Aged care guide on faith supports care delivery
Meaningful Ageing Australia has launched a guide to inform aged care staff about different faiths.
Spiritual care in ageing peak body Meaningful Ageing Australia has developed an aged care guide on faith to help staff understand the different religions of residents.
The Multifaith Practices guide aims to help residential and home aged care staff to become more inclusive and focused on the individual in their care.
Practices guide
The guide covers Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism and provides an an overview for each on:
- beliefs and values
- sacred texts
- holy days, holidays and ritual observances
- late-life celebrations
- caring practices during illness
- end-of-life practices
- readings and prayers.
The guide is based off Canadian publication Multi-faith Practices: Guidelines for Caregivers, which was published by the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging in 2014.
MAA’s aged care guide on faith has been revised and updated for an Australian and aged care context with input from key representatives of each religious group.
Commitment to caring for people means truly understanding individuals in a way that honours who they have been, who they are now and who they are becoming, said MAA CEO Ilsa Hampton.
“Lists of statistics on their own will not help us with this, but it can be useful to see the amazing mix of backgrounds brought by both the workforce and the older people they are supporting,” Ms Hampton said in the guide.
The guide is available now for MAA members and will become available for non-members to purchase for $20 from October.
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