The Person-Environment Profile: Preliminary Development of a Clinical Tool for Enhancing Goal-Based Rehabilitation Programs

The World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health identifies environmental and personal factors as contextually relevant to functioning following disability. Goal setting is also central to rehabilitation practice and enhances functioning. No current assessment exists that recognizes the interaction of environmental factors as they relate to goal setting in rehabilitation. The person-environment profile (PEP) was developed to explore an individual's subjective view of personal and environmental factors on the achievement of rehabilitation goals. A draft PEP underwent initial face validity testing, and the resulting version was then piloted with 13 participants across 34 rehabilitation goals within a goal-based community rehabilitation setting. Results of this pilot suggest that PEP may have the ability to detect differences in perceived barriers and facilitators across personal and environmental factors for different rehabilitation goals. While showing promise as a clinical tool, the pilot identified feasibility concerns over implementation as a standardized assessment. Substantial additional psychometric evaluation and testing needs to be undertaken before the tool can be recommended for clinical use.