Occupational therapy and community integration of adults with neurological conditions: A scoping review

Abstract

Although community integration (CI) is the ultimate goal of rehabilitation, it is rarely achieved in clinical settings. The purpose of this study was to (a) synthesize the state of occupational therapy knowledge related to CI for people with neurological issues and to (b) illustrate how CI is conceptualized within the literature. A scoping review was completed using two reviewers, resulting in the selection of 47 articles pertaining to four study populations. Themes common across all client populations were identified through content analysis, and an iterative synthesis was used to analyse the evolution of knowledge. The selected articles covered craniocerebral trauma ( n = 21, 9 experimental categories [EXP]), medullar injuries ( n = 11, 4 EXP), cerebrovascular injuries ( n = 9, 4 EXP), and multiple sclerosis ( n = 4, 1 EXP). CI was used interchangeably with the term social participation. Fifty-one percent of the articles defined CI solely as part of a measurement tool, and 10% did not provide a definition of CI. The physical dimension of CI had been studied more frequently than the social and psychological dimensions. Innovative practices should work to enable community inclusion and full citizenship to support the long-term enablement.