Effects of community-based physical-cognitive training, health education, and reablement among rural community-dwelling older adults with mobility deficits

Reablement services are approaches for maintaining and improving the functional independence of older adults. Previous reablement studies were conducted in a home environment. Due to the limited evidence on the effects of multicomponent interventions and reablement in a community-based context, this study aimed to develop and evaluate the effect of community-based physical–cognitive training, health education, and reablement (PCHER) among rural community-dwelling older adults with mobility deficits. The trial was conducted in rural areas of New Taipei City, Taiwan. Older adults with mild to moderate mobility deficits were recruited from six adult daycare centers, and a cluster assignment was applied in a counterbalanced order. The experimental group (n = 16) received a PCHER intervention, comprising 1.5 h of group courses and 1 h of individualized reablement training, while the control group (n = 12) underwent PCHE intervention, comprising 1.5 h of group courses and 1 h of placebo treatment. A 2.5-h training session was completed weekly for 10 weeks. The outcome measures contained the de Morton Mobility Index (DEMMI), the Saint Louis University Mental Status (SLUMS) Examination, the Barthel Index (BI), the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), and the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM). The PCHER significantly improved the DEMMI, SLUMS, BI, SPPB, and COPM (all p < 0.05), with medium-to-large effect sizes. PCHER also showed an advantage over PCHE in terms of the SPPB (p = 0.02). This study verified that combining individualized reablement with group-based multicomponent training was superior to group courses alone in enhancing the functional abilities of community-dwelling older adults with mobility deficits.