Palliative rehabilitation is relationship-centered care.

Area of Science:

• Palliative Care
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Health Communication

Background:

• Palliative rehabilitation is underutilized and poorly understood in managing life-threatening illnesses.
• Patients experience functional decline and shifting priorities requiring flexible, individualized care.
• Conventional rehabilitation models may not adequately address the psychosocial realities of advanced illness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the integration of relationship-centered care principles into palliative rehabilitation.
• To enhance communication, shared decision-making, and alignment of care with patient values.
• To illustrate complexities and missed opportunities in current palliative rehabilitation practices.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of PubMed, CINAHL, and Google Scholar (2015-2025).
• Search terms included "palliative rehabilitation," "relationship-centered care," and "advanced illness."
• Inclusion of empirical, conceptual, consensus, and clinical summary papers focusing on adult populations.

Main Results:

• Palliative rehabilitation emphasizes adaptation to changing patient goals and unpredictable disease trajectories.
• Relationship-centered care acknowledges systemic and relational factors influencing rehabilitation.
• Collaborative, values-based decision-making is essential for aligning care with patient priorities.

Conclusions:

• Integrating relationship-centered care optimizes quality of life, preserves dignity, and aligns care with patient goals in palliative rehabilitation.
• Flexible communication, interdisciplinary collaboration, and appreciation of relational dynamics are crucial.
• Findings have implications for clinical training, practice models, and policy initiatives.