Assessing Basic Rehabilitation Services for Elders with Mobility Impairment

摘要

The current research seeks to examine the basic rehabilitation services for elders with mobility impairment. The research relied upon a quantitative approach and primary data which was gathered through the Drop-Off and Pick-Up (DOPU) method. The targeted respondents of this study were made up of healthcare workers, such as nurses and doctors from a group of hospitals in Zimbabwe. Therapy, assistive technologies, rehabilitation medicine, community-delivered rehabilitation were identified as the basic rehabilitation services for elders with mobility impairment. To assess the effectiveness of these services, the strength of these services had to be tested on the successful implementation of rehabilitation programs using a Structural Equation Model. In addition, these services were regarded as the independent variables of this study;while the successful implementation of the rehabilitation program was treated as a dependent variable. Based on the findings of this study, therapy, assistive technologies, rehabilitation medicine, community-delivered rehabilitation have a positive effect on the successful implementation of a rehabilitation program. The study recommends that to preserve the function and mobility among elderly and ageing individuals, the healthcare practitioners should promote strategies such as maximizing function by decreasing pain, improving the ability to self-propel and prolonging mobility and endurance through ergonomics, individualized wheelchair selection and configuration, and adaptations for increasing the capacity to handle the daily mobility demands through training, strengthening, and exercise.