SUPPORT TO SELF-MOTIVATING GROUPS FOR CARE PREVENTION BY REHABILITATION THERAPISTS IN JAPAN

N. Mutsumi¹, U. Yoshifumi², K. Noriko¹

¹Tohto University, Faculty of Human Care at Makuhari Department of Physical Therapy, Chiba, Japan, ²Ohashi Hospital, Department of Rehabilitation, Tokyo, Japan

Background: In Japan, there are endless opportunities for rehabilitation therapists to become involved with self-motivating groups in long-term care prevention services. However, the support methods vary from person to person. Therefore, it is necessary for rehabilitation therapists to establish effective support methods and processes for self-motivating care prevention groups.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to clarify the process of effective support for care prevention in self-motivating groups by rehabilitation therapists.

Methods: This was a qualitative and inductive study. The subjects were rehabilitation therapists with more than two years of experience in care prevention in self-motivating groups. The research questions were as follows:
(1) What are the rehabilitation therapists’ competencies for the long-term care prevention in self-motivating groups, and
(2) How to make good use of their behavioral characteristics to produce good results?
We conducted semi-structured interviews and analyzed the results using a modified grounded theory approach. An analysis worksheet was used to generate the concept, the content was interpreted as the definition, and the summary was entered as the concept name. Subcategories and categories were generated for those that could express multiple concepts. The overall relationship is summarized as a storyline and result diagram.

Results: The subjects were ten rehabilitation therapists, including nine physical therapists and one occupational therapist (eight males and two females). The mean (standard deviation) was 17.7 (7.0) years for clinical experience, 4.8 (1.7) years for commuting support experience, and 63.3 (9.2) minutes for interview time. We found 28 concepts, 11 subcategories, and five categories for the effective support process of care prevention. The categories are [preparing for support], [high awareness], [knowing the actual situation in the field], [providing effective support], and [deepening and expanding support]. Hereinafter, the categories are indicated by [ ] and concepts by <>.

Conclusions: The process of effective support by rehabilitation therapists for long-term care prevention in self-motivating groups is described as follows. First, in order to eliminate <anxiety about support>, it is necessary to [prepare for support] such as <fully prepare>, <understand the concept of the projects>, and <develop a system>. Further, by [high awareness] and [knowing the actual situation in the field] such as <sympathizing with older residents>, <creating good relationships>, we can [provide effective support] such as <develop older residents’ self-motivation> and provide <professional support>. In addition, it is suggested that <collaborating with other professionals> and <reflecting and making the most of experience> could [deepen and expand support].

Implications: This study clarifies the methods and processes of rehabilitation therapists’ support for long-term care prevention in self-motivating groups, enabling more effective support of higher quality.

Funding acknowledgements: This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (20K19457) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

Keywords:
Self-motivating groups for preventive care activity
Rehabilitation therapists’ support
Long-term care prevention

Topics:
Health promotion & wellbeing/healthy ageing/physical activity
Older people

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes

Institution: Tohto University

Committee: the Ethics Review Committee of Tohto University

Ethics number: R0202