Palliative rehabilitation is relationship-centered care.

Abstract

People with life-threatening illness frequently experience progressive functional decline and shifting priorities that require a flexible, individualized approach to rehabilitation. However, rehabilitation services within palliative care remain underutilized and are often poorly understood. This clinical practice review describes the importance of integrating relationship-centered care principles into palliative rehabilitation to enhance communication, shared decision-making, and alignment of care with patient values. A data-driven case vignette of a hospitalized patient illustrates the complexities and missed opportunities that can occur when rehabilitation care is not guided by relationship-centered principles. A review of the literature was conducted using PubMed, CINAHL, and Google Scholar from 2015 through 2025. Search terms included "palliative rehabilitation, relationship-centered care, shared decision making, communication, person-centered care, interdisciplinary rehabilitation, and advanced illness". Reference lists of key articles and reviews were also examined. Articles were included if they addressed communication, decision-making, or relational aspects of care within rehabilitation or palliative contexts. Both empirical and conceptual papers were reviewed, along with consensus documents from professional and governmental agencies and clinical summaries from authoritative book chapters. Only English-language publications focusing on adult populations were included. The literature indicates that palliative rehabilitation differs from conventional models by emphasizing adaptation to changing patient goals, unpredictable disease trajectories, and the psychosocial realities of serious illness. Relationship-centered care appreciates that rehabilitation care takes place within systemic and relational structures of care such as reimbursement requirements, time pressures, trustworthy relationships and power imbalances. The case vignette demonstrates how collaborative, values-based decision-making is challenging but essential to improve to better align with one's medical circumstances and patient and professional priorities. Literature reviews and our clinical experiences underscore the importance of flexible communication strategies, interdisciplinary collaboration, and an appreciation of the relational dimensions inherent in therapeutic encounters. Palliative rehabilitation represents a critical intersection of physical restoration, emotional support, and relational care. Although these challenges are often most evident during hospitalization, integrating relationship-centered principles into any rehabilitation setting can optimize quality of life, preserve dignity, and improve alignment of care with patient goals. These insights have implications for clinical training, interdisciplinary practice models, and policy initiatives aimed at expanding access to rehabilitation for individuals with advanced disease.