A Person-centred and Thriving Promoting Care Model for Residential Aged Care

A Person-centred and Thriving Promoting Care Model for Residential Aged Care

The overall aim of this study is to evaluate the effects, meaning and significance of a person-centred and thriving promoting model for residential aged care in Australia, Norway and Sweden. More specifically, the following research questions will be explored:

1. Can a person-centred and thriving promoting care model increase residents' thriving, and have a positive impact on residents' perception of the caring environment?
2. Can a person-centred and thriving promoting care model increase relatives' satisfaction with care, and have a positive impact on their experience of visiting their relative, and perception of the caring environment?
3. Can a person-centred and thriving promoting care model increase staff's job satisfaction, decrease stress of conscience, and have a positive impact on their perception of the caring environment and person-centred care?
4. What meaning and significance do relatives and staff ascribe to the intervention? The study is designed as a multi-centre, controlled group before-after design with participating sites in Victoria (Australia), Oslo (Norway) and Västerbotten (Sweden). Two residential aged care facilities at each site will be allocated to either intervention or control, in total three intervention and three control facilities divided over the three sites.

Care staff at the intervention facilities will participate in a 12-month education on how to integrate aspects of person-centredness, thriving and a caring environment into daily care practice. Participating staff will work together with their colleagues and members from the research group to create a reflective and creative learning environment that builds on and develops the staff members' clinical experience and skills, and combines it with theoretical and research-based knowledge.

At the control facilities, care staff will participate in a 2-hour lecture on the theoretical and philosophical foundations of person-centredness, thriving and a caring environment, and then continue with practice without further involvement from the research team.

Evaluation data will be collected by study specific questionnaires before the education starts, immediately after the education and at a 6-month follow-up. In addition, focus group interviews and individual interviews will be conducted with a selection of staff members and relatives at the intervention facilities to explore meaning and significance of the intervention.

Inclusion Criteria:

• minimum 18 years of age
• living in the facility for >1 month by the time of data collection
• visiting the residential aged care facility on a regular basis (>1/month)
• working in the residential aged care facility on a temporary and or permanent basis (>1month contract)
• have been working >1 month in the residential aged care facility by the time of data collection.

Exclusion Criteria:

• newly moved in to the facility
• visiting the facility more seldom than once a month
• working on a short-term contract