Characteristics of Canadians living with long-term health conditions or disabilities who had unmet rehabilitation needs during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study

Objective: To describe the characteristics associated with unmet rehabilitation needs in a sample of Canadians with long-term health conditions or disabilities during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design: Data from the Impacts of COVID-19 on Canadians - Living with Long-Term Conditions and Disabilities, a national cross-sectional survey with 13,487 respondents. Unmet needs were defined as needing rehabilitation (i.e., physiotherapy/massage/chiropractic, speech therapy, occupational therapy, counselling services, or support groups) but not receiving due to the pandemic. We used multivariable modified Poisson regression to examine the association between demographic, socioeconomic, and health-related characteristics, and unmet rehabilitation needs.

Results: More than half of the sample were ≥ 50 years (52.3%), female (53.8%), and 49.3% reported unmet rehabilitation needs. Those more likely to report unmet needs were females, those with lower socio-economic status (receiving disability benefits or social assistance, job loss, increased work hours, decreased household income or earnings), and those with lower perceived general health or mental health status.

Conclusions: Among Canadians with disabilities or chronic health conditions, marginalized groups are more likely to report unmet rehabilitation needs. Understanding the systemic and upstream determinants is necessary to develop strategies to minimize unmet rehabilitation needs and facilitate the delivery of equitable rehabilitation services.