To describe physiotherapy in the reablement context in Swedish municipalities with a focus on the content and duration of the intervention and the number of contacts, and to explore factors that had an impact on the interventions delivered by physiotherapists.
In total, 108 PTs from 34 municipalities participated in a web-based survey to collect information about the target group, and the content and focus of interventions. The PTs were instructed to describe interventions (a "case") initiated over a 3-week period. For each case, the PT answered questions including data on the client, type of intervention, and frequency and duration of the intervention. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression.
A total of 1005 cases were reported and the most frequently reported actions were related to technical aids followed by instruction/counseling, walking/climbing stairs, strength training, and fall prevention. Fifty percent of the actions targeted clients with major functional limitations, and almost 90% of the actions targeted primary needs. Half of the actions required one or two contacts. About half of the actions lasted 3 weeks, and about 30% lasted ≥7 weeks. Supervision of home care staff and exercises were the strongest indicators for long duration, and technical aids, instructions/counseling, and fall prevention actions were associated with shorter physiotherapy duration.
Several of our findings indicate that physiotherapy mainly comprises one or a few actions executed over a few weeks, mainly involves technical aids, and mainly focuses on primary needs. This illustrates that physiotherapy in reablement principally aims to compensate for an impairment (ie, using a passive approach), rather than trying to improve/maintain physical function (active approach). Whether this is a conscious strategy based on the purpose of home-based physiotherapy or clients’ needs and wishes, or conversely an expression of limited resources, needs to be investigated in future studies.
This new knowledge contributes to the continuing work to describe the content and extent of reablement, which is needed to be able to evaluate interventions and allocate adequate resources for achieving high-quality, equal, and person-centered care for older people living at home.
reablement
healthy aging
