Rehabilitation Psychology
- LAST REVIEWED: 29 September 2017
- LAST MODIFIED: 29 November 2011
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199828340-0048
- LAST REVIEWED: 29 September 2017
- LAST MODIFIED: 29 November 2011
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199828340-0048
Introduction
Rehabilitation psychology is a subfield of psychology dedicated to developing therapeutic interventions aimed at promoting the health and well-being of people with disabilities and chronic health conditions or diseases. Rehabilitation psychologists apply and extend psychological knowledge toward ameliorating psychological, social, mental, psychiatric, environmental, and other challenges that prevent people with disabilities from leading meaningful, independent, and productive lives. Rehabilitation psychologists are therapists, educators, counselors, administrators, consultants, advocates, and researchers who possess a wide variety of training and skills, including knowledge of neuropsychology, that qualify them to work constructively with clients with disabilities or other chronic health conditions, their caregivers, and their families. This article opens with overviews of rehabilitation psychology and representative professional journals and websites. Subsequent sections provide sample references for research methodology and theory development, rehabilitation assessment, neuropsychology, and practice issues in rehabilitation. A section on selected chronic conditions reviews resources concerning brain injury, strokes, spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis, limb amputations, and depression and its links to disability. A separate section considers issues connected with the treatment of children with disabilities. One of the largest areas of the rehabilitation literature concerns psychosocial issues. The references in this section examine the social psychology of disability, attitudes toward people with disabilities, attributions and adaptation issues, insider and outsider perspectives, social interactions between people with and without disabilities, value changes and the acceptance of disability, and positive psychology and its connections to and implications for rehabilitation psychology. Narratives on disability provide phenomenological accounts of what the experience of disability is actually like (as opposed to what it is presumed to be). The last section of this bibliography offers references on disabilities studies, an interdisciplinary area of inquiry with some promising connections to rehabilitation psychology.
General Overviews
What are the psychological implications of having a disability, whether that condition is congenital or acquired? What issues should psychologists and rehabilitation professionals attend to, whether they are conducting research, rehabilitation therapy, or some other form of practice? Nagler 1993 provides an interdisciplinary overview of disability. Frank and Elliott 2000 and Frank, et al. 2010 provide comprehensive overviews of rehabilitation psychology’s core and emerging subareas. Rohe 1998 provides a concise introduction to psychological issues pertaining to rehabilitative experiences. Although not current, the classic perspectives on physical disability presented in Wright 1983 have psychological relevance to other forms of disability. A general overview of disability from a psychological perspective can be found in Vash and Crewe 2004. Dunn 1994 contains articles from empirical and theoretical perspectives on psychological and social factors linked to disability.
Dunn, Dana S., ed. 1994. Special Issue: Psychosocial perspectives on disability. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality 9.5.
A book-length special issue of a journal examining a variety of psychosocial issues linked to issues in disability and rehabilitation. This special issue contains empirically based articles, theoretical pieces, and literature reviews.
Frank, Robert G., and Timothy R. Elliot. 2000. Handbook of rehabilitation psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
DOI: 10.1037/10361-000
The first published comprehensive handbook reviewing the major areas of research and practice in rehabilitation psychology. The book covers common clinical conditions including spinal cord injury, limb amputation, traumatic brain injury, and stroke.
Frank, Robert G., Mitchell Rosenthal, and Bruce Caplan, eds. 2010. Handbook of rehabilitation psychology. 2d ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
An updated version of the first handbook covering the major areas of research and practice in rehabilitation psychology. Besides reviewing rehabilitation research on established clinical conditions, it examines emerging areas, such as positive psychology and disability, as well as pediatric issues in rehabilitation.
Nagler, Mark, ed. 1993. Perspectives on disability. 2d ed. Palo Alto, CA: Health Market Research.
A collection of readings with sociological as well psychological relevance. The reprinted articles herein provide insight on what it means to be a person with a disability in light of social attitudes, encounters with non-disabled persons, family membership, sexuality, pursuing education and employment, legal matters, medical issues, and the experience of being perceived as different from others.
Rohe, David E. 1998. Psychological aspects of rehabilitation. In Rehabilitation medicine: Principles and practice. 3d ed. Edited by Joel A. DeLisa and Bruce Gans, 189–212. Philadelphia: Lippincott-Raven.
A broad but concise overview of psychological aspects of rehabilitation.
Vash, Carolyn L., and Nancy M. Crewe. 2004. Psychology of disability. 2d ed. New York: Springer.
This textbook provides a solid introduction to the psychology of disability, highlighting the impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the changing nature of health care, and the role of technology, racial and ethnic diversity, as well as spirituality, among people with disabilities.
Wright, Beatrice A. 1983. Physical disability: A psychosocial approach. 2d ed. New York: Harper & Row.
DOI: 10.1037/10589-000
A classic overview of key psychosocial factors influencing the experience of physical disability. The book provides a positive and constructive framework for working with people with disabilities, their caregivers, and their families. The text offers clinical as well as research-based insights that inform research and practices.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Abnormal Psychology
- Academic Assessment
- Acculturation and Health
- Action Regulation Theory
- Action Research
- Addictive Behavior
- Adolescence
- Adoption, Social, Psychological, and Evolutionary Perspect...
- Adulthood
- Affective Forecasting
- Ageism
- Ageism at Work
- Aggression
- Allport, Gordon
- Alzheimer’s Disease
- Ambulatory Assessment in Behavioral Science
- Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA)
- Anger
- Animal Behavior
- Animal Learning
- Anxiety Disorders
- Art and Aesthetics, Psychology of
- Assessment and Clinical Applications of Individual Differe...
- Attachment in Social and Emotional Development across the ...
- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Adults
- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Childre...
- Attitudes
- Attitudinal Ambivalence
- Attraction in Close Relationships
- Attribution Theory
- Authoritarian Personality
- Autism
- Bayesian Statistical Methods in Psychology
- Behavior Therapy, Rational Emotive
- Behavioral Economics
- Behavioral Genetics
- Belief Perseverance
- Bereavement and Grief
- Biological Psychology
- Birth Order
- Body Image in Men and Women
- Burnout
- Bystander Effect
- Categorical Data Analysis in Psychology
- Childhood and Adolescence, Peer Victimization and Bullying...
- Clinical Neuropsychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Cognitive Consistency Theories
- Cognitive Dissonance Theory
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Communication, Nonverbal Cues and
- Comparative Psychology
- Competence to Stand Trial: Restoration Services
- Competency to Stand Trial
- Computational Psychology
- Conflict Management in the Workplace
- Conformity, Compliance, and Obedience
- Consciousness
- Coping Processes
- Correspondence Analysis in Psychology
- Counseling Psychology
- Courage
- Creativity
- Creativity at Work
- Critical Thinking
- Cross-Cultural Psychology
- Cultural Psychology
- Daily Life, Research Methods for Studying
- Data Science Methods for Psychology
- Data Sharing in Psychology
- Death and Dying
- Deceiving and Detecting Deceit
- Defensive Processes
- Depression
- Depressive Disorders
- Development, Prenatal
- Developmental Psychology (Cognitive)
- Developmental Psychology (Social)
- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM...
- Discrimination
- Disgust
- Dissociative Disorders
- Drugs and Behavior
- Eating Disorders
- Ecological Psychology
- Educational Settings, Assessment of Thinking in
- Effect Size
- Embodiment and Embodied Cognition
- Emerging Adulthood
- Emotion
- Emotional Intelligence
- Empathy and Altruism
- Employee Stress and Well-Being
- Environmental Neuroscience and Environmental Psychology
- Ethics in Psychological Practice
- Event Perception
- Evolutionary Psychology
- Expansive Posture
- Experimental Existential Psychology
- Exploratory Data Analysis
- Eyewitness Testimony
- Eysenck, Hans
- Factor Analysis
- Festinger, Leon
- Five-Factor Model of Personality
- Flynn Effect, The
- Forensic Psychology
- Forgiveness
- Friendships, Children's
- Fundamental Attribution Error/Correspondence Bias
- Gambler's Fallacy
- Game Theory and Psychology
- Geropsychology, Clinical
- Global Mental Health
- Habit Formation and Behavior Change
- Happiness
- Health Psychology
- Health Psychology Research and Practice, Measurement in
- Heider, Fritz
- Heuristics and Biases
- History of Psychology
- Human Factors
- Humanistic Psychology
- Humor
- Hypnosis
- Implicit Association Test (IAT)
- Industrial and Organizational Psychology
- Inferential Statistics in Psychology
- Insanity Defense, The
- Intelligence
- Intelligence, Crystallized and Fluid
- Intercultural Psychology
- Intergroup Conflict
- International Classification of Diseases and Related Healt...
- International Psychology
- Interviewing in Forensic Settings
- Intimate Partner Violence, Psychological Perspectives on
- Introversion–Extraversion
- Item Response Theory
- Kurtosis
- Language
- Laughter
- Law, Psychology and
- Lazarus, Richard
- Leadership
- Learned Helplessness
- Learning Theory
- Learning versus Performance
- LGBTQ+ Romantic Relationships
- Lie Detection in a Forensic Context
- Life-Span Development
- Lineups
- Locus of Control
- Loneliness and Health
- Mathematical Psychology
- Meaning in Life
- Mechanisms and Processes of Peer Contagion
- Media Violence, Psychological Perspectives on
- Mediation Analysis
- Meditation
- Memories, Autobiographical
- Memories, Flashbulb
- Memories, Repressed and Recovered
- Memory, False
- Memory, Human
- Memory, Implicit versus Explicit
- Memory in Educational Settings
- Memory, Semantic
- Meta-Analysis
- Metacognition
- Metamemory
- Metaphor, Psychological Perspectives on
- Microaggressions
- Military Psychology
- Mindfulness
- Mindfulness and Education
- Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
- Money, Psychology of
- Moral Conviction
- Moral Development
- Moral Psychology
- Moral Reasoning
- Motivation
- Music
- Narcissism
- Narrative
- Nature versus Nurture Debate in Psychology
- Neuroscience of Associative Learning
- Nonergodicity in Psychology and Neuroscience
- Nonparametric Statistical Analysis in Psychology
- Observational (Non-Randomized) Studies
- Obsessive-Complusive Disorder (OCD)
- Occupational Health Psychology
- Olfaction, Human
- Operant Conditioning
- Optimism and Pessimism
- Organizational Justice
- Parenting Stress
- Parenting Styles
- Parents' Beliefs about Children
- Path Models
- Peace Psychology
- Perception
- Perception, Person
- Performance Appraisal
- Personality and Health
- Personality Disorders
- Personality Psychology
- Phenomenological Psychology
- Placebo Effects in Psychology
- Play Behavior
- Positive Psychological Capital (PsyCap)
- Positive Psychology
- Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Prejudice and Stereotyping
- Pretrial Publicity
- Prisoner's Dilemma
- Problem Solving and Decision Making
- Procrastination
- Prosocial Behavior
- Prosocial Spending and Well-Being
- Protocol Analysis
- Psycholinguistics
- Psychological Literacy
- Psychological Perspectives on Food and Eating
- Psychology, Political
- Psychoneuroimmunology
- Psychophysics, Visual
- Psychotherapy
- Psychotic Disorders
- Publication Bias in Psychology
- Race
- Reasoning, Counterfactual
- Rehabilitation Psychology
- Relationships
- Reliability–Contemporary Psychometric Conceptions
- Religion, Psychology and
- Replication Initiatives in Psychology
- Research Methods
- Resilience
- Risk Taking
- Role of the Expert Witness in Forensic Psychology, The
- Rumination
- Sample Size Planning for Statistical Power and Accurate Es...
- Savoring
- Schizophrenic Disorders
- School Psychology
- School Psychology, Counseling Services in
- Self, Gender and
- Self, Psychology of the
- Self-Construal
- Self-Control
- Self-Deception
- Self-Determination Theory
- Self-Efficacy
- Self-Esteem
- Self-Monitoring
- Self-Regulation in Educational Settings
- Self-Report Tests, Measures, and Inventories in Clinical P...
- Sensation Seeking
- Sex and Gender
- Sexual Minority Parenting
- Sexual Orientation
- Signal Detection Theory and its Applications
- Simpson's Paradox in Psychology
- Single People
- Single-Case Experimental Designs
- Skinner, B.F.
- Sleep and Dreaming
- Small Groups
- Social Class and Social Status
- Social Cognition
- Social Neuroscience
- Social Support
- Social Touch and Massage Therapy Research
- Somatoform Disorders
- Spatial Attention
- Sports Psychology
- Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE): Icon and Controversy
- Stereotype Threat
- Stereotypes
- Stress and Coping, Psychology of
- Student Success in College
- Subjective Wellbeing Homeostasis
- Suicide
- Taste, Psychological Perspectives on
- Teaching of Psychology
- Terror Management Theory
- Testing and Assessment
- The Concept of Validity in Psychological Assessment
- The Neuroscience of Emotion Regulation
- The Reasoned Action Approach and the Theories of Reasoned ...
- The Weapon Focus Effect in Eyewitness Memory
- Theory of Mind
- Therapies, Person-Centered
- Therapy, Cognitive-Behavioral
- Thinking Skills in Educational Settings
- Time Perception
- Trait Perspective
- Trauma Psychology
- Twin Studies
- Type A Behavior Pattern (Coronary Prone Personality)
- Unconscious Processes
- Video Games and Violent Content
- Virtues and Character Strengths
- Wisdom
- Women and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM...
- Women, Psychology of
- Work Well-Being
- Wundt, Wilhelm