Evidence review and environmental scan update
Evidence needs to be regularly updated to ensure that practices, decisions and policies are informed by the most current and reliable knowledge available. We updated the evidence review and environmental scan for the Rehabilitation, reablement, and restorative care priority topic to find new and emerging research and resources to guide the sector.
Summary of key findings
Evidence review
- Overall, the current evidence is largely consistent with findings from previous reviews, reinforcing the benefits older people gain from rehabilitation, reablement and restorative care.
- New evidence is available for home and community-based settings, supporting the need for guidance to help older people age in place longer and healthier.
- Evidence continues to support interventions such as physical activities, multidisciplinary approaches and transition care that promote functional independence, prevent falls and reduce hospitalisation.
- Evidence supports the inclusion of regular medication review and the benefits from health professional contact and support for older people.
Environmental scan
- The majority of new resources identified are focused on helping older people maintain and regain their function and independence. They provide additional guidance for allied health professionals to enhance their capacity to support older people effectively.
Findings and implications
Evidence review
Overall, current evidence reinforces earlier findings on the benefits of rehabilitation, reablement and restorative care for older people. Support remains strong for physical activity, multidisciplinary approaches and transition care to enhance functional independence, prevent falls and reduce hospitalisation. Recent reviews have also identified several important updates, summarised below with their implications for the sector.
| Key updates | Implications |
| Greater focus on home and community based care interventions for older people | The emphasis on home and community settings aligns closely with the new Aged Care Act’s objectives of delivering person-centred, restorative and reablement-focused care that supports older people to live safely and independently in their chosen environment. This promotes care approaches that maximise independence and participation in everyday life. |
| Inclusion of medication monitoring and reviews as part of allied health and multidisciplinary services | A home medication review by a credentialed pharmacist helps reduce the risk of adverse drug reactions and medication-related harm by identifying and addressing potential interactions among multiple medications. |
| Expansion of remote and technology-enabled care | The use of technology to deliver remote care enables older people to access healthcare services, assist in monitoring and providing support from their own homes. This addresses barriers to attending in-person appointments. |
| Growing emphasis on person-centred and culturally tailored approaches | This supports ageing in place by ensuring care aligns with older people’s individual preferences, values and cultural needs, enhancing their ability to remain safely and comfortably at home. |
| Recognition that support and engagement from health professionals can improve rehabilitation outcomes beyond exercise alone | This emphasises the need to incorporate regular, ongoing engagement from health professionals alongside exercise and other activities. |
Evidence theme updates
Nine of the 12 evidence themes were updated. A summary of the updates for each evidence theme is available below.
| Evidence themes | Updates and contribution to the evidence |
| Allied health |
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| Economic evaluation |
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Environmental scan
The new resources identified collectively align with the new Aged Care Act's emphasis on helping older people live well at home for longer, with care tailored to their goals and capabilities. They cover three main themes available in the table below.
| Key themes | |
| Reablement and wellness in aged care | These resources are helping older people maintain or regain independence through person-centred and capability-building care rather than promoting ongoing dependence on care. |
| Restorative and short-term recovery programs | These resources explain eligibility, service models, guidelines, recovery programs and approaches that support older people to remain living at home. |
| Rehabilitation and allied health support | These resources provide extensive information on rehabilitation and the role of allied health professionals in improving function, mobility and independence for older people. |
Methods
Evidence review
An updated search from June 2023 to May 2026 identified 14 reviews. Of these, seven were relevant to rehabilitation, reablement and restorative care in aged care and were included in the 2026 update. [1-7] The included reviews were then mapped against the existing evidence themes. No new themes were identified from the reviews.
In this update, two reviews that were not systematic reviews in nature, an umbrella review [4] and a scoping review, [3] were included. The umbrella review provided a comprehensive synthesis of evidence relating to home-based interventions in aged care and included important findings relevant to the scope of this update. [4] The other reviews included in this update were not represented within the umbrella review, thereby minimising the risk of overlap or duplication of evidence. The scoping review focused specifically on occupational therapy interventions, which constitute a fundamental component of rehabilitation in aged care. [3] Its inclusion enabled consideration of evidence in an area of particular relevance to current rehabilitation practice.
As the purpose of this update is not to aggregate or quantitatively synthesise findings, but rather to provide a high-level summary of current evidence and to compare these findings with those reported previously, the inclusion of these reviews was considered justified. Their addition strengthens the comprehensiveness of the update by providing relevant, timely and practice-informed evidence to support interpretation and guidance.
Environmental scan
An updated search for freely available Australian resources on the topic, covering June 2024 to May 2026, identified 57 resources. The new resources have been added to the rehabilitation, reablement, and restorative care resource collection.