Co-designing Better Conversations About Care

Communication is how we express our needs, feelings, and choices and how we tell someone that something is wrong. Currently, more than 400,000 older Australians need need support with their communication.

Better Conversations About Care is a new research project where the team will work together with aged care recipients, family members and/or carers and care workers to co-design a communication toolkit to support better conversations about aged care. The toolkit will include; 1. A tool for describing the communication needs of older people; 2. Web-based communication training for aged care workers; 3. Picture-based, simple-English resources for aged care recipients, and; 4. Guidelines to support care planning, feedback and complaints resolution.

Better Conversations About Care is led by Dr Sarah Wallace (UQ) and is funded by a 5-year Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Dementia, Ageing and Aged Care grant (MRF2015728). Prof Victoria Palmer is an investigator on the project and Amy Coe a recently appointed Research Fellow from the ALIVE National Centre. Together, Victoria and Amy will oversee and conduct a co-design evaluation of the tools, training and implementation of these within aged care and home settings. Victoria and Amy recently attended the first project planning day held in Brisbane, with the research team, investigators, partner organisations and members of the living experience group.