Concepts of rehabilitation

In healthcare, rehabilitation has been defined as ‘a general health strategy with the aim of enabling persons with health conditions experiencing, or likely to experience, disability to achieve and maintain optimal functioning’. This chapter covers models of disability, including clinical, social, and biopsychosocial models; describes the use of correct terminology, and the importance of avoiding terminology that implies dependency or terminology which just categorizes all people with disabilities; and introduces approaches to rehabilitation, illustrated by a case study. Goal planning, habit forming, and outcome measurement are all described, and the benefits of rehabilitation are outlined. It summarizes the basic tasks of rehabilitation, and introduces the rationale for the rest of the book.