A Good Lives Model of clinical and community rehabilitation

Abstract

Aims of the paper. The aim of this paper was to introduce the Good Lives Model, originally developed for offender rehabilitation, to the clinical rehabilitation community. We argue that this model has considerable promise, both as a ‘thinking tool’ and as an integrative framework emphasizing the centrality of the person in clinical and community rehabilitation for complex and chronic health conditions.

Key findings and implications. The essential features of a good rehabilitation theory are first outlined. These are the general principles and assumptions that underpin a theory, the aetiological assumptions and the intervention implications. The Good Lives Model for clinical rehabilitation is then described in terms of these three components of a good rehabilitation theory.

Conclusions and recommendations. The Good Lives Model has considerable promise as a tool for integrating many diverse aspects of current best practice in rehabilitation while maintaining the individual client as the central focus. At the same time it is provisional and further theoretical development and empirical support is required.

Keywords:

• Good Lives Model
• rehabilitation theory
• primary goods
• client-centred rehabilitation

Notes

1. In this article we use the term rehabilitation to refer to a long-term process for people with serious and complex health conditions such as multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury. We are not advocating the Good Lives Model for rehabilitation of minor or straightforward injuries.

2. We are currently carrying out a feasibility study using metaphor as a way of engaging people with TBI in goal setting, drawing on the work of Ylvisaker and Feeney [34]. For more information contact [email protected]