As the overwhelming majority of older people prefer to remain in their own homes and communities, innovative service provision aims to promote independence of older people despite incremental age associated frailty. Reablement is one such service intervention that is rapidly being adopted across high-income countries and projected to result in significant cost-savings in public health expenditure by decreasing premature admission to acute care settings and long-term institutionalisation. It is an intensive, time-limited intervention provided in people's homes or in community settings, often multi-disciplinary in nature, focussing on supporting people to regain skills around daily activities. It is goal-orientated, holistic and person-centred irrespective of diagnosis, age and individual capacities. Reablement is an inclusive approach that seeks to work with all kinds of frail people but requires skilled professionals who are willing to adapt their practise, as well as receptive older people, families and care staff. Although reablement may just seem the right thing to do, studies on the outcomes of this knowledge-based practice are inconsistent-yet there is an emerging evidence and practice base that suggests that reablement improves performance in daily activities. This innovative service however may lead to hidden side effects such as social isolation and a paradoxical increase in hospital admissions. Some of the necessary evaluative research is already underway, the results of which will help fill some of the evidence gaps outlined here.

BackgroundThere has been an increasing interest in reablement in Norway recently and many municipalities have implemented this form of rehabilitation despite a lack of robust evidence of its effectiveness. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of reablement in home-dwelling older adults compared with usual care in relation to daily activities, physical functioning, and health-related quality of life.MethodsThis is a parallel-group randomised controlled trial conducted in a rural municipality in Norway. Sixty-one home-dwelling older adults with functional decline were randomised to an intervention group (n = 31) or a control group (n = 30). The intervention group received ten weeks of multicomponent home-based rehabilitation. The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) was used to measure self-perceived activity performance and satisfaction with performance. In addition, physical capacity and health-related quality of life were measured. The participants were assessed at baseline and at 3- and 9-month follow-ups.ResultsThere were significant improvements in mean scores favouring reablement in COPM performance at 3 months with a score of 1.5 points (p = 0.02), at 9 months 1.4 points (p = 0.03) and overall treatment 1.5 points (p = 0.01), and for COPM satisfaction at 9 months 1.4 points (p = 0.03) and overall treatment 1.2 points (p = 0.04). No significant group differences were found concerning COPM satisfaction at 3 months, physical capacity or health-related quality of life.ConclusionA 10-week reablement program resulted in better activity performance and satisfaction with performance on a long-term basis, but not the other outcomes measured.Trial registrationThe trial was registered in ClinicalTrials.gov November 20, 2012, identifier NCT02043262.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12877-015-0142-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

As a result of the ageing population worldwide, there has been a growing international interest in a new intervention termed 'reablement'. Reablement is an early and time-limited home-based intervention with emphasis on intensive, goal-oriented and interdisciplinary rehabilitation for older adults in need of rehabilitation or at risk of functional decline. The aim of this qualitative study was to describe how older adults experienced participation in reablement. Eight older adults participated in semi-structured interviews. A qualitative content analysis was used as the analysis strategy. Four main themes emerged from the participants' experiences of participating in reablement: 'My willpower is needed', 'Being with my stuff and my people', 'The home-trainers are essential', and 'Training is physical exercises, not everyday activities'. The first three themes in particular reflected the participants' driving forces in the reablement process. Driving forces are intrinsic motivation in interaction with extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation was based on the person's willpower and responsibility, and extrinsic motivation was expressed to be strengthened by being in one's home environment with 'own' people, as well as by the co-operation with the reablement team. The reablement team encouraged and supported the older adults to regain confidence in performing everyday activities as well as participating in the society. Our findings have practical significance for politicians, healthcare providers and healthcare professionals by contributing to an understanding of how intrinsic and extrinsic motivation influence reablement. Some persons need apparently more extrinsic motivational support also after the time-limited reablement period is completed. The municipal health and care services need to consider individualised follow-up programmes after the intensive reablement period in order to maintain the achieved skills to perform everyday activities and participate in society.