FEATURE ENABLEMENT
Pushing the enablement agenda
Donna Morling-Grove reflects on the experience of helping social care staff to adapt their skills and move from care to enablement , and in doing so , build their confidence in a new way of working
Following the launch of RCOT ’ s Improving
Lives , Saving Money campaign in 2016 , I was approached by one forward-thinking social care provider to train their staff in the art of enablement .
Now , in the wake of COVID-19 , with the spotlight being pointed firmly at care homes and increased demand on already stretched resources , it seemed like a good time to share some observations from the training programme and the results of the subsequent audit .
The aim of the programme was not to completely retrain the staff , but to highlight the skills they already had , adapt these skills to move from care to enablement , and build confidence in a new way of working .
As it so often with change , some of the staff were resistant at first , and anyone who has worked in social care will be familiar with the potential ‘ them and us ’ dynamic between support and clinically qualified staff ; the use of humour was paramount in bringing them on board for the training to be successful ( Fovert 2009 ).
One of the barriers to staff prioritising enablement over care is a limited understanding of the benefits of enablement beyond the scope of being on a rehab unit , and the confidence to use the approach .
A frequent argument presented is that staff do not have the time to carry out enablement .
During the training it was important to unpack this belief and examine how enablement could actually give staff more time . One participant came up with the following analogy : ‘ It ’ s like when you have a baby , the toddler has to start doing things for itself ( like dressing and toileting ), otherwise you would have to do everything for both of them and you just don ’ t have enough time ’.
One of the main beliefs that seems to fuel resistance to enablement from care staff is that the clients ‘ just want to be looked after ’. An opening activity was used to dispel this myth ; it gathered an interesting range of ideas about dignity , confidence and satisfaction , and all participants found they would prefer enablement to care .
This helped to dispel the myth the older people want to be cared for , with the participants having identified the benefits for themselves . The result was increased engagement and enthusiasm for the training and to apply what was learnt to practice . It helped the participants to understand the long-term benefits of enablement and feel confident they were offering their clients the best possible option .
Two weeks after completing the training course , with the help of the manager , anonymous questionnaires were distributed to the staff : 19 out of 25 were returned , giving a 76 per cent response rate .
The questionnaires provided a series of closed questions with space at the end to expand on the answers or provide an answer that had not been captured in the questions .
Two months afterwards , those who were willing were interviewed about how the course had changed their way of working . The majority of respondents agreed that the course had changed the way they work . Comments on the main areas that had changed included :
52 OTnews February 2021