What is Rehabilitation

The concept of rehabilitation covers a number of initiatives aimed towards clients who have or are at risk of losing parts of their physical, mental and/or social functioning. In the rehabilitative efforts, the focus is on helping the client perform everyday activities and participate in community life despite living with a disability or mobility impairment.

WHO defines rehabilitation as “a set of interventions designed to optimize functioning and reduce disability in individuals with health conditions in interaction with their environment.” (WHO).

Thus, it is emphasized that the focus of rehabilitation is not on the client's illness or loss of function, but rather on the consequences that the illness or loss of function has for the client in regard to their environment and daily life. This can be on both the physical, mental, and social level.

Rehabilitation is undeniably a concept that everyone who works with people in need of care has become acquainted with, and with the emergence of new concepts such as ‘everyday rehabilitation’ the focus on rehabilitation seems not to be diminishing but rather increasing.