Exploring perceptions of eating with dementia: Findings from a massive open online course.

People with dementia are at high risk of malnutrition as a result of progressive symptoms that affect eating. Maximising opportunities to enhance nutrition and strategies to encourage eating are a crucial part of providing care. Caregiver knowledge and a person-centred approach to eating is essential to reduce symptom burden and maintain quality of life.

Best intentions or best practice? A case study of the nutritional needs and outcomes of a person with dementia living in a residential aged care home.

Aims: To evaluate the nutritional status and needs of a person with dementia living in an aged care home, including identification of barriers to, and effective strategies for, the provision of person-centred care.

Background: Nutrition and hydration care are integral to quality of life for adults with dementia, but there is little research on whether staff knowledge around effective care strategies for residents is translated into optimal care.

Design: Focused ethnographic single-case design.

Staff awareness of food and fluid care needs for older people with dementia in residential care: A qualitative study.

Aims And Objectives: To examine awareness of aged care home staff regarding daily food and fluid care needs of older people with dementia.

Background: Older people in residential care frequently are malnourished, and many have dementia. Staff knowledge of the food and fluid needs of people with dementia is limited.

Nursing students' preferences for clinical placements in the residential aged care setting.

Aims And Objectives: To examine nursing student placement preferences submitted as online comments to a university's placement management system, to inform strategies for positive residential aged care experiences.

Background: There are predicted shortages of nurses to service an ageing population. Clinical placements undertaken by undergraduate nursing students help shape their attitudes and are a key determinant of career decision-making, yet there is little research about why students prefer particular placement areas.

"Bringing the outside world in": Enriching social connection through health student placements in a teaching aged care facility.

Background: Older adults living in residential aged care facilities (RACFs) often experience limited opportunities for social connection despite close proximity to peers, which has implications for mental health and quality of life (QoL). The introduction of large-scale undergraduate health student placements in RACFs may enhance opportunities for meaningful engagement through social connection, although this remains unexplored.

Objective: This research explores whether interpersonal encounters between health students and RACF residents influence residents' opportunities for social connection and QoL.

Using action research to build mentor capacity to improve orientation and quality of nursing students' aged care placements: what to do when the phone rings.

Aims And Objectives: To describe whether an action research approach can be used to build capacity of residential aged care facility staff to support undergraduate nursing students' clinical placements in residential aged care facilities, using development of an orientation programme as an exemplar.

Background: Aged care facilities are unpopular sites for nursing students' clinical placements. A contributing factor is the limited capacity of staff to provide students with a positive placement experience.

Encountering aged care: a mixed methods investigation of medical students' clinical placement experiences.

Background: Residential aged care is an increasingly important health setting due to population ageing and the increase in age-related conditions, such as dementia. However, medical education has limited engagement with this fast-growing sector and undergraduate training remains primarily focussed on acute presentations in hospital settings. Additionally, concerns have been raised about the adequacy of dementia-related content in undergraduate medical curricula, while research has found mixed attitudes among students towards the care of older people.

Developing networks between residential aged care facilities as a result of engagement in a falls prevention project: an action research study.

Background: Residential aged care facility (RACF) staff often operate in isolation. Research is lacking on networking between facilities.

Aims: To explore outcomes associated with network formation between two RACFs as part of an action research approach to reducing falls.

Aspects of nursing student placements associated with perceived likelihood of working in residential aged care.

Aims And Objectives: To investigate which aspects of student nurses' experiences of residential aged care facility clinical placements affect perceived likelihood of choosing a career in residential aged care post graduation.

Background: Poor clinical placement experiences as a student contribute to nurses' reluctance to work in aged care. Various factors have been found to improve the placement experience and influence students' attitudes and employment intentions.

Wicking teaching aged care facilities program: Innovative Practice.

This paper reports on the design of a program that aims to prototype teaching aged care facilities in Australia. Beginning in two Tasmanian residential aged care facilities, the intent of the program is to support large-scale inter-professional student clinical placements, positively influence students' attitudes toward working in aged care and drive development of a high-performance culture capable of supporting evidence-based aged care practice. This is important in the context of aged care being perceived as an unattractive career choice for health professionals, reinforced by negative clinical placement experiences.

An investigation of nursing students' knowledge of dementia: A questionnaire study.

Background: Globally, rising rates of dementia indicate the need for more nurses skilled in caring for people with this condition. However nursing students may not acquire the requisite knowledge from existing undergraduate curricula.

Objectives: To investigate the dementia knowledge of second-year nursing students before and after a supported placement in a residential aged care facility.

Are care workers appropriate mentors for nursing students in residential aged care?

Background: The aged care sector is increasingly dominated by a less-qualified workforce at a time of increasing prevalence of complex health concerns, such as dementia. An Australian program to develop teaching aged care facilities is being undertaken to build the sector's capacity and provide nursing students with positive experiences of engaging with vulnerable clients. This research aimed to examine care staff potential to facilitate nursing student engagement with clinically relevant knowledge in the performance of hygiene care in a residential aged care facility.

Learning opportunities in a residential aged care facility: the role of supported placements for first-year nursing students.

The residential aged care sector is reportedly a less attractive career choice for nursing students than other sectors. Research shows that students are often fearful of working with residents with dementia when they are inadequately supported on clinical placements by aged care staff. Thirty first-year nursing students attended a 2-week placement in one of two Tasmanian aged care facilities as part of the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre Teaching Aged Care Facilities Program, which aims to provide students with a quality aged care placement focusing on dementia palliation.

Beyond the 'tick and flick': facilitating best practice falls prevention through an action research approach.

Aims And Objectives: To examine residential aged care facility staff views on using falls risk assessment tools and the implications for developing falls prevention practices in the context of an action research project.

Background: Falls risk assessments play an important role in care planning by identifying and monitoring aged care facility residents most at risk of falls. Yet while such assessments are recommended in falls prevention best practice guidelines, there is little published research that examines staff procedures and views related to conducting falls risk assessments.

Reducing staff isolation and developing evidence-informed practice in the aged care environment through an action research approach to falls prevention.

This study aimed to examine whether an action research approach was effective in reducing the isolation of staff in 2 residential aged care facilities, within the context of an evidence-informed falls prevention program. A Falls Action Research Group comprising 12 nursing/nonnursing staff across 2 residential aged care facilities was established and engaged in critical dialogue and action over 12 months to improve their fall prevention activities. Through the group members' engagement, a research community was established that diminished staff isolation by engaging members in a sustained process of collaboration around falls prevention, which worked to disrupt occupational silos and challenge traditional staff hierarchies.

Outcomes from the implementation of a facility-specific evidence-based falls prevention intervention program in residential aged care.

For residents in long-term care facilities, falling is a major concern requiring preventive intervention. A prospective cohort study measured the impact of falls reduction following the implementation of evidence-based fall prevention interventions in 9 Australian residential care facilities. An external project team provided a comprehensive audit of current practice.

Multiple views reveal the complexity of dementia diagnosis.

Objective: To reveal views about dementia diagnosis derived from a larger study of information needs of carers of people with dementia in Tasmania, Australia.

Methods: Over 100 participants, including family carers, health professionals and dementia service personnel, met as discrete focus groups. Data pertinent to dementia diagnosis were segregated and subjected to across-group comparative analysis.

Information issues for providers of services to people with dementia living in the community in Australia: breaking the cycle of frustration.

The rising prevalence of dementia and concomitant demands upon dementia services are global issues. In Australia, dementia has attained national health priority status and governments at all levels have implemented service strategies to help manage the complex lives of people with dementia. Despite recognition that information is pivotal to effective dementia service delivery, little is known about the information needs of individual providers and the processes used to transfer information between providers.

Transforming clinical practice amongst community nurses: mentoring for COPD patient self-management.

Aims And Objectives: To report on the process of transforming clinical practice amongst community nurses through a mentoring programme implemented to support self-management amongst community-based sufferers of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: The increasing incidence of and health burden from, chronic diseases has led to the emergence of more proactive, integrated chronic disease management approaches across the acute and primary care sectors. An important part of these approaches is the direct involvement of patients in their own care.

Australian consumers' food-related environmental beliefs and behaviours.

The aim of this study was to examine Australians' food-related environmental beliefs and behaviours. Questionnaires were posted to 500 randomly selected adults, with 223 questionnaires completed (58% response rate). Decreased use of packaging by food manufacturers was viewed as being the most important item to help the environment, while lower meat consumption was seen as least likely to help.

Australian adult consumers' beliefs about plant foods: a qualitative study.

This exploratory qualitative study examined consumers' perceived barriers and benefits of plant food (fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, seeds) consumption and views on the promotion of these foods. Ten focus groups were conducted in Melbourne, Australia. Groups consisted of employees of various workplaces, community group members, university students, and inner-city residents.

Shared lives-an opportunity for obesity prevention?

A longitudinal design was used to survey individual members of 22 couples about food choices, dietary intake and body weight around three months prior to cohabitation and again about three months after the moving-in date. Changes after cohabitation included an increase in shared meal occasions, increased likelihood of including alcohol at meal times and social support for dietary temptations (and restrictions). Body weight increased significantly in women (58.

The factors associated with the belief that vegetarian diets provide health benefits.

The aim of this paper is to examine the factors associated with the belief that vegetarian diets provide health benefits. A random population mail survey about food choice was conducted among a sample of 1000 South Australians. An additional (non-random) survey of 106 vegetarians and semi-vegetarians was also conducted, giving a total of 707 participants from both samples.

Benefits and barriers to the consumption of a vegetarian diet in Australia.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine consumers' perceived benefits and barriers to the consumption of a vegetarian diet.

Design: Survey (written questionnaire) that included questions on perceived benefits and barriers to the consumption of a vegetarian diet.

Setting: South Australia.

The cognitive contexts of beliefs about the healthiness of meat.

Objective: The overall aim of this study was to examine a variety of belief and demographic factors that are associated with the perception that meat is intrinsically unhealthy.

Design: State-wide survey (written questionnaire) that included questions on meat and nutrition beliefs, perceived barriers and benefits of vegetarian diets, personal values, number of vegetarian friends and family members, and use and trust of health/nutrition/food information sources.

Setting: South Australia.