ReSpAct: Rehabilitation, Sports and Active Lifestyle
This thesis describes the dissemination of the ‘Rehabilitation, Sports and Exercise (RSE)’ program in Dutch rehabilitation care. This evidence-informed program aims to stimulate a physically active lifestyle among people with a physical disability and/or chronic disease during and in the period after rehabilitation. This thesis provides insight into the nationwide implementation process of the program, the perceived facilitators and barriers, and relevant outcomes on patient-level.
The results showed that the involved professionals were very positive about the implementation of the RSE program in their organization. Similarly, the participating patients were highly satisfied with the guidance they received as part of the program. Nevertheless, the implementation and execution of the program varied largely among organizations and patients.
A promising finding is the fact that almost all organizations decided to continue the program after the funding period. A possible explanation of this successful continuation of the program is the use of an intensive, well-planned and multifaceted implementation strategy in combination with clear role descriptions of the involved stakeholders (Ministry, program coordinators, rehabilitation professionals, researchers).
In future nationwide implementation processes, we suggest to apply a more tailored implementation strategy depending on organizations’ starting positions, organizations’ size and organizational circumstances.
Our findings may inspire governmental agencies around the world to promote sports and physical activities among disabled populations by using an evidence-informed approach focusing on places where they can be reached easily (e.g. rehabilitation centers and hospitals).