title: Rehabilitation in the real-life environment of a shopping mall.
abstract: The aim of this study was to explore how shopping malls could be used during rehabilitation and to identify the facilitators and barriers to their use.
  
  
  
  Two focus groups, conducted with 15 rehabilitation professionals from various disciplines and working with people with disabilities of all ages were structured around two topics: (i) The usage of malls for rehabilitation and (ii) Factors that facilitate or limit rehabilitation professionals' use of the mall as an environment for clinical assessment and/or intervention.
  
  
  
  The thematic analysis revealed that shopping malls were used to achieve several rehabilitation goals targeting physical and cognitive skills, psychological health and socialization. This real-life environment is motivating and helps foster independence and normalization. Factors affecting mall use during rehabilitation included personal factors (e.g. clients' personality and level of readiness) and environmental factors (e.g. clinical context, accessibility of the mall and social attitudes of store owners).
  
  
  
  Shopping malls may be a relevant rehabilitation assessment and treatment environment that could contribute to optimizing community integration of people with disabilities. Implications for rehabilitation To ensure successful community reintegration, clients could be trained at some point during their rehabilitation, to perform activities in real-life settings, such as a shopping mall. Shopping malls appear to enable the attainment of rehabilitation goals targeting a variety of skills. This real-life environment appears to be motivating and helps foster independence and normalization. Factors felt to affect mall use during rehabilitation include personal factors (e.g. clients' personality and level of readiness) and environmental factors (e.g. clinical context, accessibility of the mall and social attitudes of store owners). The shopping mall may be an untapped resource as it appears to be a relevant rehabilitation assessment and treatment environment that could contribute to optimizing community integration of people with disabilities.
authors.affiliation: a Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation of Greater Montreal (CRIR) , Montréal , Canada.|b Department of Psychology , Université de Québec à Montréal , Montréal , Canada.
authors.forename: Delphine
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Labbé
authors.affiliation: a Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation of Greater Montreal (CRIR) , Montréal , Canada.|c Faculté de l'Aménagement , Université de Montréal , Montréal , Canada.
authors.forename: Tiiu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Poldma
authors.affiliation: a Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation of Greater Montreal (CRIR) , Montréal , Canada.|d Adaptech Research Network , Montréal , Canada.|e Department of Psychiatry , McGill University , Montréal , Canada.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fichten
authors.affiliation: d Adaptech Research Network , Montréal , Canada.
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Havel
authors.affiliation: a Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation of Greater Montreal (CRIR) , Montréal , Canada.|f School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University , Montréal , Canada.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kehayia
authors.affiliation: a Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation of Greater Montreal (CRIR) , Montréal , Canada.|f School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University , Montréal , Canada.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mazer
authors.affiliation: a Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation of Greater Montreal (CRIR) , Montréal , Canada.|f School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill University , Montréal , Canada.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: McKinley
authors.affiliation: a Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation of Greater Montreal (CRIR) , Montréal , Canada.|g École de réadaptation, Université de Montréal , Montréal , Canada.
authors.forename: Annie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rochette
authors.affiliation: a Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation of Greater Montreal (CRIR) , Montréal , Canada.|g École de réadaptation, Université de Montréal , Montréal , Canada.
authors.forename: Bonnie
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Swaine
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D062309:Community Integration; D003256:Community Participation; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D000072087:Occupational Therapists; D059825:Physical Therapists; D012931:Social Environment
keywords: Participation; community rehabilitation; environment; shopping mall