Digital Rehabilitation Interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa: Protocol for a Scoping Review

Area of Science:

• Digital health
• Rehabilitation medicine
• Global health equity

Background:

• At least one in three people globally requires rehabilitation.
• Sub-Saharan Africa faces a significant burden of disability and limited access to rehabilitation services.
• Digital solutions offer a potential pathway to enhance rehabilitation access in underserved regions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a comprehensive scoping review of digital interventions in rehabilitation within sub-Saharan Africa.
• To map the existing evidence across various health, social, educational, and community settings.
• To identify research gaps and opportunities for digital rehabilitation development in the region.

Main Methods:

• Adherence to Arksey and O'Malley's and Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) scoping review methodologies.
• Systematic searches of web-based databases for peer-reviewed publications up to September 2023.
• Thematic analysis of extracted data from included studies on digital rehabilitation interventions.

Main Results:

• Preliminary searches indicate a need for further comprehensive literature searches.
• Synthesis of findings will be categorized thematically.
• The full results of the scoping review are anticipated in early 2024.

Conclusions:

• Expectation of identifying significant research gaps in digital rehabilitation in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Anticipation of a lack of detailed information on current digital rehabilitation interventions.
• Identification of opportunities to guide future research and development in digital rehabilitation for the region.