Reablement and support workers

Abstract

Chapter outline Support workers are key to the delivery of reablement services as they are the people who work on a day-to-day basis with service users. Support workers may join reablement teams without any experience in working in health and social care. More commonly, support workers move into reablement teams from therapy assistant roles or from working in a home care service. These support workers bring a wealth of experience to the role, but differences in both the process and the outcome of reablement and home care can offset the benefits of this experience. Reablement is a change in approach to care from being ‘task-led’ to a ‘doing with’, person-centred and outcomes-based approach. This holistic view of working with people who use these services has been largely welcomed by support workers who enjoy supporting them to do more for themselves. This chapter will consider some key skills and techniques used by support workers in reablement services, such as use of equipment, activity analysis and energy conservation. Support workers need appropriate training and education in reablement so that practice is meaningful, and the concept of reablement is clearly understood and articulated. This is fundamental to an inclusive approach to interacting with the service user, enabling them to grow in confidence and autonomy, and engage in the process of reablement. Suggested topics for inclusion in reablement training are included in this chapter and it is argued that occupational therapists (OT) are suitably experienced, and well placed, to provide this training. Before reading any further, you may want to recap on the concept discussed in Chapter 1 in the section ‘Defining occupation, activity and task (OAT) for reablement interventions’. Chapter objectives By the end of this chapter you should be able to: ➢➢ Outline the development of the reablement support worker role ➢➢ Compare and contrast ‘doing to’ and ‘doing with’ support worker approaches ➢➢ Explain the role of the support worker ➢➢ Evaluate equipment and reablement techniques support workers may use ➢➢ Describe the training requirements for being a support worker ➢➢ Consider the opportunities and challenges of being a support worker