the population lives further than five kilometres from a tarred road, and 25% of the population has to collect water from natural sources.

Participants {#s20012}
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The sampling frame for the study consisted of all rehabilitation therapists working at five district hospitals in a rural community in South Africa. All available therapists who agreed to participate at the time of the discussion were included. A total of 17 rehabilitation team members were conveniently selected to participate in the FGDs that were conducted at each of the five hospitals. The 17 participants included eight physiotherapists, seven occupational therapists, one dietician and one speech therapist.

Data collection procedure {#s20013}
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The head of the therapy department at each hospital was contacted telephonically, and appointments were made at a time that was convenient for most of theAfrican staff members participated in the discussions. Of the 17 participating therapists, 10 were female, and 7 were male. The mean years of experience working in a rural area was five years for permanent staff members, and three and a half years when taking the community service therapists (contract staff) into consideration.

According to therapists working in this area, cultural beliefs play a major role in the utilisation of rural health services. In this specific Zulu community different beliefs affecting rehabilitation services were identified. These beliefs were grouped into two themes: cultural beliefs preventing patients from accessing rehabilitation services, and cultural beliefs affecting the rehabilitation process of the patient when utilising the service.

Cultural beliefs preventing the utilisation of rehabilitation services {#s20020}
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Several cultural beliefs seemed to prevent patients from utilising