The John Stanley Coulter lecture. The power of compassion and caring in rehabilitation healing.

Rehabilitation of persons with catastrophic illnesses or injuries is a complex, labor-intensive interaction between patients and caregivers. Experiences of overwhelming loss and suffering evoke strong emotions that shape the behavior of both patients and staff during the rehabilitation process. In response to each patient's unique experience, compassion, caring, and other humanistic qualities of the effective caregiver help create a healing environment. Although these qualities are universally accepted as important, they have not been widely studied or critically examined. In recent years, however, there has been a growing interest in use of scientific methods to investigate the impact of "humanistic elements" (ie, complementary and alternative medicine) as therapeutic agents. A review of 7 articles from this literature provides examples of research-based interventions with potential for enhancing outcomes in traditional rehabilitation populations. In today's high-tech impersonal health care system, the use of scientific methods to show that humanistic treatments are effective may represent an important new frontier and opportunity for rehabilitation research.