Protocol for Readiness of Rehabilitation services integration in Primary Health care: A study in Karnali Province, Nepal

Introduction Globally, 8 million people experience conditions for which rehabilitation services can be beneficial. The services are considered as an essential health service for attainment of universal health coverage. According to the Nepal Health Demographic Survey (NDHS) 2022 report 23 % of the population have some type of functional disability among which 6% people had total functional disability. This study aims to assess the rehabilitation service readiness status, knowledge of health workers, experience of service receivers and policy framework level. Methods A mixed method study design will be conducted to assess the readiness for rehabilitation services for a period of two starting from July 2024 to 2026. This study protocol clearly aims to examine the status of rehabilitation services, knowledge and skill gap of health workers, experiences of elderly and persons with disabilities for rehabilitation service utilization. Similarly, the perception and experience of working in the health services sector will be assessed through Key Informant Interview (KII). The participants of the current study will be 23 health facilities, >300 health workers working in primary health care in Karnali, convenience sampled population of elderly and disabled population of Karnali. The study team designed a study protocol and conducted pre-testing in a similar setting. Ethics and dissemination The present study is approved by Nepal Health Research Council(Ref #49, July-21, 2024). Prior to the ethical approval, the study team received approval from the Ministry of Social Development Karnali Province. Informed consent was taken from all the participants involved in this study. All the data collected will be used for study purposes only. The findings of the study will be published as a report from the Publication of the Ministry of Social Development and major findings will be published in Journal.