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.