Evaluation of reablement home care: Effects on care attendants, care recipients, and family caregivers

Background: The traditional home care model entails caring “for” people with disabilities, not “with” them. Reablement care has been applied to long-term care, but the evidence for care attendants, home care recipients, and family caregivers simultaneously is limited. Methods: First, a survey was conducted to explore the needs of home care recipients and family caregivers to achieve independence at home to develop the reablement home care model for home care. Then, an intervention with two groups was implemented. The experimental group included a total of 86 people who participated in the reablement home care model. The control group included 100 people and received usual home care. The self-reliance concept, job satisfaction, and sense of achievement for care attendants; quality of life for home care users; and caregiving burden for family caregivers were assessed. Results: The reablement home care model improved the job satisfaction and achievement of home care attendants, improved mutual support and independence in the self-reliance concept and quality of life among the users, and reduced the stress of the users and family caregivers. Conclusion: The reablement home care model improved the outcomes for providers, care recipients, and family caregivers. Reablement home care is suggested in long-term care policies.