ABPP Rehabilitation Psychology key terms

The finding that many people with significant disability report quality of life comparable to or better than non-disabled peers, contradicting assumptions that impairment automatically reduces well-being. It cautions clinicians against projecting deficit-based expectations onto patients.

A specialty concerned with the psychological and interpersonal aspects of disability, chronic illness, and injury, and with helping people maximize function, independence, and participation across medical, vocational, and community settings.

A framework holding that health and functioning result from interacting biological, psychological, and social factors rather than from disease alone. Rehabilitation treatment planning commonly uses it to target modifiable contributors to disability.

The World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, which describes functioning through body functions and structures, activities, and participation, with environmental and personal contextual factors shaping outcomes.

The ongoing psychological process by which a person integrates an acquired or progressive impairment into identity and daily life, often involving grief, reappraisal, and rebuilding of valued roles rather than a single endpoint.

Physical, attitudinal, policy, or communication features of a person's surroundings that restrict activity or participation, such as inaccessible buildings or stigma. They are modifiable targets distinct from the person's impairment.

A person's belief in their capacity to execute behaviors needed to reach a goal. In rehabilitation it predicts persistence in therapy, adherence to home programs, and return to valued activities.

A structured evaluation of cognitive domains such as attention, memory, language, visuospatial skill, and executive function using standardized tests, interpreted against norms and the person's premorbid and medical context.

An inference about a person's cognitive and adaptive level before injury or illness, drawn from education, occupation, records, or hold measures, used to judge whether current scores represent genuine decline.

Use of embedded or standalone measures to evaluate whether examinee effort and engagement are sufficient for scores to be interpreted as valid estimates of ability, guarding against invalid data from poor effort or exaggeration.

Methods for assessing the credibility of reported symptoms, such as inconsistency across sources, improbable symptom patterns, or validity scales on self-report inventories, distinct from tests of cognitive effort.

The degree to which test performance predicts real-world functioning such as work, driving, or independent living. Clinicians weigh it when translating scores into functional recommendations.

A structured, often interdisciplinary assessment of a person's physical and cognitive ability to perform work demands, used to inform return-to-work planning, accommodations, and disability determinations.

External benefits that may accompany illness or injury, such as financial compensation, attention, or release from obligations. It is a descriptive concept, not proof of malingering, and requires careful assessment.

Structured training targeting attention, memory, or executive skills through drill-based practice, strategy instruction, and generalization planning, aiming to improve everyday functioning after acquired brain injury or illness.

External aids and internal techniques, such as checklists, reminders, or pacing, that work around persistent cognitive or physical limitations to support independence in daily activities.

A collaborative, person-centered counseling style that evokes and strengthens a person's own reasons for change by exploring ambivalence with empathy and without confrontation, often used to boost rehabilitation engagement.

An approach teaching willingness to experience difficult thoughts and feelings while committing to actions aligned with personal values, useful for chronic pain and adjustment difficulties where symptom elimination is unrealistic.

A structured, goal-oriented treatment targeting unhelpful thought patterns and behaviors, adapted in rehabilitation for depression, anxiety, pain catastrophizing, and fear-avoidance of activity.

A multidisciplinary, work-conditioned program using simulated job tasks, conditioning, and education to build tolerance and readiness for return to employment after injury.

Services helping people with disabilities obtain, retain, or regain employment, including assessment, job matching, worksite accommodation, and coordination with employers and funding agencies.

An indirect service in which a psychologist advises another professional or team on assessment, behavior, or treatment questions, with the referring party retaining primary responsibility for the patient or program.

A group of professionals from different disciplines who coordinate goals and share information to deliver integrated care, requiring clear role negotiation and communication among members.

The deliberate sharing or transfer of specific tasks across disciplines, such as nursing staff carrying out a psychologist-designed behavioral plan, done with training and monitoring to preserve quality.

Action taken on behalf of or alongside a person with a disability to secure rights, services, or accommodations, ranging from individual case advocacy to systemic efforts to change policy.

Agreement to assessment or treatment given voluntarily by a person with decision-making capacity after receiving understandable information about purpose, procedures, risks, benefits, and alternatives.

A person's functional ability to understand relevant information, appreciate consequences, reason about options, and communicate a choice regarding a specific decision, assessed situationally rather than assumed from diagnosis.

The ethical and legal duty to protect information disclosed in a professional relationship, limited by exceptions such as risk of harm, mandated reporting, or authorized releases, and complicated by team-based care.

A court-ordered arrangement in which a person or agency is appointed to make specified decisions for someone judged unable to do so, ideally using the least restrictive alternative available.

United States civil rights law prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, public services, and accommodations, and requiring reasonable workplace accommodations absent undue hardship.

A modification to a job, environment, or policy, such as flexible scheduling or assistive technology, that enables a qualified person with a disability to perform essential functions without imposing undue hardship on the employer.

The evolving emotional, social, and identity-related response to spinal cord injury, including grief, altered roles, and depression risk, which shapes participation outcomes beyond the level of physical impairment.

A cognitive pattern of magnifying the threat or seriousness of pain or symptoms, predicting greater disability and distress, and commonly targeted in cognitive behavioral treatment for chronic pain.

An account in which catastrophic interpretation of pain leads to fear, avoidance of activity, deconditioning, and worsening disability, guiding exposure-based rehabilitation interventions.

A legal document naming a surrogate to make medical decisions if a person loses capacity, supporting patient autonomy and often preferable to guardianship as a less restrictive option.

The collaborative emotional bond and shared agreement on goals and tasks between clinician and patient, which predicts engagement and outcome across rehabilitation therapies.