A recent investigation pinpointed how long-term care communities can help more people with dementia receive the rehabilitation they need to maintain their independence. Enabling more residents to utilize rehabilitative care will require engagement from residents and staff alike.
The report was published Tuesday in BMC Geriatrics.
Researchers studied 17 privately owned long-term care communities in Nova Scotia, Canada. They conducted interviews as well as a focus group that included residents with dementia, their family members, and staff members including physical and occupational therapists. Then the team evaluated the data to identify and assess what keeps people from receiving rehabilitative care (barriers) and what helps them receive it (facilitators). Next, they pinpointed potential interventions that could help more residents to receive care.
Communication difficulties, comorbidities, lack of family member support, complex admissions processes, financial obstacles, low staff, restrictive restraints, and lack of resident motivation were some of the barriers to care that the researchers identified.
“Our participants indicated that the number of rehabilitation staff working in the long-term care homes could not meet the current care demand resulting in lower quantity and quality of care provision,” the authors wrote.
In order to improve access to care, enhanced communication, reducing the use of restraints on residents, making more activity spaces accessible, expanding appropriate staff, and adding equipment could help more residents receive rehabilitative care, the researchers found. Enacting policies, marketing plans, environmental and social planning, and improving financial resources may also help more residents receive care.
The team called for more research in a broader dataset of residents, as well as research into what policies and funding may help. The team also said there could be a role for volunteers to play, which should also be explored in the future.
