Abstract
Background & objectives India faces the highest rehabilitation need in South East Asia. Rehabilitation research is essential to define the gap between the need and available rehabilitation services at all levels of healthcare in both urban and rural settings for individuals across life span. Methods A comprehensive rapid literature search was conducted in two scientific databases namely - PubMed and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL); and two scientific registries, namely - Clinical Trials Registry India and Shodhganga, to report the current status of rehabilitation research in India. Articles published in English (1801 till 2024), reporting studies pertinent to rehabilitation services such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech rehabilitation, audiology rehabilitation, prosthetics and orthotics and clinical trials and doctoral theses pertinent to rehabilitation were included. Results A total of 10,692 and 546 research articles were identified in PubMed and CINAHL, respectively. Findings of rapid literature search suggested that the volume and level of research evidence pertinent to rehabilitation are considerably low vis-a-vis the huge and diverse need for rehabilitation services in rural-tribal and urban settings in India. Secondly, the spectrum of rehabilitation research is largely clinical research. Interpretation & conclusions Present findings underscore an urgent need to prioritize context-specific rehabilitation research in India. The results highlight the need for encompassing a wider focus of rehabilitation research including health system and health policy research, extending beyond clinical research. A strategic research framework is proposed which presents a multi-level approach to prioritize, execute and accelerate rehabilitation research for accessible and effective rehabilitation services for all individuals in need, across life-span, at all healthcare levels.