A study of the role of the rehabilitation team

The aim of this study has been to explore the concept of rehabilitation as a team activity in the oncology setting. The researcher has interviewed 15 members of the rehabilitation team in a specialist oncology rehabilitation centre in the United Kingdom and observed the day-to-day activity in the centre. The grounded theory approach has been taken to data collection and analysis. Interviews were semistructured and tape-recorded, observations were recorded in the form of field notes; these and the tapes were used as working documents in the development of theory and transcribed for full analysis. Theories of team work and rehabilitation were developed, and subjected to further scrutiny and confirmation by participants. Staff recognized the existence of a team and sub-teams, which interacted in networks of care, communication and patient referral. Teams were seen as fluid, with merging and changing borders. Specialists remained individuals within the teams. The essence of rehabilitation was seen as the facilitation of the patient to become self-caring and to attain an optimal quality of life.