Project Summary
The South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) in partnership with the Aboriginal Elders & Community Care Services has been awarded an ARIIA grant for their project ‘Building capacity of the aged workforce to meet the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’.
A longstanding challenge in aged care is a lack of suitable professional development training programs for workforce that are tailored towards comprehensively meeting the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in care. Appropriate training is crucial to developing and sustaining a culturally competent workforce within a growing sector that currently faces significant challenges in attracting and maintaining a strong and stable workforce. Ensuring a workforce that is supported to deliver the outcomes required by the Aged Care Quality Standards underpins the Commonwealth Government’s current proposed aged care workforce reforms.
This project addresses the identified training needs of an Aboriginal community controlled aged care organisation and its workforce. The design and content of the training program and resources developed will draw upon the knowledge and experience of workforce who coordinate and deliver care in diverse settings. A professional development training program will be co-designed in collaboration with the organisation's leadership and workforce representing direct care workers and care coordinators across diverse aged care settings.
Project Outcomes
Background and Aims
As the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population aged 50 years and over continues to grow, the need for an aged care workforce that can safely and effectively support their health and wellbeing needs is required. Previous research undertaken with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their families, and service providers, have identified a need to strengthen the capacity of the aged care workforce to meet the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. However, a key challenge faced by the sector is the virtual non-existence of training and professional development programs that centre the health, wellbeing and cultural needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Therefore, the aim of this project was to co-design, pilot and evaluate a training program with our partnering organisation, Aboriginal Community Services, that is specific to workforce employed to deliver care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
What We Did
We used a co-design approach using mixed methods (survey, workshops and interviews) in a three-staged approach with workforce who were involved in determining needs, defining training module areas, determining appropriate content, evaluations, and considerations of scalability. Each stage was guided by a Project Steering Group (PSG) and a Chief Investigator Committee (CIC) comprising a majority of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples. In Stage One, we distributed a training needs assessment survey to Aboriginal community-controlled, not-for-profit and for-profit organisations providing aged care services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Survey questions related to training needs, preferred topics and delivery modes, and barriers and enablers to participate in training. In Stage Two, we brought together the preliminary findings from the survey, a desktop review of Australian literature, and Insights from the PSG and CIC to develop a set of modules which formed the basis of the training program. Each module was developed iteratively before being piloted in a set of workshops with workforce. The purpose of these workshops was to seek guidance, receive feedback and co-design interactive activities. Modules were then imported into ACS’ Learning Management System. In Stage Three, following staff completion of the training program, we held evaluation interviews to understand the impact of the training program and receive additional feedback.
Outcomes
Through this staged approach, we developed a training program titled Walking Together in Aged Care that provides the aged care workforce with a comprehensive understanding of the health, wellbeing and cultural needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples accessing aged care. The survey revealed preferred training topics, areas of need, and delivery modes, and the enablers and barriers to participating in training. These findings, in addition to the desktop review and insights from the PSG and CIC, were used to create a set of modules focusing on Social and Emotional Wellbeing, Ageing Well, Trauma-informed Care, Grief and Loss, Cultural Safety, and Stolen Generation Survivors. Modules were refined iteratively through three pilot workshops and subsequent evaluation interviews, which highlighted high course acceptability, key learnings, suggestions for refining interactive activities, and considerations of applicability and scalability across diverse aged care settings.
Impact on Aged Care and Workforce
While currently only available to ACS staff, the Walking Together in Aged Care training program has significant reach and impact. The training program is currently being rolled out to all staff employed by ACS, who is the largest provider of aged care services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in South Australia. We are in ongoing conversations with a range of stakeholders regarding further development of the training program.
Resources Developed
The Walking Together in Aged Care training program, made up of six modules, is hosted on ACS’ Learning Management System, where it can be accessed by all those employed by ACS (> 150 staff) This is a private server and is not publicly available at this time. Following further development, we aim for the training program to be made available to the aged care workforce. For further information regarding the Walking Together in Aged Care training program, please contact Professor Odette Pearson at odette.pearson@sahmri.com or wardliparingga@sahmri.com. A community report is available on the Population Health, Wardliparingga Aboriginal Health Equity, SAHMRI website.