Optimizing functioning at all ages is a major global public health goal. Rehabilitation is unique in its contribution to this public health agenda because of its focus on optimizing function. In this editorial, the editors of leading rehabilitation journals make the case for fully integrating rehabilitation into a nation’s health system and strengthening it specifically at the primary care level to increase access and achieve its full potential. Authors submitting papers to rehabilitation journals are encouraged to consider the global health policy implications of their research when they prepare their research reports for publication and to make these implications explicit.

OBJECTIVE. Our objective was to examine demographic, cognitive, emotional, and physical factors that predict return to paid employment for people after neurological injury. METHOD. Four hundred eighty adults with stroke (n = 149), traumatic brain injury (n = 155), and spinal cord injury (n = 176) completed an occupational outcome questionnaire and physical, emotional, and cognitive assessments at three rehabilitation facilities. RESULTS. Odds of employment were predicted by being married or partnered, having more education, requiring fewer prompts for task sequencing, and having higher inhibitory control (but were not predicted by specific type of injury). Participants who returned to work within 3 mo were more likely to work with the same employer and to take a full-time position than those who returned later. CONCLUSION. Executive functioning, in particular sequencing and inhibitory control, strongly predicts employment and highlights the importance of cognitive strategy training during occupational therapy with people who have sustained neurological injuries.

Date Presented 3/31/2017 Patient participation (engagement) is a keystone of patient-centered care. This study provided evidence to support how active participation in occupational therapy would enhance patient outcomes at discharge and 1 yr postinjury. We also identified barriers to patient participation in rehabilitation. Primary Author and Speaker: Alex Wong Contributing Authors: Christina Papadimitriou, Arielle Goldsmith, Katrina Christopher, Gale Whiteneck, Anne Deutsch, Eric Lenze, Allen W. Heinemann

Note from the AJOT Editor-in-Chief: AJOT has joined several other major rehabilitation and disability journals in a collaborative initiative to mandate clinical trial registration. Authors of manuscripts reporting clinical trials must ensure that the trials are registered before submitting their manuscript. For trials that are underway and are already enrolling patients, registration will be retrospective. This interim step achieves the goals of educating authors about trial registration and providing documentation of original study designs and primary outcome measures. Multiyear studies that were not registered before enrolling participants, are ongoing at the time of this editorial, and will not be completed before the January 1, 2017, deadline may be considered for publication in AJOT with special permission from the Editor-in-Chief. This permission must be obtained before submitting the manuscript for publication. By adopting these standards, we hope to further enhance the quality of AJOT articles. This editorial is reprinted from the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 96, 2093. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apmr.2015.09.005

Note from the AJOT Editor-in-Chief: Since 2010, the American Journal of Occupational Therapy (AJOT) has adopted reporting standards based on the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) Statement and American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines in an effort to publish transparent clinical research that can be easily evaluated for methodological and analytical rigor ( APA Publications and Communications Board Working Group on Journal Article Reporting Standards, 2008 ; Moher, Schulz, & Altman, 2001 ). AJOT has now joined 28 other major rehabilitation and disability journals in a collaborative initiative to enhance clinical research reporting standards through adoption of the EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines, described below. Authors will now be required to use these guidelines in the preparation of manuscripts that will be submitted to AJOT. Reviewers will also use these guidelines to evaluate the quality and rigor of all AJOT submissions. By adopting these standards we hope to further enhance the quality and clinical applicability of articles to our readers.

OBJECTIVES. Relatively little is known about the treatment effectiveness and functional outcomes of pediatric rehabilitation therapies. This study was conducted to gain knowledge of the type and quantity of inpatient rehabilitation services provided to children who received acute inpatient rehabilitation and compare functional gains by age and diagnosis. METHOD. A retrospective cohort design was used. Records of rehabilitation therapies and functional assessments of 814 pediatric patients who received inpatient rehabilitation during 1996, 1997, and 1998 were collected. The admission and discharge item ratings of the WeeFIM® instrument were first transformed into inter-val-level measures of self-care, mobility, and cognition. Parametric analyses were used to compare functional gains across impairment groups and to examine the relationship between amount of treatment and functional gains. RESULTS. Occupational therapy and physical therapy were the primary rehabilitation services received by patients across impairment groups (98% and 99%, respectively). A large proportion of children with traumatic brain injuries also received speech therapy (97%) and psychology services (60%). Across domains (selfcare, mobility, cognition), the largest gains were made by children who were older than 7 years and had traumatic injuries. Functional gains were significantly related to the amount of discipline-specific treatment received, after controlling for age, impairment, and functional status at admission. CONCLUSION. Rehabilitation therapy provision in pediatric inpatient rehabilitation varies greatly depending on children’s age and the nature of the impairment. Systematic reporting of type and quantity of rehabilitation therapies along with functional assessments before and after hospitalization would allow researchers to track functional changes and study the determinants of functional improvement.