Getting the rehabilitation message across : emerging barriers and positive health benefits

The world's press frequently contains stories of failed rehabilitation attempts by media personalities, and popular songs on this topic can galvanize strong views. Such events highlight the popularisation of a faulty view that rehabilitation offers only a marginal opportunity for benefit and as such should be avoided at all costs. It is unclear if such scepticism, reinforced by the media, impacts upon those with long-term illness and whether it limits, for example, what pulmonary and cardiac rehabilitation programmes have to offer. In a recent local Primary Care Trust chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) service evaluation report, patients voiced their concern over the term “rehab” as they believe that there is stigma attached to the term. This previously unrecognised concern may form a new barrier to pulmonary rehabilitation programmes. Clearly, any such concern needs to be addressed as these are interventions of great benefit to our patients. However as recruitment and retention of patients into rehabilitation programmes is not easy, as a specialty we need to reflect upon the terminologies we use and how best we “sell” or market these interventions to our patients.