'Best fit' caring skills of an interprofessional team in short-term goal-directed reablement: older adults' perceptions

Dilemmas in rehabilitation and patient strategies in an intensive home intervention: a follow-up study

BACKGROUND

The original project, where older persons received reablement performed by an interprofessional team showed success factors for IHR. However, since there is a lack of knowledge about why some persons do not recover despite receiving IHR, this study follows up patients' experiences of IHR.

AIM

To describe older persons' perceived dilemmas in the reablement process within the framework of IHR.

METHOD

11 CIT interviews with participants who have previously received IHR, were analysed, interpreted and categorized according to CIT. The study was approved by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority.

RESULTS

The results showed disease-related dilemmas, fatigue or pain so that participants could not cope with the prescribed exercises. New diseases appeared, as well as medication side effects made exercising difficult, and painkillers became a prerequisite for coping with IHR. Low self-motivation and mistrust towards the staff emerged like lack of trust due to otherness such as sex, cultural background, or language also became critical.

CONCLUSIONS

Interventions that consider individual- and contextual dilemmas are very important. By recognizing critical situations, this study can work as a basis of evidence to further develop interventions for older people living in their own homes and to ensure them to stay there.

Culturally sensitive active ageing seen through the lens of the welfare theory of health: assistant nurses' views

Assistant nurses caring for older adults with immigrant backgrounds are on the front lines of a practical, theoretical, and policy battlefield. They need to implement culturally sensitive care provision while not overstating the importance of culture, thereby, contributing to a negative picture of older immigrants as especially problematic. One proposed way to strike such a balance is the welfare theory of health (WTH). In this article, we let assistant nurses apply the WTH to a series of questions in four different vignettes representing the life stories of older persons who characterize typical dilemmas described by the theory. The results show that, through the lens of the WTH, assistant nurses looked for individual care preferences rather than stereotypical ideas about cultural characteristics. Further, the assistant nurses expressed a desire to get to know the persons more deeply to better interpret and understand their individual preferences. Thus, the theoretical framework is useful not only for exposing vulnerabilities to which some older adults with immigrant backgrounds may be exposed, but also for finding ways to mitigate the vulnerability by illuminating vital life goals and using them as a framework to organize care. This approach allows for mitigating the gap between the vital life goals and available resources to achieve a holistic state of health.

"Intensive-Home-Rehabilitation" Intervention for Older Persons: A Follow-Up Study of Team Members' Perceptions

Background

Reablement as a concept includes a health-promoting perspective with the goal of strengthening health and the ability to perform and participate in daily activities, a broader perspective than in general home care and rehabilitation. Reablement interventions have shown to be both more effective and to a greater extent improve the function and health-related quality of life of older persons when compared to traditional home-based care. Success factors for intensive-home-rehabilitation (IHR), an intervention based on the reablement concept, have been described earlier; however, there is a lack of knowledge about why some persons do not recover despite receiving IHR.

Aim

The aim was to shed light on the older persons' conditions during IHR from the perspective of the rehabilitation team members and to describe obstacles to recovery.

Methods

Qualitative analysis of health and care records of persons (65+) who received IHR (n=19) performed by an interprofessional team.

Results

The analysis revealed various problematic situations, dilemmas, that occurred in the older persons' lives during IHR, as well as their consequences and the strategies employed by the older persons as a result. IHR aspects perceived as successful by the older persons also emerged, as well as differences in experiences of the physical and mental aspects of the IHR. Analysis also revealed reasons why the IHR might be experienced as broadly successful.

Conclusion

The older persons seemed to be satisfied with IHR and achieved their goals; however, some seemed to need more time to reach their goals. Background factors such as having additional diagnoses and living alone might affect the rehabilitation process.

Implication for Practice

The study provides knowledge regarding the importance of IHR for the recovery process for the increasing numbers of older persons, which might also be useful in other patient groups requiring otherwise long-term rehabilitation and recovery such as after covid-19 infection.

Publication Trends in Reablement - A Scoping Review

Background

Reablement is a holistic and multidisciplinary intervention that can facilitate achievement of service users' goals related to their independence in everyday activities. Reablement has been the subject of increasing scientific activity in recent years. Currently, no review has provided a broad overview of the extent and breadth of international publications in reablement.

Objective

The objectives were 1) to map the volume of reablement publications, how the publications had increased over time, and their geographical distribution, 2) to identify the publication types and designs, 3) to identify publication trends, and 4) to identify knowledge gaps in the current peer-reviewed literature.

Methods

The scoping review approach designed by Arksey and O'Malley was used to identify peer-reviewed articles on reablement. Information was obtained on scientific activity on reablement over a period of more than two decades from five electronic databases and without language restrictions. Data was extracted from the eligible articles and both descriptive analysis and thematic analysis of the data was performed.

Results

A total of 198 articles published from 1999 to August 2022 from 14 countries were identified. There is a continuous interest in the field from countries where reablement has been implemented. An international and historical overview among countries with peer-reviewed publications on reablement is presented, which also partly reflects the countries that have implemented reablement. Most of the research derives from Western countries, in particular from Norway. Varied approaches to publications in reablement were noted with the majority being empirical and quantitative in nature.

Conclusion

The scoping review confirms the continued expansion of the breadth of reablement-focused publications in terms of originating countries, target populations, and research designs. In addition, the scoping review contributes to the knowledge base regarding reablement's research front.

Factors that influence the provision of home-based rehabilitation services for people needing rehabilitation: a qualitative evidence synthesis

BACKGROUND

To increase people's access to rehabilitation services, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to explore how the delivery of these services can be adapted. This includes the use of home-based rehabilitation and telerehabilitation. Home-based rehabilitation services may become frequently used options in the recovery process of patients, not only as a solution to accessibility barriers, but as a complement to the usual in-person inpatient rehabilitation provision. Telerehabilitation is also becoming more viable as the usability and availability of communication technologies improve.

OBJECTIVES

To identify factors that influence the organisation and delivery of in-person home-based rehabilitation and home-based telerehabilitation for people needing rehabilitation.

SEARCH METHODS

We searched PubMed, Global Health, the VHL Regional Portal, Epistemonikos, Health Systems Evidence, and EBM Reviews as well as preprints, regional repositories, and rehabilitation organisations websites for eligible studies, from database inception to search date in June 2022.  SELECTION CRITERIA: We included studies that used qualitative methods for data collection and analysis; and that explored patients, caregivers, healthcare providers and other stakeholders' experiences, perceptions and behaviours about the provision of in-person home-based rehabilitation and home-based telerehabilitation services responding to patients' needs in different phases of their health conditions.   DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: We used a purposive sampling approach and applied maximum variation sampling in a four-step sampling frame. We conducted a framework thematic analysis using the CFIR (Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research) framework as our starting point. We assessed our confidence in the findings using the GRADE-CERQual (Confidence in the Evidence from Reviews of Qualitative research) approach.  MAIN RESULTS: We included 223 studies in the review and sampled 53 of these for our analysis. Forty-five studies were conducted in high-income countries, and eight in low-and middle-income countries. Twenty studies addressed in-person home-based rehabilitation, 28 studies addressed home-based telerehabilitation services, and five studies addressed both modes of delivery. The studies mainly explored the perspectives of healthcare providers, patients with a range of different health conditions, and their informal caregivers and family members.  Based on our GRADE-CERQual assessments, we had high confidence in eight of the findings, and moderate confidence in five, indicating that it is highly likely or likely respectively that these findings are a reasonable representation of the phenomenon of interest. There were two findings with low confidence. High and moderate confidence findings Home-based rehabilitation services delivered in-person or through telerehabilitation  Patients experience home-based services as convenient and less disruptive of their everyday activities. Patients and providers also suggest that these services can encourage patients' self-management and can make them feel empowered about the rehabilitation process. But patients, family members, and providers describe privacy and confidentiality issues when services are provided at home. These include the increased privacy of being able to exercise at home but also the loss of privacy when one's home life is visible to others.  Patients and providers also describe other factors that can affect the success of home-based rehabilitation services. These include support from providers and family members, good communication with providers, the requirements made of patients and their surroundings, and the transition from hospital to home-based services. Telerehabilitation specifically Patients, family members and providers see telerehabilitation as an opportunity to make services more available. But providers point to practical problems when assessing whether patients are performing their exercises correctly. Providers and patients also describe interruptions from family members.  In addition, providers complain of a lack of equipment, infrastructure and maintenance and patients refer to usability issues and frustration with digital technology. Providers have different opinions about whether telerehabilitation is cost-efficient for them. But many patients see telerehabilitation as affordable and cost-saving if the equipment and infrastructure have been provided. Patients and providers suggest that telerehabilitation can change the nature of their relationship. For instance, some patients describe how telerehabilitation leads to easier and more relaxed communication. Other patients describe feeling abandoned when receiving telerehabilitation services.  Patients, family members and providers call for easy-to-use technologies and more training and support. They also suggest that at least some in-person sessions with the provider are necessary. They feel that telerehabilitation services alone can make it difficult to make meaningful connections. They also explain that some services need the provider's hands. Providers highlight the importance of personalising the services to each person's needs and circumstances.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS

This synthesis identified several factors that can influence the successful implementation of in-person home-based rehabilitation and telerehabilitation services. These included factors that facilitate implementation, but also factors that can challenge this process. Healthcare providers, program planners and policymakers might benefit from considering these factors when designing and implementing programmes.

Factors Impacting User Engagement in Reablement: A Qualitative Study of User, Family Member and Practitioners' Views

Background

The challenges of population aging have fostered the adoption of reablement as a core pillar of older people's care in many developed economies. Aligning with wider literature on the association between "patient" engagement and outcomes, emerging evidence points to the impact user engagement may have on reablement outcomes. To date, existing research on the factors implicated in engagement with reablement is rather limited.

Objective

To identify and describe factors which impact user engagement in reablement from the perspectives of reablement staff, staff in interfacing services, service users and family members.

Sample and Methods

A total of 78 staff were recruited from five sites across England and Wales. Twelve service users and five family members were recruited from three of these sites. Data were collected via focus groups with staff and interviews with service users and families, and subject to thematic analysis.

Results

The data revealed a complex picture of factors potentially impacting user engagement, ranging from user-, family-, and staff-centered factors, the nature of the relationship between staff and users, and aspects of service organization and delivery across referral and intervention pathways. Many are amenable to intervention. As well as offering a more fine-grained understanding of factors reported by previous research, new factors impacting engagement were identified. These included staff morale, equipment provision systems, assessment and reviewing processes, and attention to social reablement needs. Aspects of the wider service context (eg, degree of integration of health and social care) played a role in determining which factors were pertinent.

Conclusion

Findings highlight the complexity of factors influencing engagement with reablement, and the need to ensure features of the wider service context (eg delivery models, referral pathways) do not work against securing and sustaining older people's engagement with reablement.

Informal caregiving from the perspectives of older people living alone in India

BACKGROUND

The cultural and social norms in India stipulate that family and preferably children of the older person, provide the support and care that is needed. In recent years, we have witnessed an overall upsurge in interest in informal care from all countries in the developed world considering their ageing populations. The older people living alone group is, especially interesting in this matter, since it seems to deviate from the expectations of extended family living.

OBJECTIVE

The aim was to describe older persons' experiences of informal care when living alone in India.

METHODS

The study has a hermeneutic design, analysing interviews of older persons living alone in India.

RESULTS

Findings revealed informal care as the thematic patterns: Informal care as a fundamental human responsibility, an obligation and thereby a way to act in 'common sense'. It was a way of 'paying-back' care that they had received from others in their life history, motivated by governmental care was not presented as an option. Informal care also created safety by the provision of alert and actionable care by loved ones, including spatial safety. Most of the informants experienced themselves as informal caregivers assisting others in need even if they themselves were old and fragile. Providing self care was also seen as a part of informal care conducted by capable and worthy persons. They also pointed out their own obligation to seek informal care and even to listen to the suggestions of younger generations regarding the type and scope of care.

CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Informal care in India is not only dependent on having children who ensure that you receive the care you need. Extended family, neighbours and friends feel a basic human obligation to care for the older people in their environment. This responsibility is deeply rooted even within the older people who become fragile in old age.

ASSIST: a reablement program for older adults in Sweden - a feasibility study

Background

Western countries emphasise the provision of assistive home care by implementing reablement services. Reablement services are offered to a limited degree in Sweden, and systematic research regarding outcomes and how reablement can be tailored to maximize benefits for older adults has been lacking. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of a novel reablement program (ASSIST 1.0) regarding study design and outcome measures, as well as fidelity, adherence, and acceptability of the program in a Swedish context.

Method

A non-randomised, quasi-experimental, mixed-method, pre/post-test design was applied with an intervention group receiving ASSIST 1.0 (n = 7) and a control group receiving regular home care (n = 10). ASSIST 1.0 was developed to empower older adults to increase their perceived performance and satisfaction of performing activities in everyday life as well as increase their perceived health, self-efficacy, and well-being. ASSIST 1.0 was founded on the concept of reablement and included three components: i) goal setting with The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM), ii) provided support to home care staff to enhance their provision of reablement, and iii) explored the incorporation and use of an information- and communication technology (ICT) to facilitate information transfer.

Results

Using COPM for goal setting with older adults and providing support to the staff via workshops were valuable components in the delivery of ASSIST 1.0. The ICT product encountered several challenges and could not be evaluated. COPM and EQ-5D were deemed the most important instruments. Organisational and political barriers affected the feasibility. Although, the fidelity and adherence were complied the staff perceived the program to be acceptable.

Conclusion

The ASSIST 1.0 program was feasible in regard of study design, delivering the intervention, and evaluating instruments that detected a change. A logical progression would be to conduct a full-scale trial. In addition, a usability study to evaluate the technological component is also recommended. With minor improvements, the ASSIST 1.0 program has the potential to contribute to the development of a home care organisation that could enhance older adults possibility to age in place at home.

Trial registration number

NCT03505619

A scoping review exploring reablement models of training and client assessment for older people in primary health care

Aim:

The aim of this scoping review is to explore the evidence by which community service providers have integrated reablement models of staff training and client assessment into practice.

Background:

The concept of reablement, which has emerged during the last two decades globally, has recently been defined by health experts from 11 countries through a Delphi study. Reablement is seen as a way to support integrated frameworks that achieve person-centred, long-term care and assistance across community settings. International research indicates there is some evidence of developing models of reablement that include staff training and individual components of client assessment. However, evidence of integrating reablement into interdisciplinary practice continues to be sparse.

Methods:

The review adopted the preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) approach. Inclusion criteria for the review related to community care, primary care, long-term care, and residential care. Populations of interest included service providers, interdisciplinary staff, trainers, and assessors.

Results:

A total of 11 papers were reviewed. The studies varied in their approach to reablement training and client assessment frameworks. Three studies included assessment of staff well-being. All included evidence-based, person-centred components that can be integrated across health care settings. Single disciplinary approaches were used in all studies and some included training evaluation.

Conclusion:

This review has identified that currently reablement models are not yet embedded as frameworks for practice by community service providers in primary health care settings. Different programmes of training and assessment are being designed based on single disciplinary approaches and the context in which they are delivered. Further developmental work is required to integrate the components of discipline-specific training programmes within interdisciplinary frameworks. This will achieve not only an integrated framework for delivery across settings but also further the success of ‘ageing in place’ policy.

Exploring behavior change techniques for reablement: A scoping review

BACKGROUND

Reablement is a team-based person-centered health and social care model, most commonly available for community-dwelling older adults. Understanding the components of reablement and how it is delivered, received, and enacted facilitates best evidence and practice. Determining behavior change techniques (BCTs) or strategies is an important step to operationalize implementation of reablement.

OBJECTIVE

We conducted a scoping review of peer-reviewed literature to identify BCTs used within reablement studies.

METHODS

We registered our study with the Joanna Briggs Institute and conducted five database searches. Inclusion criteria were peer-reviewed studies focused on adults and older adults without significant cognitive impairment or dementia receiving reablement, and all study designs, years, and languages. We excluded studies focused on reablement for people with dementia or reablement training programs. The last search was on April 8, 2021. Two authors screened independently at Level 1 (title and abstract) and 2 (full text). Two authors adjudicated BCTs for each study, and a third author confirmed the final list.

RESULTS

We identified 567 studies (591 publications) and included 21 studies (44 publications) from six global locations. We identified 27 different BCTs across all studies. The three most common BCTs for reablement were goal setting (behavior), social support (unspecified), and instruction on how to perform a behavior.

CONCLUSIONS

We highlight some behavioral components of reablement and encourage detailed reporting to increase transparency and replication of the intervention. Future research should explore effective BCTs (or combinations of) to include within reablement to support health behavior adoption and maintenance.

Promotion of Physical Activity Through Reablement for Older Adults: Exploring Healthcare Professionals' Clinical Reasoning

Introduction

Reablement is an interdisciplinary, multifactorial, and individualized intervention aimed at improving function and maintaining the independence of community-dwelling older adults who receive home care services. Physical activity (PA) is important for functional ability in older adults, but it is unclear how PA is promoted through reablement. Healthcare professionals' (HCPs) clinical reasoning and decision-making are essential and determine how reablement is delivered to individuals. Exploring how HCPs integrate PA into their clinical reasoning is critical to understanding how PA is integrated within reablement. To gain knowledge of how PA is integrated within reablement, there is a need to explore how HCPs integrate PA into their clinical reasoning.

Purpose

The study aimed to explore how PA is integrated into HCPs' clinical reasoning in a Norwegian reablement setting.

Methods

Sixteen HCPs, including occupational and physical therapists, registered nurses, and other home care staff, were recruited from four Norwegian municipalities. They participated in semi-structured interviews that were transcribed verbatim, and an interpretive content analysis approach was used.

Results

PA was integrated into multifaceted clinical reasoning captured by the main theme: "Improving the person's ability to participate in meaningful activities." Within this overall theme, two sub-themes emerged with a primary focus on either i) increasing physical capacity or ii) improving activity performance. Each subtheme encompassed different aspects of clinical reasoning and diverse perspectives on how to integrate PA in reablement.

Conclusion

HCPs' decision-making in reablement builds upon complex clinical reasoning and incorporates diverse perspectives on integrating PA in the delivery of reablement. This broad approach may be useful in targeting different needs, preferences, and contexts. There is a need to further investigate how PA is appropriately promoted through reablement, how it meets the needs and preferences of participants, and which contextual factors influence PA promotion through reablement.

Reablement through time and space: a scoping review of how the concept of 'reablement' for older people has been defined and operationalised

BACKGROUND

While the field of rehabilitation has determined a common definition of professional practice, legislators and healthcare professionals in various Western countries have struggled to reach consensus about how the newer offer of 'reablement' should be organised, operationalised, and understood as a health service for older adults. International research indicates that there is confusion, ambiguity, and disagreement about the terminology and the structure of these programmes, and they may not be adequately supporting older people's self-identified goals. Could an analysis of the concept's genealogy illuminate how reablement can be more effective and beneficial in theory and in practice?

METHODS

We conducted a qualitative and quantitative scoping review to determine how reablement has developed through time and space. Eligible articles (N=86) had to focus on any of the defined features of current reablement programmes; there were no restrictions on study designs or publication dates. In articles published from 1947 to 2019, we identified themes and patterns, commonalities, and differences in how various countries described and defined reablement. We also performed an analysis using computer software to construct and visualise term maps based on significant words extracted from the article abstracts.

RESULTS

The fundamental principles of reablement have a long history. However, these programmes have undergone a widespread expansion since the mid-2000s with an intention to reduce costs related to providing long-term care services and in-home assistance to growing older populations. Despite theoretical aspirations to offer person-centred and goal-directed reablement, few countries have been able to implement programmes that adequately promote older people's goals, social involvement, or participation in their local community in a safe, culturally sensitive and adaptable way.

CONCLUSIONS

Reablement is meant to support older people in attaining their self-defined goals to be both more physically independent at home and socially involved in their communities. However, until legislators, health professionals, and older people can collectively reach consensus about how person-centred reablement can be more effectively implemented and supported in professional home-care practice, it will be difficult to determine a conceptual description of reablement as a service that is unique, separate, and distinct from standard rehabilitation.

Integration of Physical Activity in Reablement for Community Dwelling Older Adults: A Systematic Scoping Review

Background

Reablement is a rehabilitative intervention provided to homecare receivers with the aim of improving function and independence. There is limited evidence of the effectiveness of reablement, and the content of these interventions is variable. Physical activity (PA) is known to be important for improving and maintaining function among older adults, but it is unclear how PA is integrated in reablement.

Purpose

To map existing evidence of how PA strategies are integrated and explored in studies of reablement for community dwelling older adults and to identify knowledge gaps.

Methods

An a priori protocol was published. Studies of time-limited, interdisciplinary reablement for community-dwelling older adults were considered for inclusion. Eight databases were searched for studies published between 1996 and June 2020, in addition to reference and citation searches. Study selection and data extraction were made independently by two reviewers.

Results

Fifty-one studies were included. Exercise strategies and practice of daily activities were included in the majority of intervention studies, but, in most cases, little information was provided about the intensity of PA. Interventions aiming to increase general PA levels or reduce sedentary behavior were rarely described. None of the studies explored older adults’, healthcare providers’ or family members’ experiences with PA in a reablement setting, but some of the studies touched upon themes related to PA experiences. Some studies reported outcomes of physical fitness, including mobility, strength, and balance, but there was insufficient evidence for any synthesis of these results. None of the studies reported PA levels among older adults receiving reablement.

Conclusion

There is limited evidence of how PA is integrated and targeted to older adults’ individual needs and preferences in a reablement setting. The feasibility and effectiveness of PA interventions, as well as experiences or barriers related to PA in a reablement setting, should be further investigated.