An integrated rehabilitation workforce within secondary healthcare in Pakistan: a qualitative study with physiotherapists

Understanding how an integrated rehabilitation workforce can be supported and strengthened is crucial to address gaps in access and quality of rehabilitation below tertiary hospitals. We explored how physiotherapists in two provinces in Pakistan perceive enablers and constraints to their rehabilitation performance at individual, workplace, health systems, socio-cultural, and political levels. Using a qualitative approach based on social ecological theories of health worker performance and semi-structured interviews, 31 in-depth interviews with physiotherapists were conducted at secondary care hospitals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh provinces. Four intersecting themes were generated: (1) The capacity to perform as a rehabilitation professional is mediated by factors operating at different levels of the worker ecology. The experience of these factors has implications for (2) the livelihoods and wellbeing of rehabilitation workers and (3) quality of care these workers perceive is delivered. (4) Respondents’ insightful and diverse suggestions for positive opportunities for change, towards strengthening and expanding integration of rehabilitation services within the health system, have policy and practice implications. Findings suggest an interdependence between context, rehabilitation workers, and the quality of care they deliver. The perspectives of these workers draws attention beyond staff numbers and distribution, to the real-world challenges of practicing effectively in the context of local and systemic constraints and facilitators. These insights will be valuable to current efforts to integrate rehabilitation into health care settings beyond tertiary hospitals.