A dozen projects pick up ARIIA grants

A project to address workforce burnout is among the latest to receive a grant from Aged Care Research and Industry Innovation Australia.

The Royal Freemason’s Benevolent Institution in partnership with Macquarie University has been awarded funding for their project to develop and implement a sustainable, multilevel, capability-building initiative to support residential aged care staff recovering from burnout.

“Staff burnout has been identified as a challenge for the aged care sector and a serious issue for the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, so it’s good to address this critical issue,” said ARIIA research director Professor Sue Gordon.

In all, 12 recipients have received funding in the sixth round of ARIIA’s grants program, which aims to fund the development and translation of innovative projects that address important gaps in the capability and knowledge of the aged care workforce.

Other winning projects include:

• Clayton Church Homes, the University of South Australia, Southern Cross Care (SA, NT & Vic), and Geriatric Care Australia to develop a clinical pathway for best practice in dementia care
• Neuroscience Research Australia and HammondCare for developing and implementing a strategy for reablement uptake for people living in the community with dementia
• Southern Cross Care (WA) and Edith Cowan University to create an evidence-based “no one dies alone” in residential aged care program
• Monash University with BlueCross to deliver evidence-based sleep interventions for aged care residents
• University of Wollongong, QPS Benchmarking and Warrigal Care to implement an AI tool to enhance nutrition care in aged care
• Anglicare Community Services, Wesley Mission and Western Sydney University to develop a collaborative, peer-based approach to navigating life transitions and improving mental wellbeing
• MG Food Solutions, Calvary Aged Care and Flinders University to explore if serving a nutrient-enriched food product improves nutritional outcomes and food satisfaction for aged care residents
• Southern Cross Care (NSW & ACT), Queensland University of Technology and AFH Europe to evaluate the usability and acceptance of an automated shower system in residential aged care
• University of Southern Queensland, Oral Tech AI and UnitingCare Community to develop a digital platform to optimise oral health awareness, education and screening in aged care
• Sound Scouts, Maroba Caring Communities and the University of Newcastle for the evaluation of deployable hearing assessment technology in aged care
• Hunter Medical Research Institute and Maitland Community Care Services to implement and evaluate the benefits and sustainability of the ESTEEM Program, which will provide stroke survivors in aged care with physiotherapist-prescribed exercises, socialisation, and creative arts.

The projects will be undertaken over the next 12 months, which means ARIIA will be able to monitor research discoveries as they are translated into real work benefits in real time.

“This is such a refreshing change,” said Professor Gordon, “as, historically, it takes around 17 years to translate research discovery and evidence into practice, and even then, only about 14 per cent of research evidence is fully implemented and integrated.”

Over the course of 2022-23 and six rounds of ARIIA grants, 62 projects have been funded in total. Each project has been funded to a maximum of $160,000 and recipients have each co-contributed towards a translational research project which runs for a 12-month period.

“It is good to see aged care providers and research organisations working together and partnering with others to deliver improvements in areas of need and, as they must make a co-contribution to their project, they have a firm commitment to it,” said Professor Gordon. “I look forward to seeing how the grant projects result in practical outcomes and real-world solutions with efficiency and immediacy that was previously unheard of.”

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