What is this thing called rehabilitation? One Practitioner's View

Abstract

This paper explores the thorny question, what is this thing called rehabilitation? The concept is examined with a view to refining some of the values lying behind the rehabilitation process. A practitioner's viewpoint is taken and melded with a consumer bias to present two relatively simple working definitions of rehabilitation, and some dilemmas that challenge practitioners in an evidence-based climate. By asking when should rehabilitation services be used and what are rehabilitationists really about, we discover an intensely human process that calls for personal qualities and scholarship that are exemplary in the eyes of society. The paper concludes with an assessment of rehabilitation services in New Zealand.