ECU Social Ageing (SAGE) Futures Lab

This project, led by Dr Cheng Yen Loo and Bronte Jones is investigating the views and experiences of older people living in Western Australia who receive aged care services through a Home Care Package.

A series of focus groups were held in June 2023, which will inform the development of a survey targeting Home Care Package clients and their family caregivers. This research will support the measurement of changes in consumer views so that continuous improvement can be enabled at multiple levels of the organisation.

Frailty KIT: An Australian Frailty Network to Create Knowledge, Implement Findings and Support Training

Frailty is the most significant challenge to 'ageing well' in Australia. More than 20% of people become frail as they age and experience decline in physical, cognitive and social function. The FITTEST Trial is funded by the Medical Research Future Fund Dementia Ageing and Aged Care Mission to prevent and slow the progression of frailty in older Australians.

Led by Professor Ruth Hubbard (The University of Queensland), the FITTEST Trial is a 6-month hybrid effectiveness-implementation study which will involve 390 community-dwelling men and women aged ≥ 65 years with mild frailty receiving a Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment at 16 Geriatric Medicine outpatient clinics across Australia. The intervention group will receive a multicomponent supervised sex-specific frailty program supported by a health coach and online information, while the control group will receive frailty information and resources via a self-directed online portal. The multicomponent interventions will involve Intensive Exercise led by Professor Maria Fiatarone Singh; Nutrition by Professor Michelle Miller; Medication Management by Professor Sarah Hilmer; and Social Support and Engagement led by Professor Loretta Baldassar and project managed by Dr Manonita Ghosh.

The No More Shame study, led by Professor Bianca Brijnath at the National Ageing Research Institute, aims to address the stigma of elder abuse that underlies these current reactions by improving its recognition, response, and referral by health providers. This intervention will comprise a co-designed training program for health providers who work with older people in hospitals. ECU's Dr Catriona Stevens will coordinate the WA sites participating in this trial.

The outcomes of the trial are significant and measurable improvements in health providers knowledge of elder abuse and ageist attitudes; hospitals detection and responses to elder abuse; and older people’s sense of safety, quality of life, and mental health.

This study will realise a key priority for the MRFF Dementia, Ageing and Aged Care Mission, which is to create models of care that maximise medical, nursing and allied health impact to improve quality of life for older Australians. With 14.8% of older Australians experiencing elder abuse, health providers play a vital role in helping elder abuse victims realise that they have nothing to be ashamed of and to create a safe environment for reporting and response.

The BEFRIENDING with GENIE project is funded by the Medical Research Future Fund – Dementia, Ageing and Aged Care Mission, and led by Professor Loretta Baldassar.

Befriending with GENIE addresses inequalities in the knowledge about and uptake of prevention activities, and access to services to support improved outcomes for older people in the community who are living with dementia and their caregivers from four language groups: Italian, Chinese, Vietnamese and South Asian. This project combines two evidence-based interventions: ‘BEFRIENDING’ which consists of informal conversations with a trained facilitator, and ‘GENIE’, which is an online database of support services and activities tailored to participants’ interests and needs and a network mapping tool to measures their social supports over time.