Aging and aged care
The ARCH’s aging research addresses the challenges experienced by older people, healthcare providers and partners in community settings, hospitals and residential aged care. Dementia and multi-morbidity are a focus.
MRFF funding for care workforce training to reduce hospital falls in older people
A project co-led by La Trobe ARCH researchers Professor Meg Morris, Associate Professor Adam Semciw and Professor Katherine Harding that aims to reduce hospital fall injuries has received MRFF funding to foster partnerships with our hospital industry partners.
The nation-wide multi-disciplinary project led by Prof Anne-Marie Hill from UWA will shape how health professionals and patients work together to reduce hospital falls and associated injuries.
The project it has strong partnership links with industry partners Northern Health, led by La Trobe’s Associate Professor Adam Semciw, Healthscope, led by Professor Meg Morris and Eastern Health, led by La Trobe’s Professor Katherine Harding.
It will provide a foundation for effective delivery of patient fall prevention education by working with older people, their families, staff and health professionals.
Austin Health ARCH projects
Health-promoting living conditions and person-centred care of older people
Contemporary trends in aged care policy focus on person-centred care and aging in place. There is, however, limited evidence on how person-centred care can be enacted in home care services and sheltered housing accommodation for older people.
The Umea Aging and Health Research Program (U-AGE) spans research projects employing controlled, cross-sectional and longitudinal designs in aging in place, sheltered housing and nursing homes.
The U-Age Home Care project uses a non-randomised controlled trial to evaluate person-centred home care services from the perspective of older people, family caregivers and home care service staff. It will determine whether person-centred home care services can result in better health, thriving, and satisfaction compared to traditional home care services.
The U-Age TryBio project uses a prospective case-control design to examine whether sheltered housing for older people facilitates people’s health, thriving and quality of life, compared to aging in place. A nationally representative sample of 5000 older people (>70 years) living in sheltered housing and aging in place has been initiated through national registers.
The U-Age Nursing Home project uses a multi-centre, non-equivalent controlled group before and after design with sites in Australia, Norway and Sweden. It will determine whether a person-centred care model for nursing homes can increase thriving for residents, satisfaction with care for relatives and job satisfaction for staff.
International common data elements in long-term care of older people
There are critical gaps in our empirical knowledge to support high quality, person-centred residential long-term care from a global perspective. Key to accomplishing this agenda is an ability to develop common data elements (CDE) that facilitate data sharing, quality and support common outcomes.
A consortium of researchers in medicine, nursing, behavioural and social sciences from 21 countries have established WE-THRIVE. This initiative supports development and consensus of CDEs in the domains of organisational context, workforce and staffing, person-centred care and care outcomes, and their application in research on personhood, wellbeing and quality of life for residents in long-term care.
Dementia-friendly book clubs
Participation in book clubs may help to improve quality of life, cognition and language for people living with dementia. This project uses a randomised controlled trial – encompassing groups of up to 12 people at 20 Bupa care homes in Australia and New Zealand – to investigate whether participation in dementia-friendly book groups is an effective psychosocial intervention.