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Occupational Therapy Neurorehabilitation Practice in Middle East and North Africa (MENA): A Scoping Review
Abdulrahman Abdulaziz Abdulrahman Bin-Juwayr1,2, Jacqueline Wesson1, Anne Cusick1
1Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, sydney.edu.au.
Objective:
This scoping review aims to map published research evidence about occupational therapy (OT) neurorehabilitation practice in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region. A secondary aim was to identify what, if any, functional cognition assessments were used by occupational therapists (OTs).
Methods:
Following JBI scoping review guidelines, a structured search was conducted across five databases: CINAHL, Embase, Medline, Scopus and Web of Science, concluding in July 2025. Citation chaining expanded the search. Screening and data extraction were managed using Covidence. Descriptive tables and narrative synthesis summarised findings.
Results:
Sixty-seven studies met the inclusion criteria. Most (71.6%) were published in the last decade, mostly in high-ranking journals. Iran, Israel and Saudi Arabia accounted for 80.5% of studies, and OTs were first or last authors in 47.7%. Services were mainly hospital based (inpatient 47.7%, outpatient 46%), with 59.7% involving multidisciplinary teams. Stroke dominated diagnoses (64.8%), whereas dementia was the least (1.3%). Intervention effectiveness was addressed in 35.8% of studies, including 16.4% randomised controlled trials. Home visits were rarely used. Sixty-nine standardised assessments were reported, most commonly FIM, FM-UE, BI, COPM, MMSE, MoCA and LOTCA. No home safety assessments were identified. Only two functional cognition tools were identified, with limited evidence of translation or cultural adaptation. Narrative synthesis revealed that OT neurorehabilitation research in MENA is growing. This aligns with the expansion of WFOT-accredited OT programmes in MENA, which has increased research output from university-affiliated OTs.
Conclusion:
This study revealed an emerging and rapidly expanding evidence base about OT neurorehabilitation in MENA. It highlights the need for more research about OT for conditions other than stroke. It shows that most research evidence is generated by university-affiliated OTs, and more practitioner and practice research could be done, for example, home visits. Research about functional cognition is limited, and further investigation about awareness and use is needed.
