ABSTRACT

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the current status of cognitive rehabilitation (CR) and provide policy suggestions and future directions. Methods: From September 2022 to February 2023, a survey was distributed to currently working members of the Korean Society of Cognitive Rehabilitation. A total of 154 participants responded to the questionnaire. The survey contained 104 items about the development, problems, and future directions of CR, which were validated from the previous Delphi pilot study, and a 5-point scale was used for scoring. Results: The role of the occupational therapist (OT) in CR has been legally covered. Post-professional education has improved, and the number of organizations and therapists providing CR has increased. However, there is also a need to develop occupation-based cognitive assessments and intervention tools for short practice sessions. Institutionally, medical insurance reimbursements for CR and guidelines for the therapist’s role should be developed. The OTs recognized the need for functional occupation-based CR rather than a bottom-up approach for implementation in clinical practice. Conclusion: CR is one of the major specialties of OT, therefore, future research is needed to address systemic issues such as medical insurance reimbursement and support clinical professionalism.