Perioperative medicine & outcomes
Addressing inequities in the design and delivery of prehabilitation in the UK : case studies of challenges, complexities and good practice *
Authors' conclusion
Our qualitative findings from real-world settings illustrate how and why disparities arise in practice and offer insights for more equitable prehabilitation.
Study context
- Population
- Prehabilitation services before cancer surgery across England and Wales: professionals, patients and carers6 services
- Outcome
- Themes linking prehabilitation and health inequalities
Methodological detailscase study methodology, purposive sampling, inductive thematic analysis, 47 interviews with professionals, 47 with patients (incl. 8 with carers), 28 observations of practice
- Case study methodology
- Purposive sampling
- Inductive thematic analysis
- 47 interviews with professionals, 47 with patients (incl. 8 with carers), 28 observations of practice
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
- Patients' circumstances influence their ability to engage
- Value of prehabilitation to patients depends on how it is introduced and understood
- Services can address, but also exacerbate, health inequalities
- Services may offer more and/or less than the prototypical prehabilitation model
- Services use and develop an incomplete evidence base
- Services work with limited resources to provide the most benefit
- Six themes
Original publication
Addressing inequities in the design and delivery of prehabilitation in the UK : case studies of challenges, complexities and good practice *. Anaesthesia. Published 20 July 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →