What is ‘successful rehabilitation’? A multi-stakeholder nominal group technique study to inform rehabilitation outcome measurement

OBJECTIVE: To explore how stakeholders in rehabilitation conceptualise ‘successful rehabilitation’, to inform the development of a minimum dataset and core outcomes for sub-acute rehabilitation. DESIGN: Qualitative consensus study using the nominal group technique. SETTING: Online focus groups. PARTICIPANTS: Consumer representatives (n = 7), clinicians (n = 15), and health service managers (n = 9) from Australia. INTERVENTION: Participants responded to the question, ‘What does successful rehabilitation look like?’. Following item generation, they prioritised their top five responses, allocating 100 points across items to denote relative importance. MAIN MEASURES: Prioritised responses were analysed across stakeholder groups using qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: Ten themes were identified. ‘Successful rehabilitation’ is: (1) person and family centred; (2) effective; (3) inter-professional; (4) accessible; (5) goal oriented with meaningful outcomes; (6) connected to the continuum of care; (7) evidence-based and supportive of innovation and research; (8) appropriately funded and skilled; (9) satisfying and engaging; and (10) safe. CONCLUSIONS: Stakeholder-defined ‘successful rehabilitation’ aligned with principles of value-based care and evidence-based rehabilitation. Provision and receipt of person and family centred care was the most important indicator of successful rehabilitation. Measures of success should include indicators of structure, process, outcome, and experience, and be conducted at multiple time-points.