Do patients receiving rehabilitation benefit from being treated by a physical therapist who also has a disability? This study addressed that core question. Participants included PTs with or without disabilities and their patients. Results showed that a shared identity of disability “positively impacted therapeutic alliance.” The article details the research process, and offers suggestions for its application in the clinic and the university.

Many of the articles in the Fall issue of JHR speak of the need for increased empathy in rehabilitative care. Although the concept may feel groundbreaking, it is not new. Michael and Enid Balint created Balint groups in the 1950s, where physicians met regularly to discuss their cases with a focus on humanism. This article reports on the implementation of a Balint group experience in a current DPT curriculum. Direct quotes from the students detail the benefits of the experience for themselves—and their future patients.

This study conducted interviews with occupational therapists to report on their perceptions of political advocacy. The interviews identified three key ways that advocacy fundamentally benefits OT: It helps practitioners fight for clients’ access to quality care; it advances the profession itself; and it can continually influence policy changes. But how can OTs find the time, and the space, to advocate? Quotes from interviewees bring the abstract down to the clinic level.

Maltese physiotherapist Maria Cynthia deBono explores the journey that young people take after acquiring a physical impairment. Her research reveals how the actual lived experiences portray this journey as a rollercoaster ride, stabilised by a sense of continuity.