Project title: Health Policy and Systems Research (HPSR) in Rehabilitation

Project background: Rehabilitation services are increasingly recognized as essential to achieving universal health coverage and meeting the needs of people with disabilities and chronic conditions. Despite this, rehabilitation often remains underprioritized in health policy and systems agendas, leading to gaps in access, financing, workforce capacity, and integration within broader health systems. Health Policy and Systems Research (HPSR) provides tools and frameworks to analyze these challenges, identify barriers and facilitators, and generate evidence to strengthen decision-making. Applying HPSR in rehabilitation can help bridge the disconnect between research, policy, and practice, ultimately ensuring more equitable, efficient, and sustainable rehabilitation services.

Project objectives:

1. Theoretical Paper
   A paper that lays the foundation and understanding of the epistemological differences across the disciplines that contribute to HPSR.

2. A Scoping Review
   A review of the literature to describe and map the study designs previously used in HPSR related to rehabilitation.

3. A Framework
   A guiding document on how to approach HPSR in rehabilitation

Supervisor: Dr. Pierre Côté