Assessment of Patient Participation in Physical Rehabilitation Activities: An Integrative Review.
OBJECTIVE
In addition to the amount and intensity of rehabilitation interventions and the number of therapies, the degree of patient participation in physical rehabilitation activities is key. For this reason, adequate information regarding participation is necessary to evaluate patient performance. This article reviews instruments designed to assess participation in physical rehabilitation activities.


METHODS
Integrative review.


METHODS
Pubmed, CINAHL, PsycInfo, Embase, and Cochrane Library database were searched for publications between January 1976 and July 2012. Secondary searches were also conducted and reference lists scanned for relevant publications.


RESULTS
Fourteen articles reporting on three instruments were found. They differ with regard to their underlying theoretical concepts. Each instrument was tested in medical inpatient rehabilitation settings.


CONCLUSIONS
Each instrument appears to be useful for assessing specific aspects of patient participation in rehabilitation activities. More theoretical work is needed to clarify the underlying concepts as these instruments are not yet ready for clinical application.
University Hospital Zurich, Centre for Clinical Nursing Science, Zurich, Switzerland.
Horst
H
Rettke
Department of Health and the Environment, City of Zurich Nursing Homes, Zurich, Switzerland.
Heike M
HM
Geschwindner
Department of Health Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Wim J A
WJ
van den Heuvel
D004509:Education, Nursing, Continuing; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000458:organization & administration; D011594:Psychometrics; D019145:Rehabilitation Nursing / Q000193:education / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration*
Patient participation; integrative review; physical rehabilitation