Anxiety and depression training for aged care staff
beyondblue, the national organisation that seeks to reduce the social and personal impact of anxiety disorders and depression, has developed new training workshops for aged care staff on the conditions, and new resources for aged care RTOs.
Above: Marie-Anne Schull, manager of older adult projects at beyondblue.
Stephen Easton
A new training program for aged care staff on depression and anxiety disorders in older people is being rolled out nationwide.
Marie-Anne Schull, manager of older adult projects at beyondblue, told delegates at the annual conference for Nurses in Management – Aged Care (NIMAC) last week that the organisation had developed a new training program for aged care staff called Professional Education in Aged Care (PEAC).
A residential care workshop is already available, consisting of a two-hour session for all levels of care staff looking at what depression and anxiety disorders are, how they present in older patients, and ways of promoting residents’ mental health. A further one-hour session is designed for registered nurses, and looks at screening tools, treatment, referral and management.
A similar workshop, but designed for aged care services delivered in the home, is still under development.
beyondblue is not delivering the sessions itself, but is training workshop facilitators from three licensees – Leading Age Services Australia (LASA), McCarthy Psychology and the National Ageing Research Institute (NARI) – who will deliver the training around Australia and will also have responsibility for sales, bookings, pricing and logistics.
Ms Schull said the PEAC program came about after research conducted by NARI, at the request of beyondblue, confirmed the two mental health conditions were more common among older people than the general population.
“Prior to that confirmation, there had been [estimates of] anywhere between 0 to 80 per cent of people in residential care experiencing depression (and less in community care) so we wanted some confirmation of what the research indicated around prevalence,” Ms Schull said.
“Also, we often have aged care providers contacting beyondblue, looking to source training on depression and anxiety disorders.
“So, based on the prevalence rates, coupled with [the number of] aged care providers looking to source training, we undertook an industry scan and identified that there were limited training options available to the sector.”
26 per cent of Australians will experience an anxiety disorder some time in their life, Ms Schull said, and 15 per cent will experience depression in their lifetime. But it was the “startling statistics” for older people in residential aged care that led beyondblue to develop the new training modules.
Ms Schull said that 34.7 per cent of people living in residential aged care facilities have depression and that the rate for anxiety is believed to higher, although the exact prevalence is unconfirmed.
During the presentation, she asked the NIMAC audience to guess which was the more common condition and, contrary to what most thought, the answer was that anxiety disorders are more prevalent.
Older people are less likely to be aware of the symptoms of depression and anxiety disorders, Ms Schull said, and the stigma associated with mental illnesses is also greater among older people. This age group is also less likely to access mental health services than the general population.
To raise awareness among this age group, she added that beyondblue was also in the early stages of a national awareness campaign targeting older people with public service announcements in print, on television and on the radio.
“We’re also developing training materials … to enable registered training organisations to deliver content on depression and anxiety disorders in older people as part of aged care qualifications,” she added.
The free resources, including DVDs, will be available to registered training organisations for Certificate Three in Aged Care courses some time in the next few months from beyondblue’s website, and for Certificate Four courses in a year’s time.
