MACMILLAN New Dynamics of Disability and Rehabilitation: Interdisciplinary Perspectives

This collection provides a broad coverage of recent changes in medical and vocational rehabilitation in Northern Europe. It presents analyses that cut across health sciences, medical sociology, disability studies and comparative welfare state research. Through this interdisciplinary perspective, the book explores the changing roles of patients, caregivers, professionals and institutions, and the wider implications of these changes for social inequalities in health.  What obstacles do different groups of patients encounter when negotiating the complex chains of medical and vocational services? Who decides regarding references to specialized treatments, and the provision of comprehensive and coordinated services, and different types of benefits and material support? What is the importance of the resources that patients and caregivers bring to bear in the rehabilitation process? Review “This book is timely and relevant; it resonates with ongoing social policy changes (welfare austerity, activation, antidiscrimination, active citizenship etc), increasing specialization in the medical field, changing labour market conditions – and as well with comparative welfare research, medical sociology and disability studies. Its strength is the broad social science perspective combined with a medical and health perspective of rehabilitation services.” (Professor Rafael Lindqvist, Uppsala University, Sweden) “How to manage the increasing rates of disability is a pressing concern throughout the advanced industrial welfare states. In bringing an interdisciplinary perspective to bear on this issue, this book provides an illuminating distillation of the complex challenges that confront rehabilitation policies and services in Northern European welfare states. The result is a wide-ranging and insightful analysis which advances our understanding of how to address this difficult problem.” (Neil Gilbert, Chernin Professor of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley, USA) From the Back Cover This collection provides a broad coverage of recent changes in medical and vocational rehabilitation in Northern Europe. It presents analyses that cut across health sciences, medical sociology, disability studies and comparative welfare state research. Through this interdisciplinary perspective, the book explores the changing roles of patients, caregivers, professionals and institutions, and the wider implications of these changes for social inequalities in health.  What obstacles do different groups of patients encounter when negotiating the complex chains of medical and vocational services? Who decides regarding references to specialized treatments, and the provision of comprehensive and coordinated services, and different types of benefits and material support? What is the importance of the resources that patients and caregivers bring to bear in the rehabilitation process? About the Author Ivan Harsløf is an associate professor at Oslo Metropolitan University, working in the Department of Social Work, Child Welfare and Social Policy. Ingrid Poulsen is a research manager at Department of Neurorehabilitation, TBI Unit at Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, and an associate professor at Section of Nursing Science at Aarhus University, Denmark. Kristian Larsen is a full professor at Department of Learning and Philosophy, Aalborg University, Denmark.