Hope for rehabilitation and vice versa

Objectives: To use Snyder's (1989, 1994b) hope theory as a framework for understanding rehabilitation goals and designing effective interventions. Conclusions: According to this theory, hope reflects the perceived capacity to generate routes to desired goals (called pathway thinking) along with the associated motivational thoughts to use those paths (called agency thinking). Given that higher hope has correlated previously with superior physical and mental functioning, it is suggested that the hope construct may be helpful in fostering adaptive rehabilitation processes through the use of intervention techniques aimed at creating clearer and more sustainable goals, increasing pathways thoughts, and instilling greater agency. Furthermore, teaching patients about approaches for facilitating their recoveries using a hope-based vocabulary may have therapeutic value beyond the treatment team's use of hope theory.