Rehabilitation Sciences

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The field of Rehabilitation Sciences within the Graduate Program in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences derives its framework from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF). As the most comprehensive area of study within the program, this field of interdisciplinary academic study includes and integrates multiple areas of knowledge inherent to the ICF model and relative to health and illness; specifically, scholarly work will address interactions between impairments of (1) body structures and function, (2) activity limitations, and (3) restrictions in social participation as they affect individuals in their day-to-day lives. This field of study is formally guided by the understanding that the three component areas can be viewed as synergistic and integrated specific to human functioning, disability, and health under a biopsychosocial model. While impairments to one’s body structures and functions, activity limitations, and social participation restrictions are potentially conceptually distinct notions and in fact represent specific constructs relative to the human condition, when they are considered together they form the main factors which contribute directly to the concept of universalism. Additionally, the ICF model also considers the influence of contextual factors, both environmental and personal, relative to functioning, disability, and health and the universal concept of disablement. Through this interdisciplinary field of study, both synergistic and antagonistic interrelationships across these areas may be addressed in a clearly interdisciplinary fashion. The paradigm for this field of study also provides a heuristic that links formerly disparate areas of health sciences labeled as the basic, clinical, and population perspectives.

Master of Science (MSc)

Consistent with the doctoral level field of Rehabilitation Sciences within the Graduate Program in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, the M.Sc. stream derives its framework from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF). This field of interdisciplinary academic study includes and integrates the multiple areas of knowledge inherent to the ICF model; specifically, scholarly work will address interactions between impairments of body structure and function, activity limitations, and restrictions in social participation as they affect individuals in their day-to-day lives. The M.Sc. component of Rehabilitation Sciences is structured to provide the entering graduate student with a comprehensive understanding of issues that influence and drive the conceptual underpinnings of, and interactions between, the component areas of impairments of body structure and function, activity limitations, and restrictions in social participation. As such, it is the most comprehensive field of graduate study at the M.Sc. level. As an entry level graduate program, the M.Sc. pathway is seen as the initial opportunity to expose students to a larger conceptual model of health and disability with substantial opportunities for academic study. Through this framework, an enriched opportunity for research into a diverse range of topics can occur. The M.Sc. field in Rehabilitation Sciences is designed to facilitate continued advanced study within the complementary doctoral field of study; however, it will also prepare students for doctoral study in other interdisciplinary fields of study.

Core faculty members and research interests for the Rehabilitation Sciences field.

Course descriptions for the Rehabilitation Sciences field.