ABSTRACT
Over the last decades, quality of life has become one of the main outcomes by which the effectiveness of medical treatment is determined. This development recognises the multidimensional character of illness. Especially in chronic illnesses, this multidimensional character is visible, as many patients have to deal with the behavioural, emotional, cognitive and social consequences of their disease. Rehabilitation programmes have been designed to address these consequences. In the field of respiratory diseases, comprehensive rehabilitation programmes (which comprise educational and pharmacological elements, breathing retraining and physical reconditioning) have been developed since the end of the 1960s (see Petty, 1993, for a historical review) and are now accepted by many respiratory physicians as a beneficial treatment for patients suffering from chronic airway obstruction (American Thoracic Society, 1999).
