Background: The World Health Organisation recognises reablement (and/or ‘rehabilitation’) as essential to supporting people with dementia to maximise their functioning and independence. Yet, many Australians with dementia are still not being offered these interventions, and there is no consensus around how evidence-informed reablement should be implemented.

Methods: A modified Delphi survey using a mixed qualitative/quantitative methodology will be rolled out over 2-3 rounds (depending on level of consensus reached). Participants (‘experts’) will be sought nationally across a range of stakeholder groups: people with lived experience of dementia, allied health practitioners, program managers, referrers, policymakers, experts and thought leaders across the community aged care sector. Delphi methodology will be adapted to increase accessibility for people living with dementia to participate (e.g. accessible language, 3-point Likert scale, offer of support to complete the survey); all expert groups will complete the same version of the survey. In Delphi round 1, experts will rate and comment on a range of implementation concepts and strategies aimed at supporting reablement for dementia implementation. Successive Delphi round(s) will seek further expert reviews for items where consensus could not be reached.

Results and Conclusions: Outcomes from the Delphi process will be presented and inform development of a draft implementation strategy to be piloted in an upcoming hybrid effectiveness-implementation study. Participants at this presentation will gain an insight into the challenges and benefits of engaging with a broad range of national experts to explore fresh ideas with the aim of creating a meaningful connection between research, policy and practice.