Kayes, NMPapadimitriou, Christina2026-05-202026-05-202023-02-01Clinical Rehabilitation, ISSN: 0269-2155 (Print); 1477-0873 (Online), SAGE Publications, 37(8), 1026-1040. doi: 10.1177/026921552311529700269-21551477-0873http://hdl.handle.net/10292/21150OBJECTIVES: To (1) reflect on challenges to the practice of person-centred rehabilitation; and (2) propose opportunities for the development of person-centred rehabilitation. CHALLENGES: Person-centred practice has received widespread endorsement across healthcare settings and is understood to be an important, positive approach in rehabilitation. However, the rhetoric of this approach does not always translate meaningfully into practice. Emphasis on patient choice, patient involvement in decision making, and increasing patient capacity for self-management have become a proxy for person-centred rehabilitation in lieu of a more fundamental shift in practice and healthcare structures. System (e.g. biomedical orientation), organisational (e.g. key performance indicators) and professional (e.g. identity as expert) factors compete with person-centred rehabilitation. OPPORTUNITIES: Four key recommendations for the development of person-centred rehabilitation are proposed including to: (1) develop a principles-based approach to person-centred rehabilitation; (2) move away from the dichotomy of person-centred (or not) rehabilitation; (3) build person-centred cultures of care in rehabilitation; and (4) learn from diverse perspectives of person-centred rehabilitation. CONCLUSION: Fixed assumptions about what constitutes person-centred rehabilitation may limit our ability to respond to the needs of persons and families. Embedding person-centred ways of working is challenging due to the competing drivers and interests of healthcare systems and organisations. A principles-based approach, enabled by person-centred cultures of care, may achieve the aspirations of person-centred rehabilitation.© The Author(s) 2023. Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC 4.0). This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Person-centred practiceconceptrehabilitationtheory4203 Health Services and Systems42 Health SciencesRehabilitationBehavioral and Social SciencePhysical Rehabilitation7.1 Individual care needs8.1 Organisation and delivery of servicesGeneric health relevance3 Good Health and Well Being11 Medical and Health SciencesRehabilitation32 Biomedical and clinical sciences42 Health sciencesHumansPatient-Centered CareDelivery of Health CareRehabilitation CentersSelf-ManagementHumansRehabilitation CentersPatient-Centered CareDelivery of Health CareSelf-ManagementJournal ArticleOpenAccess10.1177/02692155231152970