{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,11,9]],"date-time":"2026-11-09T09:06:34Z","timestamp":1794215194877,"version":"4.8.0"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,13]],"date-time":"2025-12-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1765584000000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["BMJ EBM"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,4]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,10]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>In 2023, the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution to strengthen rehabilitation within health systems, calling for rehabilitation research. Within health, the term rehabilitation has multiple meanings, including a core strategy, a sector, a service and an intervention. The latter has been defined as complex and characterised as a \u2018black box\u2019, similar to complex interventions in other fields. The existing reporting guidelines are not sufficiently effective in describing interventions within the rehabilitation field. We developed the GUideline for Intervention DEscription in Rehabilitation (GUIDE-Rehab) to address these challenges.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>According to the Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research Network, we followed a Delphi process with multiple Consensus Meetings and piloting and used ACcurate COnsensus Reporting Document for reporting. The background research involved 21 papers. We based GUIDE-Rehab on the Rehabilitation Treatment Specification System, developed over 15 years of research to improve rehabilitation description; the definition of rehabilitation for research purposes; and the Template for Intervention Description and Replication reporting guideline. 68 representatives from global rehabilitation stakeholders (scientific societies, journals, evidence and methods groups), including individuals with lived experience of disability, from 26 countries across all continents and economies, participated. The piloting involved 17 chief editors, 7 research groups and participants from 10 scientific meetings.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>The complete version comprises 16 items, while the version for uncontrolled studies includes 13. The short version (10 items for text, 6 for appendix) helps reduce the manuscripts\u2019 length. The GUIDE-Rehab graphical illustration (nine items) facilitates the intervention description. GUIDE-Rehab will assist in the reporting of interventions in rehabilitation to enhance clinical research and support clinical implementation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjebm-2025-113997","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,13]],"date-time":"2025-12-13T18:20:30Z","timestamp":1765650030000},"page":"342-349","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":19,"title":["Reporting GUideline for Intervention DEscription in Rehabilitation (GUIDE-Rehab): a tool to open the \u2018black box\u2019 of rehabilitation complex interventions"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"31","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1878-2747","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stefano","family":"Negrini","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Biomedical, Surgical and Dental Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy, Italy"},{"name":"Laboratory of Evidence Based Rehabilitation, IRCCS Galeazzi S.Ambrogio Hospital, Milan, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chiara","family":"Arienti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Epidemiology Research Centre (CERC), Department of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Milan, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7942-433X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Susan","family":"Armijo-Olivo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Osnabr\u00fcck University of Applied Sciences, Osnabruck, Germany"},{"name":"University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6986-6676","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pierre","family":"C\u00f4t\u00e9","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Health Sciences, Ontario Tech University, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada"},{"name":"Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research, Ontario Tech University, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2782-7326","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Allen Walter","family":"Heinemann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA"},{"name":"Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, Center of Rehabilitation Outcomes Research, Chicago, Illinois, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8500-7751","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Carlotte","family":"Kiekens","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Evidence Based Rehabilitation, IRCCS Galeazzi S.Ambrogio Hospital, Milan, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dinesh","family":"Kumbhare","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6631-908X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"William","family":"Levack","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicine, University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6513-3387","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Thorsten","family":"Meyer-Feil","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Martin Luther University Halle Wittenberg, Halle, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4381-1474","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"John","family":"Whyte","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jefferson Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"name":"RCTRACK Executive Committee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"name":"GUIDE-Rehab Advisory Committee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"name":"Rehabilitation Journals Chief Editors","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026103006301216000_31.5.342.1","unstructured":"World Health Organization . 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