| Sumario: | The Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services was commissioned by the Norwegian Directorate of Health to perform a systematic review of the scientific evidence concerning effects of rehabilitation on social and community participation among patients with reduced functional capacity. All patients were included regardless of their diagnosis. According to a parliamentary bill, rehabilitation is defined as: time-limited, planned processes with clear objectives and means, in which several parties cooperate to provide necessary assistance to the user's own efforts to achieve the best possible coping and functional ability, independence and social and community participation. We searched for controlled studies of effect in databases for medical research literature. The criteria for inclusion were:1. Population: patients with reduced functional capacity regardless of diagnosis2. Intervention: multidisciplinary interventions based on the patient's own aims and needs, and where the patients actively participate in their own rehabilitation process3. Outcome: participation socially and/or in the community The search identified 4876 references; we included three controlled clinical trials and three controlled before and after studies in this report. The included studies differed regarding various aspects. The patients had different diagnoses, the professional groups that participated in the multidisciplinary teams varied, the types of patient's participation and which social activities or ways of participating in the community that was addressed all varied between the studies. The studies had different study designs, although they all included a control group. According to the quality assessment tool used the studies were all evaluated to have unclear or high risk of bias. The quality of the documentation for the effect of the intervention is too low for us to draw conclusions on whether rehabilitation contributes to the patients social and community participation. Whether the results can be generalised to other groups or other interventions is unclear. We need larger end better studies before a clearer conclusion can be drawn.
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