Challenges of implementing psychiatric rehabilitation services: a low- and middle-income country case example

Tabatabaee, Maryam; Mirsepassi, Zahra; Sharifi, Vandad; Mottaghipour, Yasaman

This article aims to explore the barriers and challenges of implementing psychiatric rehabilitation services at a psychiatric hospital in Iran. We performed an internal mixed-methods evaluation by adopting a multi-method approach. The data were organised, analysed and interpreted by the evaluation team. A low participation rate, administrative issues, low fidelity to protocols and incomplete documentation were the main findings. Implementing and maintaining rehabilitation services in low- and middle-income country settings requires more than a mere transfer of models of psychiatric rehabilitation; it needs adaptation to the local context as well as continuous evaluation and quality improvement in an iterative fashion, given the rapidly changing contexts with scarce resources.