Effectiveness of physiotherapy interventions in managing physical and psychological outcomes among refugees: A systematic review

Abstract

This systematic review explored the effectiveness of various physiotherapy interventions in the management of physical and/or  psychological outcomes such as pain, disability, and mental health among refugees. A systematic literature search was conducted in  January 2022, and updated in February 2024, by two reviewers independently in the following databases: Embase, Scopus, PubMed, and  PEDro, which were accessible through the Qatar University Library website. The review included three studies, two of which were  Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) denoting level 2 evidence, and one which was a pre-test/post-test study, indicating level 3 evidence  on the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (OCEBM) framework. The RCTs scored 6/9 (66.6%) and 8/9 (88.8%) on the adapted  PEDro (Physiotherapy Evidence Databases) scale, respectively. All of the studies evaluated the effectiveness of different types of  physiotherapy interventions, i.e., physical activity and/or exercises on managing physical and psychological outcomes, including pain,  mental health, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, anxiety and depressive symptoms. This review highlights the difficulties  in conducting studies, particularly RCTs, in this vulnerable population and demonstrates the urgent need to thoroughly consider all  ethical aspects with regards to refugees before undertaking any research. Moreover, it should be evaluated whether or not studies need  to be conducted in this group at all.