The Effectiveness of Reablement Intervention for Community-Dwelling Elders

Introduction:The ageing population and the increasing need for long-term care services are global concerns nowadays. Many people with chronicle illness, frailty or disability need diverse assistance in daily lives. The purpose of reablement is to help people accommodate illness or disability by learning or re-building the skills necessary for daily living. Some countries have adapted their homecare programs by introducing not only restorative homecare but also reablement intervention, to optimize the independence of community-dwelling adults. High-income countries have promoted a shift from residential care to home-based care, believing it to be a more effective and financially sustainable approach. More and more proportion of older people prefer to age at home and to be active in their everyday life and community. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of reablement intervention for community-dwelling elders

Methods:Participants above 71 years old with disability in a community were collected for examining the effectiveness of the reablement program. Participants received 1-3 months reablement program including occupational therapy and physical therapy by three times per month. Occupational therapists performed the following assessments: health-related quality of life (EuroQoL-5D), base activity of daily living (BADL), Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM). The assessment data before and after intervention were analyzed by SPSS software.

Results:There are 21 participants (mean age ± SD) were recruited for this study. In terms of BADL and EuroQoL-5D, there is a significant difference in dressing and toilet use and total scores (P<.05). In COPM, the goal that 7 people most hope to achieve are walking, 5 people are moving on bed, 7 people are transfer, and 2 people are other ADL goals.

Conclusion:First, we found that reablement is about helping people regain the ability to look after themselves following illness or injury. We also found that this is an important element in the government’s prevention agenda, which is aimed at keeping people as independent as possible for as long as possible in the community.