IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i3p1972-d1042891.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Governmental Policies on Rehabilitation Services and Physical Medicine in Jordan: A Retrospective Study

Author

Listed:
  • Nihad A. Almasri

    (Department of Physiotherapy, School of Rehabilitation, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan)

  • Carl J. Dunst

    (Orelena Hawks Puckett Institute, Asheville, NC 28730, USA)

  • Hikmat Hadoush

    (Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid 22110, Jordan)

  • Jaber Aldaod

    (Ministry of Health, Amman 11118, Jordan)

  • Yousef Khader

    (Department of Public Health, Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid 22110, Jordan)

  • Ali Alrjoub

    (Ministry of Health, Amman 11118, Jordan)

  • Ahmad Almasri

    (Ministry of Health, Amman 11118, Jordan)

Abstract

Background : Although the COVID-19 pandemic led to a series of governmental policies and regulations around the world, the effect of these policies on access to and provision of rehabilitation services has not been examined, especially in low and middle- income countries. Aims : The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of governmental policies and procedures on the number of patients who accessed rehabilitation services in the public sector in Jordan during the pandemic and to examine the combined effect of sociodemographic factors (age and gender) and the governmental procedures on this number of patients. Methods : A retrospective cohort study was conducted based on records of 32,503 patients who visited the rehabilitation center between January 2020 and February 2021. Interrupted time-series analysis was conducted with three periods and by age and gender. Results : The number of patients who visited the rehabilitation clinics decreased significantly between January 2020 and May 2020 due to government-imposed policies, then increased significantly until peaking in September 2020 ( p = 0.0002). Thereafter, the number of patients decreased between October 2020 and February 2021 as a result of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic ( p = 0.02). The numbers of male and female patients did not differ ( p > 0.05). There were more patients aged 20 years and older attending rehabilitation clinics than younger patients during the first strict lock down and the following reduction of restriction procedures periods ( p < 0.05). Conclusions : The COVID-19 public measures in Jordan reduced access to rehabilitation services. New approaches to building resilience and access to rehabilitation during public health emergencies are needed. A further examination of strategies and new approaches to building resilience and increasing access to rehabilitation during public health emergencies is warranted.

Suggested Citation

  • Nihad A. Almasri & Carl J. Dunst & Hikmat Hadoush & Jaber Aldaod & Yousef Khader & Ali Alrjoub & Ahmad Almasri, 2023. "Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Governmental Policies on Rehabilitation Services and Physical Medicine in Jordan: A Retrospective Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-11, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:3:p:1972-:d:1042891
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/3/1972/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/3/1972/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:3:p:1972-:d:1042891. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.