title: The reablement team's voice: a qualitative study of how an integrated multidisciplinary team experiences participation in reablement.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Reablement is an early and time-limited home-based rehabilitation intervention that emphasizes intensive, goal-oriented, and multidisciplinary assistance for people experiencing functional decline. Few empirical studies to date have examined the experiences of the integrated multidisciplinary teams involved in reablement. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to explore and describe how an integrated multidisciplinary team in Norway experienced participation in reablement.
  
  
  METHODS
  An integrated multidisciplinary team consisting of health care professionals with a bachelor's degree (including a physiotherapist, a social educator, occupational therapists, and nurses) and home-based care personnel without a bachelor's degree (auxiliary nurses and nursing assistants) participated in focus group discussions. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the resulting data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three main themes emerged from the participants' experiences with participating in reablement, including "the older adult's goals are crucial", "a different way of thinking and acting - a shift in work culture", and "a better framework for cooperation and application of professional expertise and judgment". The integrated multidisciplinary team and the older adults collaborated and worked in the same direction to achieve the person's valued goals. The team supported the older adults in performing activities themselves rather than completing tasks for them. To facilitate cooperation and application of professional expertise and judgment, common meeting times and meeting places for communication and supervision were necessary.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Structural factors that promote integrated multidisciplinary professional decisions include providing common meeting times and meeting places as well as sufficient time to apply professional knowledge when supervising and supporting older persons in everyday activities. These findings have implications for practice and suggest future directions for improving health care services. The shift in work culture from static to dynamic service is time consuming and requires politicians, community leaders, and health care systems to allocate the necessary time to support this approach to thinking and working.
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy and Radiography, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Bergen University College, Bergen, Norway; Centre for Care Research Western Norway, Bergen University College, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Kari Margrete
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Hjelle
authors.affiliation: Centre for Care Research Western Norway, Bergen University College, Bergen, Norway; Department of Health and Social Educators, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Bergen University College, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Olbjørg
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Skutle
authors.affiliation: Centre for Care Research Western Norway, Bergen University College, Bergen, Norway; VID Specialized University, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Oddvar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Førland
authors.affiliation: VID Specialized University, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Herdis
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Alvsvåg
keywords: framework conditions; goal-setting; multidisciplinarity; reablement; rehabilitation; work culture