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Let families decide: barriers and enablers to participation in family-assisted therapy for older people in transition care

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posted on 2023-05-21, 15:27 authored by Katherine LawlerKatherine Lawler, Taylor, NF, Shields, N
Objective:To understand the barriers and enablers to participation in family-assisted therapy for older people in Transition Care.

Methods: A qualitative study, underpinned by interpretive description, was conducted at two public health services in Melbourne, Australia. Participants included patients in Transition Care, or their family members, who either participated in or chose not to participate in a family-assisted therapy trial. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically.

Results: Forty-four participants were interviewed (17 patients and 27 family members). The unifying theme was to let families decide about participation in family-assisted therapy. The unifying theme was illustrated by three subthemes. The first, what is possible for the family now, described practical considerations including geography, paid and unpaid work structure and commitments and the presence of fit and willing social networks. The second, what is important to the family now, recognised the role of family priorities in deciding. Physical rehabilitation and extra therapy were of high importance to some families. For others, emotional support or searching for a residential aged care bed were more important at the time. Finally, how the family functions described the complexity of relationships and family history that impacted the decision to participate.

Conclusions:The decision to participate in family-assisted therapy is complex and is best made by patients and their families. Clinicians offering family-assisted therapy are encouraged to avoid assuming what will or will not work for families and instead, to let families decide.

History

Publication title

Australasian Journal on Ageing

Pagination

1-9

ISSN

1741-6612

Department/School

Wicking Dementia Research Education Centre

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Place of publication

Australia

Rights statement

© 2022 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Repository Status

  • Open

Socio-economic Objectives

Allied health therapies (excl. mental health services); Provision of health and support services not elsewhere classified

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