Anna Lions
Communications Coordinator, Southern Cross Care (SA, NT & VIC) Inc
The Government-funded Short Term Restorative Care (STRC) programme helps older Australians to maintain their independence and keep living at home, but what happens when the eight-week program is over? Well, the answer right now, in many cases, is not enough.
A recent research grant funded by the Aged Care Research & Industry Innovation Australia (ARIIA) aims to help STRC participants continue to manage their health after the program ends. The grant is funding the development and trialling of a self-management workbook, My Health in My Hands, which participants will be guided through by Southern Cross Care allied health professionals.
The workbook includes evidence-based activities for setting health goals and learning about healthy activities, with a focus on the ongoing self-management of their health. Once the program has ended, participants can use the workbook for guidance on eating healthily, exercising, and looking after their wellbeing in a way that is both simple and the most beneficial to them.
The development of the workbook has included research into best practice methods, such as positive goal setting, and co-design with older people who have completed the STRC program. One co-design participant who is enthusiastic to see the workbook used is Peter Johnson. He completed the STRC program a few months ago and said he struggled without ongoing support and encouragement.
‘[The STRC program] gave me more confidence and encouragement as well as, and because of, my improved physical abilities,’ Mr Johnson said. ‘The team answered a lot of my questions during the program but I probably didn’t ask all the questions I needed to and at the end of the program I thought, “what happens now?”’ Mr Johnson said the workbook would have helped him to ‘design, plan and prepare’ for the gap between the end of the STRC program and the beginning of his home care services, in order to keep up his progress.
The workbook development is being overseen by healthy ageing expert Dr Tim Henwood, Group Manager Health & Wellness at Southern Cross Care (SA, NT & VIC) Inc. Dr Henwood is excited by the possibilities that this new workbook offers STRC program participants. ‘The workbook will offer all providers of short-term allied health and therapy programs a tool that clients can reference to learn and be more proactive about their own health,’ said Dr Henwood. ‘While we are trialling it in STRC, we hope it can play a key role in the forthcoming Government Support at Home reform by supporting older clients entering restorative pathways, to graduate from them with enhanced knowledge of how to best self-manage their health.’
The research partners are Justin Koegh, Associate Prof, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine at Bond University, and Dr Paul Swinton, Associate Prof at Robert Gordon University.
The first of the workbooks have now reached STRC participants. From here, the team will assess the impact of the workbook on participants’ health knowledge, wellbeing and allied health participation during and following their STRC program.
*The views and opinions expressed in Knowledge Blogs are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of ARIIA, Flinders University and/or the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care.