Support workers as agents for health behavior change: An Australian study of the perceptions of clients with complex needs, support workers, and care coordinators

Abstract

An expanding aging population has placed increased demands on health care resources in many countries. Enhancing community aged care support workers' role to support greater client self-management and reablement is therefore timely. This article presents perceptions of the impact of an Australian practice change initiative designed to enhance knowledge, skills, and confidence of support workers to support behavior change in clients with complex health care needs. A comprehensive training program was delivered in 2013. Methods included thematic analysis of interviews with clients, focus groups with support workers and coordinators, and collection of case studies of client/support worker behavior change interactions. Client, support worker, and coordinator responses were highly positive, reporting improvement in the quality of interactions with clients, client health outcomes, care coordination, communication, and teamwork. Mental health literacy remained the biggest knowledge gap. This research showed that support workers are ideally placed to be more actively involved in motivating clients to achieve behavior change goals.

Reablement through time and space: A scoping review of how the concept of ‘reablement’ for older people has been defined and operationalised

“…37, 1347-1352. https://doi.org/10.3109/09638288.2014.963707 Tables Table 1. Australian research mentions that 'reablement', developed and formalised since the 1990s, has focused on goal-or dementia. Such interventions have been described as a form of reablement (e.g., Cations et al, 2018; The book "Ageing in Australia" included a chapter "Care and Support for Older People" with a section on the more physical or mental health to help them accommodate their illness by learning or relearning the skills necessary for centred service and emphasised the necessity to develop an aged-care workforce of professionals capable to do th While restorative home care / reablement services for older adults have been "shown to be effective in reducing fu everyday activities, and quality of life" (Lewin et al, 2016: 807), the literature often focuses on support workers an collaboration (Lewin et al, 2016), to promote health-behaviour change (Lawn et al, 2017a), and to develop the ski A trend towards developing better collaboration is evident in a paper about the feasibility of LifeFul, a relationship care (Low et al, 2018). However, the authors stated that one of the main challenges to successfully implementing A critical review described reablement as "an emerging global practice model in community-and home-based care worldwide, researchers and policy makers still have questions about what reablement means and how it is used in wish to improve the functionality of clients so they can continue to live in their own homes; the authors concluded regrettable (Doh et al, 2019: 13).…”

Participants’ perceptions of interactions with community health workers who promote behavior change: a qualitative characterization from participants with normal, depressive and anxious mood states

“…His randomized controlled trial based in Brazil demonstrated that CHWs as compared to trained counselors were equally effective in improving depression scores of patients. Lawn et al [ 68 ] found that lay support workers were an important part of an Australian care team and contributed to motivating complex patients to achieve behavioral change outcomes. Eli et al [ 69 ] conducted a randomized trial with Latino patients with evaluated depression and either heart disease or diabetes.…”

The service triangle and power: the role of frontline home support workers and consumer‐directed care—an Australian context

“…Lawn et al . () and Lawn et al . () examined future enhancement and skill development of the home support worker role.…”