Rehabilitation in the home - interplay and conflicts between different parties

• Main Authors: Rafael Lindqvist, Maare Tamm
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Stockholm University Press 2009-07-01
• Series: Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research
• Online Access: https://www.sjdr.se/articles/82

In this article an organisational and professional perspective is combined with a user approach to analyse the difficulties and obstacles that arise when rehabilitation takes place in the home. The reason for this is that organisations appear to play an increasingly important role in the implementation of welfare policies such as care, home help services and rehabilitation in step with decreasing stringency of central government steering. This increased leeway also brings the potential for increased autonomy for the elderly and the disabled in need of rehabilitation. The fact that professional groups belong to different organisations, have various administrative procedures and aims for their activities means that the goals of professional helpers are not always in accord with the needs and wishes of the care receiver. The article highlights a number of collisions and difficulties that occur when rehabilitation is provided in a home-setting. It is argued that the opportunities of success in rehabilitation in the home lie in the rehabilitation staff respecting and starting out from the care receivers values, preferences, goals and needs. Professionals must increasingly organise their work around the holistic needs of the disabled person rather than around the individual fields of specialists, who are needed to meet these needs.