Psychosocial Adaptation to Chronic Illness and Disability: Theoretical Perspectives, Empirical Findings, and Current Issues

The search for understanding of the dynamic processes inherent in psychosocial adaptation (PA) to chronic illness and disability (CID) has been a defining focus of rehabilitation psychology since the field's origin. Theoretical, clinical, and empirical findings have generated an active discourse, new and revised models and theories, and an ever-growing catalog of clinical responses. Yet as the experience of living with a CID, the perspectives and frameworks of understanding the individual's response to CID, and the definition and meaning of CID from the perspective of individuals living with CID and the broader society continue to evolve and shift, so too does understanding of psychosocial adaptation. The study of PA to CID to date can be broadly conceived in terms of conceptual and empirical approaches. Conceptual approaches are generally rooted in clinical observations of the individual's experience following the onset of CID, which have led to the development of numerous theoretical frameworks. This chapter provides a review of influential conceptual models and theories. The empirical approach incorporates research investigations of the relationships among a wide range of variables; the review in this chapter of the extensive empirical literature is necessarily limited in focus and scope. The chapter concludes with a discussion of issues and questions that remain central to the ongoing study of adaptation to CID.