusion into society and accessing healthcare.
The Cochrane Rehabilitation, Functioning, and Disability Thematic Group (abbreviated as CochraneRehab) is among the leading forces in advancing research, refining clinical practices, and enhancing functioning outcomes and quality of life of persons with disabling health conditions.
Central to our mission is answering pressing clinical questions of importance to people with disabling conditions through high-quality research. This includes improving methodologies to enable a comprehensive view of functioning—a crucial health indicator supported by the World Health Organization to complement mortality and morbidity, enriching our understanding of health outcomes. CochraneRehab draws on the expertise of various Cochrane Fields and Review Groups expanded globally by adding other research units. The Thematic Group is focused on improving the evidence in the field through methodological studies, knowledge translation activities including dissemination, and the production of high-quality systematic reviews and overviews of reviews that synthesise the answers to the complex needs of individuals experiencing disabilities and requiring rehabilitation. The ultimate goal is to create a robust knowledge base to support effective rehabilitation and other healthcare interventions for individuals with various disabling health conditions and people with disabilities across all settings and phases of care-from acute to chronic.
Our work promotes global health equity and inclusion. It supports global initiatives like WHO's Rehabilitation 2030, which emphasizes rehabilitation as an integral component of Universal Health Coverage and addresses Sustainable Development Goals according to the 2023 World Health Assembly resolution on "Strengthening rehabilitation in health systems".
Through these efforts, we aim to improve individual health outcomes and build a world where every individual, regardless of their capacity, has access to rehabilitation interventions they need for a fulfilling life.
Team
Our plans
Our strategic objectives are designed to ensure that Cochrane's evidence synthesis in rehabilitation, functioning and disability is relevant, timely, and impactful. We are concentrating on several critical areas:
- Facilitating collaboration: We will facilitate collaboration among researchers, healthcare professionals, people experiencing disabilities and other stakeholders to dismantle silos, reduce research waste, and optimise resources. We will support them in prioritizing topics that significantly impact patient outcomes.
- Impact: We aim to make a positive difference in rehabilitation, functioning, and disability care by developing sophisticated methodologies to improve primary studies and evidence synthesis in the field, identifying knowledge gaps and setting priorities to ensure our evidence synthesis is highly impactful, making essential Cochrane reviews accessible worldwide in this area. Knowledge Translation remains a big pillar of the new Thematic Group, building on the extensive activities of the member Cochrane Fields. We will ensure the dissemination of review content to all relevant audiences and intermediaries in different formats and languages.
- Training and education: CochraneRehab will play a role in training researchers and enhancing capabilities, with a special focus on low- and middle-income countries. We will help coordinate a network of professionals to support emerging researchers and improve global health outcomes in this area.
- Publish reviews that meet the challenges in this field: We are committed to producing and disseminating high-quality systematic reviews and overviews of reviews in all areas related to rehabilitation, functioning and disability. Our reviews will focus on timely and effective rehabilitation interventions that significantly improve the quality of life of people experiencing disabilities, addressing both chronic and acute needs. Particular attention will be given to health policy and systems research, as requested by the recent WHA76 resolution on Strengthening rehabilitation in health systems.
Contact us
For more information about our work or to become involved with the Cochrane Thematic Group in Rehabilitation, Functioning and Disability, please contact us at: cochranerehab@unimi.it