The following definition is presented in the Ontario draft provincial policy framework document entitled: "Managing the Seams":
"Rehabilitation is a goal-oriented and often time-limited process, which enables individuals with impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions to identify and reach their optimal physical, mental and/or social functional level through a client-focused partnership with family, providers and the community. Rehabilitation focuses on abilities and aims to facilitate optimal independence and social integration."
The Champlain District Health Council Rehabilitation Ambulatory Study defined the notion of rehabilitation as an evolving one, the definition of which has shifted markedly in the last few decades. Several principles are at the core of current knowledge about rehabilitation:
- Rehabilitation is about improving the quality of life of people with impairments, activity limitations or participation restrictions resulting from illness or injury, and enabling their participation in society.
- In order to achieve rehabilitation goals related to participation in society, services addressing individuals' bio-psycho-social needs, as well as their social and environmental contexts, are necessary.
- Client-centred rehabilitation services, in which clients are active participants in goal-setting, are more effective than those which are solely defined and prescribed by professional care providers
- Rehabilitation is a dynamic process.
- The rehabilitation process happens both within and beyond walls and institutions: rehabilitation services therefore need to be built around "spaces" or "places" along the continuum, rather than beds.
- Rehabilitation is a highly inter-disciplinary process delivered through a complex array of public and private programs and services, and by multiple providers.
