Reablement training and practice : challenging ageism, ableism, and dependency in the care of older Australians

![CDATA[How can formal care arrangements and procedures using reablement practices of ‘working with’ older people, challenge the stigma of ‘dependency’ in the care of older adults? This project, focused on education of care workers in reablement practice, challenges attitudes in the care of older Australians in both the short and long term. When sustaining these new practices it was discovered that existing social norms around ableism and ageism were contested and innovative behaviours developed. An Australian University and a community care organisation collaborated to co-design and implement a strategy for ensuring a reablement-based model of care was embedded as part of the organisation’s core values (Prior, 2020). This strategy involved the development of bespoke educational training material around reablement and its benefits for community care. It also included an evaluation of staff understanding and skill development following their training and how these staff incorporated new knowledge and values in working to empower older people (Maxwell, 2021). Staff emphasised the successes and challenges associated with the adoption of a formal reablement structure into their current model of care, as well as the alignment of reablement in challenging discourses of ‘dependency’. Staff provided in-depth discussion of how reablement had become a routine part of their daily activities in the direct care of clients and indirectly through organisational based activities such as training, formal and informal feedback, and policy development. Discussion focused on appropriate reablement needs, governance and organisational strategy, reablement as an empowering practice, and strong organisational culture supporting reablement practices.]]