Putting a Vocational Focus Back into Rehabilitation

Traditionally, rehabilitation has been closely associated with vocational potential and return to work post-injury, or the maintenance of work attendance following the onset of chronic disease. Indeed, so close was the association that the terms "rehabilitation" and "vocational rehabilitation" were virtually synonymous. Over the recent past there is evidence of a shift away from vocational goals in rehabilitation. The present paper briefly reviews the scientific literature on the mental and physical health benefits of employment. Having established that employment is health-promoting for most people, the paper analyses the content of recent issues of two major rehabilitation medicine journals to present a summary of the nature and extent of a vocational focus within contemporary rehabilitation research and, by implication, within evidence-based rehabilitation service delivery. (Contains 3 tables.)