Development of an evaluation tool for geriatric rehabilitation care

BACKGROUND: Geriatric rehabilitation care (GRC) is short-term and multidisciplinary rehabilitation care for older vulnerable clients. Studies were conducted about its effects. However, elements that influence the quality of GRC have not been studied previously. METHODS: In this study realist evaluation is used to find out which are the mechanisms and outcomes and which (groups of) persons are the context for GRC, according to GRC professionals. The mechanisms, outcomes and context of GRC were explored in three consecutive phases of qualitative data gathering, i.e. individual interviews, expert meeting, and focus groups. RESULTS: Eight mechanisms — client centeredness, client satisfaction during rehabilitation, therapeutic climate, information provision to client and informal care givers, consultation about the rehabilitation (process), cooperation within the MultiDisciplinary Team (MDT), professionalism of GRC professionals, and organizational aspects — were found. Four context groups—the client, his family and/or informal care giver(s), the individual GRC professional, and the MDT—were mentioned by the respondents. Last, two outcome factors were determined, i.e. client satisfaction at discharge and rehabilitation goals accomplished. CONCLUSIONS: In order to translate these insights into a practical tool that can be used by MDTs in the practice of GRC, identified mechanisms, contexts, and outcomes were visualized in a GRC evaluation tool. A graphic designer developed an interactive PDF which is the GRC evaluation tool. This tool may enable MDTs to discuss, prioritize, evaluate, and improve the quality of their GRC practice. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12877-019-1213-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.