[Findings on the effectiveness of rehabilitation]

The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the German Pension Insurance scheme established a funding programme for research in rehabilitation. This review presents the findings of 38 available evaluation studies analyzing the effects of medical rehabilitation in Germany in different indications. With a total of 10 studies, the effectiveness of rehabilitation in chronic low back pain was evaluated most frequently. The other research projects analyzed the effects of rehabilitation in psychosomatic diseases (9 studies), cardiac diseases (9), cancer (4), neurological diseases (3), bowel diseases (1) and rehabilitation of children and juveniles (2). According to the results at hand, medical rehabilitation significantly improves the patients' state of health at the end of the rehab measure. Effectiveness is maintained in numerous patients also in the medium or fairly long-term. Hence, rehabilitation accomplishes a prerequisite for further gainful employment. Most of the patients treated have been suffering from chronic illness for many years and have developed psychological complaints besides their serious somatic symptoms and impairments. Here, rehabilitation takes on a fundamental assignment in the care of chronically ill patients. The projects carried out under the promotional focus highlight concrete perspectives for evidence based enhancement of medical rehabilitation. This, amongst others, also holds true for the positive experience with treatment modules within specific vocational training and with patient education. Some of the insights gained are already being realized. As a current task of development, the findings point to further improving the sustainability of rehabilitation's positive impact particularly in chronic low back pain. Pertinent conceptual approaches can be derived from the projects presented.