BackgroundReablement is an early and time-limited home-based rehabilitation intervention that emphasizes intensive, goal-oriented, and multidisciplinary assistance for people experiencing functional decline. Few empirical studies to date have examined the experiences of the integrated multidisciplinary teams involved in reablement. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to explore and describe how an integrated multidisciplinary team in Norway experienced participation in reablement.MethodsAn integrated multidisciplinary team consisting of health care professionals with a bachelor’s degree (including a physiotherapist, a social educator, occupational therapists, and nurses) and home-based care personnel without a bachelor’s degree (auxiliary nurses and nursing assistants) participated in focus group discussions. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the resulting data.ResultsThree main themes emerged from the participants’ experiences with participating in reablement, including “the older adult’s goals are crucial”, “a different way of thinking and acting – a shift in work culture”, and “a better framework for cooperation and application of professional expertise and judgment”. The integrated multidisciplinary team and the older adults collaborated and worked in the same direction to achieve the person’s valued goals. The team supported the older adults in performing activities themselves rather than completing tasks for them. To facilitate cooperation and application of professional expertise and judgment, common meeting times and meeting places for communication and supervision were necessary.ConclusionStructural factors that promote integrated multidisciplinary professional decisions include providing common meeting times and meeting places as well as sufficient time to apply professional knowledge when supervising and supporting older persons in everyday activities. These findings have implications for practice and suggest future directions for improving health care services. The shift in work culture from static to dynamic service is time consuming and requires politicians, community leaders, and health care systems to allocate the necessary time to support this approach to thinking and working.

IntroductionReablement is a service for home-dwelling older people experiencing a decline in health and function. The focus of reablement is the improvement of the person’s function and coping of his or he valued daily activities. The health care professionals and the home care personnel are working together with the older person toward his goals. In reablement, health care personnel are organized in an interdisciplinary team and collaborate with the older person in achieving his goals. This organizing changes the roles of home care personnel from working almost alone to collaborating with different health care professionals. There is little scientific knowledge describing the roles of different health care professionals and home care personnel in the context of reablement. This study’s objective is to explore and describe the roles of interdisciplinary teams in reablement services in a Norwegian setting.MethodTwo interdisciplinary teams consisting of 17 health care professionals (i.e. occupational therapists, physiotherapists, nurses, and social educators) and ten home care personnel (auxiliary nurses and nursing assistants) participated in three focus group discussions. In addition, three interviews were conducted with occupational therapists, physiotherapists, nurses, and auxiliary nurses. The focus group discussions and the interviews were all digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed using the qualitative content analysis.ResultsThe health care professionals’ main role was to be consultants and advisors, consisting of (1) planning, adjusting, and conducting follow-ups of the intervention; (2) delegating tasks; and (3) supervising the home care personnel. The home care personnel’s main role was to be personal trainers, consisting of (1) encouraging and counseling the older adults to perform everyday activities; and (2) conveying a sense of security while they performed everyday activities. The role of interdisciplinary collaboration was a common role for both the health care professionals and the home care personnel.ConclusionThe health care professionals established the setting, and had the main roles of supervision, delegating tasks, and main responsibility for the intervention. The home care personnel accepted the delegations and had a main role as personal trainers. Their work changed from body care to encouraging and counseling the older person to perform activities themselves in a safe way. The health care professionals and the home care personnel collaborated closely across roles. The home care personnel experienced a shift in role from home care to a person-centered care. This was perceived as strengthening the health care identity of their role.

No abstract