Rehabilitation psychology is a specialty area of psychology aimed at maximizing the independence, functional status, health, and social participation of individuals with disabilities and chronic health conditions. Assessment and treatment may include the following areas: psychosocial, cognitive, behavioral, and functional status, self-esteem, coping skills, and quality of life. As the conditions experienced by patients vary widely, rehabilitation psychologists offer individualized treatment approaches. The discipline takes a holistic approach, considering individuals within their broader social context and assessing environmental and demographic factors that may facilitate or impede functioning. This approach, integrating both personal (e.g., deficits, impairments, strengths, assets) and environmental factors, is consistent with the World Health Organization's (WHO) International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). In addition to clinical practice, rehabilitation psychologists engage in consultation, program development, teaching, training, public policy, and advocacy. Rehabilitation psychology shares some technical competencies with the specialties of clinical neuropsychology, counseling psychology, and health psychology; however, Rehabilitation Psychology is distinctive in its focus on working with individuals with all types of disability and chronic health conditions to maintain/gain and advance in vocation; in the context of interdisciplinary health care teams; and as social change agents to improve societal attitudes toward individuals living with disabilities and chronic health conditions. Rehabilitation psychologists work as advocates with persons with disabilities to eliminate attitudinal, policy, and physical barriers and to emphasize employment, environmental access, social role, and community integration. Rehabilitation psychologists provide clinical services in varied healthcare settings, including acute care hospitals, inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation centers, assisted living centers, long-term care facilities, specialty clinics, and community agencies. They typically work in interdisciplinary teams, often including a physiatrist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, and speech therapist. A nurse, social worker, prosthetist, chaplain, and case manager also may be included depending on individual needs. Members of the team work together to create a treatment plan, set goals, educate both the patient and their support network, and facilitate discharge planning. In the United States, the specialty of Rehabilitation Psychology is coordinated by the Rehabilitation Psychology Specialty Council (RPSC), which comprises five professional organizations that represent the major constituencies in Rehabilitation Psychology: Division 22 of the American Psychological Association (APA), the American Board of Rehabilitation Psychology (ABRP), the Foundation for Rehabilitation Psychology (FRP), the Council of Rehabilitation Psychology Postdoctoral Training Programs (CRPPTP), and the Academy of Rehabilitation Psychology (ARP). RPSC represents the specialty to the Council of Specialties in Professional Psychology (CoS). Rehabilitation Psychology is its official journal. Rehabilitation Psychology is certified as one of 14 specialty competencies by the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP).
History The specialty of rehabilitation psychology was established well before psychologists were regularly involved in healthcare settings. In the 1940s and 1950s, psychologists became increasingly involved in caring for persons with disabilities, often the result of combat injuries. Advances in medical care had led to an increased number of people surviving injuries and illnesses that would have been fatal in previous generations. Individuals living with disabilities and chronic health conditions needed help to adjust, and rehabilitation psychology emerged to meet these needs using psychological knowledge to help maximize independence, health, and welfare. In 1954, the Vocational Rehabilitation Act was passed, providing grant funding for research and program development. As a result of this act, many universities opened vocational rehabilitation counseling programs within their graduate schools. In 1958, Rehabilitation Psychology was established as Division 22 of the American Psychological Association, as an organization of psychologists concerned with the psychological and social consequences of disability, and with the development of ways to prevent and resolve problems associated with disability. By the 1960s, rehabilitation psychology was considered a mature specialty and was prominent throughout the United States. However, it was not until 1997 that the American Board of Professional Psychology approved the establishment of the American Board of Rehabilitation Psychology.
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