Full Time Workers Caring for Children with Chronic Illness: A National Study. With advances in medical technology more Australian children with chronic illness are surviving. The support needs of full time workers who care for these children are under acknowledged. This three-phased study will identify these support needs from the workers' perspective. In-depth interviews and population survey will provide data. Synthesised data will provide recommendations that health workers, employers and ....Full Time Workers Caring for Children with Chronic Illness: A National Study. With advances in medical technology more Australian children with chronic illness are surviving. The support needs of full time workers who care for these children are under acknowledged. This three-phased study will identify these support needs from the workers' perspective. In-depth interviews and population survey will provide data. Synthesised data will provide recommendations that health workers, employers and support services can use to develop home, community, employment and information support for these workers. Policy makers and the community can use the findings to address this complex problem of the support needs of full time workers caring for chronically ill children.Read moreRead less
Accommodating the Needs of People with Lifelong Intellectual Disability in Residential Aged Care. Unique challenges face the residential aged care system because of the increased life expectancy of people with life-long intellectual disability and the likelihood of their premature ageing. Although this group is recognised by Federal and State governments as requiring specific and special service arrangements, little is known about adapting disability and aged care services to their needs, thus p ....Accommodating the Needs of People with Lifelong Intellectual Disability in Residential Aged Care. Unique challenges face the residential aged care system because of the increased life expectancy of people with life-long intellectual disability and the likelihood of their premature ageing. Although this group is recognised by Federal and State governments as requiring specific and special service arrangements, little is known about adapting disability and aged care services to their needs, thus program development is in its early stages. This research will inform the development of policy and programs in the Aged Care, Disability and Health sectors with the aim of improving the quality of life for people with intellectual disability as they age.Read moreRead less
Moving beyond crisis management: Creating a future for people with disabilities living with ageing parents. The needs of thousands of people with disabilities being cared for by ageing parents are beyond the capacity of our existing formal mechanisms for providing care. In order to mitigate this national crisis in support, this research will establish effective, resource efficient support strategies where there are currently no plans in place for future care arrangements. By enhancing the capaci ....Moving beyond crisis management: Creating a future for people with disabilities living with ageing parents. The needs of thousands of people with disabilities being cared for by ageing parents are beyond the capacity of our existing formal mechanisms for providing care. In order to mitigate this national crisis in support, this research will establish effective, resource efficient support strategies where there are currently no plans in place for future care arrangements. By enhancing the capacity of the community to provide support the benefit of existing formal supports will be extended to address the needs of more families. This project will position Australian disability research and support at the forefront of international efforts to legitimize the claim of people with disabilities and their families on community resources.Read moreRead less
Maintaining family-based placement for children and young people with disabilities. Aim: To enable families to continue caring at home for children with severe disabilities.
Significance: These families face significant challenges in juggling the demands of work, family and care to the extent that one in four decide to relinquish the care of their child. This leaves more than 37,000 children in Australia at risk of not growing up in their family home.
Expected outcomes: A psychometrically sou ....Maintaining family-based placement for children and young people with disabilities. Aim: To enable families to continue caring at home for children with severe disabilities.
Significance: These families face significant challenges in juggling the demands of work, family and care to the extent that one in four decide to relinquish the care of their child. This leaves more than 37,000 children in Australia at risk of not growing up in their family home.
Expected outcomes: A psychometrically sound instrument that will identify families struggling to care for their children at home, and a family and practitioner guide of innovative solutions to maintaining family-based placements.
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Negotiating caring and employment - the impact on carers' wellbeing. Work and caring compete for carers? time. Little is known about the difficulties of combining work with the care of adults or children with disabilities. Between 40 and 60 percent of Australian carers combine employment with caring responsibilities. The project proposes to adopt a life-course perspective to study the effect of caring on income security, social participation and the health of employed carers. It makes innovative ....Negotiating caring and employment - the impact on carers' wellbeing. Work and caring compete for carers? time. Little is known about the difficulties of combining work with the care of adults or children with disabilities. Between 40 and 60 percent of Australian carers combine employment with caring responsibilities. The project proposes to adopt a life-course perspective to study the effect of caring on income security, social participation and the health of employed carers. It makes innovative use of existing data sources, including new longitudinal survey data, supported by a specially designed program of qualitative research to study key transitions, possible workplace solutions and the effective provision of human services.Read moreRead less
Managing Older People's Financial Assets in Aged Care Facilities: The Intersection of Legal and Care Requirements and Financial Management Practices. This project will provide important new knowledge and propose changes to policy, practice and legislation that will promote older people's independence and choice in how their financial affairs are managed. The physical and cognitive frailty of aged care facility residents is increasing and their capacity to manage their assets and income is often ....Managing Older People's Financial Assets in Aged Care Facilities: The Intersection of Legal and Care Requirements and Financial Management Practices. This project will provide important new knowledge and propose changes to policy, practice and legislation that will promote older people's independence and choice in how their financial affairs are managed. The physical and cognitive frailty of aged care facility residents is increasing and their capacity to manage their assets and income is often limited. This study will address financial elder abuse and problems with how decisions are made on behalf of older people. Improving the legislative, policy and practice frameworks that govern the risks, rights and responsibilities of care staff and family members will assist them to appropriately support and protect older people in residential care.Read moreRead less
The individual, the family and the state: expectations, intergenerational obligations and constraints in providing for old age. Intergenerational equity is a principle underpinning policy debates around financing retirement and care in older age. Enhanced understanding of this cohort's expectations and obligations will assist in policy development around financing retirement and paying for care that takes account of this cohort's expectations and obligations. Further, exploring the expectations ....The individual, the family and the state: expectations, intergenerational obligations and constraints in providing for old age. Intergenerational equity is a principle underpinning policy debates around financing retirement and care in older age. Enhanced understanding of this cohort's expectations and obligations will assist in policy development around financing retirement and paying for care that takes account of this cohort's expectations and obligations. Further, exploring the expectations underpinning intergenerational exchanges from this cohort's perspective will assist in understanding the dynamics around these exchanges and lay the ground work for future research into factors that facilitate cross-generation family functioning.Read moreRead less
Reaching Isolated Carers: Contacting Carers with Unmet Needs for Information and Support. The proposed study ?Reaching Isolated Carers? is an extensive collaboration between the Social Policy Research Centre, a consortium of the relevant New South Wales government departments and Carers NSW. The project aims to use an innovative method for identifying isolated carers (i.e. carers who do not self-identify) and their needs. Isolated carers may be unaware of support services and the way these servi ....Reaching Isolated Carers: Contacting Carers with Unmet Needs for Information and Support. The proposed study ?Reaching Isolated Carers? is an extensive collaboration between the Social Policy Research Centre, a consortium of the relevant New South Wales government departments and Carers NSW. The project aims to use an innovative method for identifying isolated carers (i.e. carers who do not self-identify) and their needs. Isolated carers may be unaware of support services and the way these services can satisfy their needs. The project proposes evidence-based strategies to develop an effective policy for reducing the isolation of these carers. Informing isolated carers about support services would lead to significant improvements in carers? lives.Read moreRead less
Classifying support needs of people with disabilities. The aim of this research is to develop a valid and reliable assessment and classification system of the support needs of people with diverse disabilities. Current methods are found wanting due to neglect of the complex interactions between health condition, activity and context and inability to account for type and intensities of supports needed. The development of a robust system which can be used to assess and classify the support needs of ....Classifying support needs of people with disabilities. The aim of this research is to develop a valid and reliable assessment and classification system of the support needs of people with diverse disabilities. Current methods are found wanting due to neglect of the complex interactions between health condition, activity and context and inability to account for type and intensities of supports needed. The development of a robust system which can be used to assess and classify the support needs of people with a wide range of disabilities and across settings will enable human service agencies to be responsive and tailor their services to individual needs.Read moreRead less
Development of an intervention to enhance rural and regional service delivery to human service clients. A proactive program managing organisational stress and isolation in rural community service organisations is urgently needed to reduce unplanned absences and costly staff turnover among professionals working in a difficult environment. The intervention program focuses on extremely high risk regional workers - professional staff having daily contact with potentially difficult clients (e.g., per ....Development of an intervention to enhance rural and regional service delivery to human service clients. A proactive program managing organisational stress and isolation in rural community service organisations is urgently needed to reduce unplanned absences and costly staff turnover among professionals working in a difficult environment. The intervention program focuses on extremely high risk regional workers - professional staff having daily contact with potentially difficult clients (e.g., persons suffering from neglect, abuse, drugs). Strategies at both organisational and individual levels will be aimed at preventing rather than merely reducing stress. An educational package will be developed, subjected to two cycles of process and outcome evaluation, and prepared for use in this and other regional/rural organisations.Read moreRead less