Neuroscience Research Australia in partnership with HammondCare has been awarded an ARIIA grant for their project ‘Developing and implementing a strategy for reablement uptake for community-dwelling people living with dementia’.
One in 10 Australians aged 65 or over have dementia, a leading cause of progressive disability. The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety recommends ‘enabling interventions’ such as occupational therapy and exercise to support ability to do everyday activities.
People living with dementia want access, but these interventions are not being offered in usual dementia care. This research seeks to understand how to overcome barriers to successfully delivering enabling interventions within the real-world setting of community aged care service providers, using sustainable Commonwealth funding sources.
In parallel, the project aims to explore whether meaningful outcomes can be achieved for people living with dementia participating in enabling interventions. We are in the process of exploring current practice for when community-dwelling people with dementia are referred for everyday living support.
Outcomes will inform the proposed research: we will seek national input around how to deliver these enabling interventions within community aged care services, to draft a nationally relevant implementation strategy. We will then progress to an implementation phase where we will test the new strategy and explore program outcomes for people with dementia. Outcomes have potential to improve the national landscape of services offered to Australians living with dementia.