Occupational therapists in reablement services in adult social care V1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A critical exploration of the role and impact of occupational therapists working in reablement services in adult social care.
IRAS ID
134840
Contact name
Lisa C J Dibsdall
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of the West of England
Research summary
An analysis of the role of occupational therapists working in reablement services in adult social care from the
perspective of occupational therapists, reablement managers and support workers.
Occupational therapists have traditionally been employed in social care settings largely to enable local authorities to
fulfil their statutory obligations to provide aids and adaptations. Occupational therapists are increasingly becoming
members of reablement service teams.
Reablement has been defined as ‘Services for people with poor physical or mental health to help them accommodate
their illness by learning or relearning
the skills necessary for daily living.’ Some research has been undertaken on
reablement services. There is little research on the role of occupational therapists within these teams. This aims to
study the current role of occupational therapists in three different areas to support other Local Authorities and agencies
to identify how occupational therapists can support service users of reablement services.
The research will focus specifically on reablement services that have been outsourced from Local Authority directly
employed services to services provided by independent provider agencies, as these outsourced reablement services
have not been the subject of published research.
The research is a qualitative study using a multiple case study approach with three sites.
The study will involve observing one or two Occupational Therapists in each of the case study areas for a period of two
working days each. Interviews will be undertaken with occupational therapists and up to three managers. Views of
reablement support workers will be sought via focus groups. Reablement Services and then individual participants
will be recruited by the chief investigator following explanation of the research at a team meeting and information
sheets and consent forms being given to potential participants in named envelopes.
The research is being self funded by the chief investigator.REC name
Social Care REC
REC reference
13/IEC08/0042
Date of REC Opinion
11 Nov 2013
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion