Swinburne University of Technology in partnership with Uniting (NSW.ACT), The Salvation Army (NSW) and the University of Melbourne has been awarded an ARIIA grant for their project ‘Design and implementation of the Social Connection Assessment and Enablement Toolkit’.
Social isolation in residential aged care (RAC) is a priority concern. This project builds on a successful pilot to prototype a Social Connection Assessment Tool and 7-years of research on activating social connection, to implement and validate a toolkit for RAC staff to engage with clients to understand and activate their social contact needs.
The Social Connection Assessment and Enablement Toolkit will have a question set (Tool), guide-to-use, e-learning module and digital data collection interface. It will inter-link with and enhance quality of life data collection, giving information about client wants that enable lifestyle co-ordinators to connect individuals with valued activities.
Based on pilot findings, outcomes of improved rapport, control and voice are anticipated for clients, with impacts on wellbeing. Using the toolkit will empower staff to have consistent, meaningful conversations with clients about social connection needs while learning how to incorporate these into daily work. The toolkit will assist RAC providers to meet care standards. It will be tested for its capacity to aid staff to connect clients within RAC facilities, and with community activities. The toolkit will be co-designed, context-specific and evidence-based. It will be implemented with 100 clients, 36 staff and 4 Uniting and Salvation Army settings.