What Older Adults Want to Improve their Quality of Life

Barbara Braithwaite, Safe Swallowing Team • October 6, 2021

An interesting article in the September 29, 2021 issue of Aged Care Insite magazine talks about quality of life measures in the aged care industry that have typically relied on clinical indicators, such as an individual's weight, past medical history or prescription use.

 

Professor Julie Ratcliffe from Flinders University, a health economist, led a team to interview 3,000 older Australians and their carers to ask what they believe makes a good quality of life. Whilst a clinical approach to care is vital in our older population, it can exclude the older person in Aged Care system where clinical decisions are often made separate to the consumer.

 

Ensuring quality of life and care are now measurable due to Professor Ratcliffe’s research as she and her team have developed a quality indicator program. The government’s transition care program links aged care and health programs through the journey from hospital to aged care, either at home or in a residential facility. 

 

Professor Ratcliffe’s team however, realised the lack of good tools for measuring quality of life for our older population. Surveying across all ages about what was important to them regarding quality of life, 12 key indicators became clear and centred around both physical and emotional aspects of life.

 

Younger people placed more importance on health dimensions (sleep, mental health, physical aspects of life). Older people placed more value on wider quality of life/wellbeing, social, independence and maintaining meaningful activities. The differences were obvious. Quality of care and quality of life were seen as a vital component in the Royal Commission into Aged Care and Safety.

 

The team then developed quality of life in Aged Care consumer tools, defining 6 key areas outlined by the older person with at home care or care within a residential aged care facility.  They were maintaining: independence, mobility, good emotional wellbeing, social connections, meaningful activities and pain management.

 

Quality of care also centred around 6 key areas of: dignity and respect, being part of the decision-making process in the support the older person receives, staff having the skills and training for good care, support services for quality of life, social relationships and the ability to make complaints knowing that appropriate action would be taken as a result.

 

The team’s aim is that these tools are included in all aged care programs. With positive feedback from the facilities and consumers who were involved in this program, these tools have been included already in several situations, with an initial baseline taken and goals for the consumer’s future being tracked over time. Some facilities are already using the tools as part of their annual audit process. The team is currently working on digitalising the tools so that consumers have a quick, easy way to more actively direct the passage of their life, in care.

 

The importance of having tools to highlight how we define good standards of living, how providers can improve care and why people need to be at the centre of measuring life quality are all essential components in caring for our ageing population.

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