Self-awareness Enhancement through Learning and Function (SELF): a theoretically based guideline for practice.

Introduction: Impaired self-awareness is a significant barrier to successful rehabilitation. This paper presents a new guideline for practice, entitled Self-awareness Enhancement through Learning and Function (SELF). Description: The SELF is a newly developed guideline for practice, which incorporates the latest theoretical information from neuroscience, psychology and computer science regarding self-awareness, learning, cognition and care giving, with evidence of the importance of participation in occupation. The SELF provides clear evaluation and treatment postulates using therapeutic alliance, occupation, belief perspectives, brain education and compensatory strategies to improve self-awareness. Discussion: The current approach to the treatment of impaired self-awareness focuses on testing and performance feedback. This approach does not have evidence to support its effectiveness and there is some evidence that the approach actually contributes to emotional distress and increased denial of deficits. Conclusion: The SELF integrates the art and the science of occupational therapy to foster self-awareness in an empathetic and dignified manner. Occupational therapists are uniquely qualified, and should be leaders, in the integration of personal factors, environmental elements and occupations to improve self-awareness. The SELF provides occupational therapists with guidelines for using these interrelationships to restore self-awareness in a manner that builds confidence and skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]