Innovations in Primary and Community Care for Rehabilitation

Dear Colleagues,

In the global context, primary care and community-based rehabilitation are becoming an important component in the healthcare delivery model. These types of services can reduce hospital admission and contribute to substantial savings in healthcare costs in all countries. Primary care and community-based services emphasise patient education, self-management and the adoption of healthy lifestyles, all of which can have a long-term positive impact on individuals’ health status and quality of life. Community-based rehabilitation projects can also contribute to the reduction or prevention of chronic disabilities.

We are pleased to invite you to submit original research articles to share your experience in designing and implementing primary care and community-based rehabilitation projects, highlighting their potential impacts.

This Special Issue aims to invite clinicians and researchers to share their experiences in conducting primary care and community-based projects, such as the effects of exercise interventions for chronic disease management. From the primary care perspective, the project can involve health education for the general population, for example, education on healthy lifestyle for older adults. Interventions and assessment tools with cultural adaptations to enhance compliance and effectiveness are most appropriate, and discussion on challenges and barriers in implementing such programmes would be valuable.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of primary care and/or community-based projects for special populations;
• Effects of primary care or community-based projects on physical functions or well-being for people with chronic diseases, or specific disorders (e.g., musculoskeletal, cardiorespiratory or neurological) with objective outcome measures such as pain, physical function and/or mental health status, insomnia or sleep health;
• Cross-sectional studies evaluating the health status or quality of life of special populations.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Grace Pui Yuk Szeto
Dr. Rachel Lai Chu Kwan
Dr. Sabina Margaret Pinto
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• exercise
• physical activity
• self-management
• health education
• functional ability
• physical performance
• mental health
• insomnia
• community
• pain
• rehabilitation/intervention