Adaptation and Implementation of a Volunteer-Delivered, Telephone-Based, Social Support Program HOW-R-U? During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Pragmatic Study.

Background And Objectives: Public health concerns surrounding social isolation and loneliness heightened during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, as infection prevention measures led to increased feelings of loneliness and depression. Our objective was to evaluate the implementation of the HOW-R-U? program, during the pandemic (March 2020-December 2021). HOW-R-U? is a weekly volunteer-delivered telephone program designed to facilitate social connection and ease feelings of social isolation, loneliness, and depression in older people.

Risk Negotiation With People With Dementia: From Co-designed Paper Version to Implementation Preparation of an Electronic Conversation Tool.

The home care workforce provides essential support for older people with dementia to live a life of fulfillment. "," an evidence-informed conversation tool, aims to negotiate risk around everyday activities between home care workers, people with dementia and their informal carers. This paper describes tool conversion into electronic format and preparation for implementation throughout a large Australian health and aged care service provider, utilizing the Implementation Framework for Aged Care (IFAC).

Cycling Without Age: An Australian residential aged care home experience.

Objective: Cycling Without Age (CWA) involves taking residents on outdoor trishaw (electric bicycle) rides driven by trained 'pilots'. This study explored the CWA experience from the perspective of residents and family members, staff and volunteer pilots from a residential aged care home in Queensland, Australia.

Methods: A qualitative descriptive design was used.

Community-Dwelling Older Women: The Association Between Living Alone and Use of a Home Nursing Service.

Objective: To investigate the use of home nursing by community-dwelling older women to determine the nature of services required by those living alone.

Design: A retrospective cohort study using routinely collected data.

Setting And Participants: Women aged 55 years and older living in metropolitan Melbourne who received an episode of nursing care from a large community home-based nursing service provider between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2015.

Co-creation of services to maintain independence and optimise well-being: Learnings from Australia's Older Women Living Alone (OWLA) project.

For many populations at risk of social isolation, including Older Women Living Alone (OWLA), existing services to maintain independence and optimise well-being are difficult to access, unsuitable or unavailable. Co-creation is a strategy to develop 'person-centred' services that meet the needs of individuals. We adapted an existing framework for co-creation and used participatory action research methods, supported by an evidence base comprising a systematic review, analysis of routinely collected data and interviews, to develop person-centred services for OWLA.

Trajectories of home nursing use for older women in Melbourne, Australia: 2006-2015.

Objective: To profile changes in older women accessing home nursing between 2006 and 2015, focussing on living circumstances.

Methods: Data pertaining to Australian women aged 55+ who accessed a home nursing service between 2006 and 2015 were analysed, stratified by living status. Comparisons were made between the years 2006 and 2015; rates and relative rates of use per 1000 clients were calculated.

Using co-creation and multi-criteria decision analysis to close service gaps for underserved populations.

Background: Navigating treatment pathways remains a challenge for populations with complex needs due to bottlenecks, service gaps and access barriers. The application of novel methods may be required to identify and remedy such problems.

Objective: To demonstrate a novel approach to identifying persistent service gaps, generating potential solutions and prioritizing action.

Profile of home nursing clients with mental health diagnoses: Epidemiological analysis of Australian community home nursing data.

Mental health is an important part of overall health status and mental ill health is common within the community. There is, however, little information relating to the mental health status of those in the community accessing services such as home nursing. The aim of this study is to profile mental health diagnoses and service use of persons accessing a community home nursing service.

Understanding the conceptualisation of risk in the context of community dementia care.

Risk has become a ubiquitous presence in modern society. For individuals diagnosed with dementia this preoccupation with risk can affect their day-to-day life in many ways. Maintaining autonomy while balancing risks is a continual struggle not only for those living with the disease, but also their carers, family and health professionals.

Development of a discussion tool to enable well-being by providing choices for people with dementia: a qualitative study incorporating codesign and participatory action research.

Objective: To codesign a discussion tool to facilitate negotiation of risk between health professionals, people with dementia and carers.

Methods: A qualitative approach using codesign. Thematic analysis was used to analyse interviews and focus groups with people with dementia, carers, healthcare staff and healthy older people exploring the issue of risk in dementia, the acceptability and development of a discussion tool.

Change Strategies and Associated Implementation Challenges: An Analysis of Online Counselling Sessions.

Self-change is the most frequent way people limit or reduce gambling involvement and often the first choice of people experiencing gambling-related problems. Less well known is the range of change strategies gamblers use and how these are selected, initiated or maintained. This study examined change strategies discussed in counselling transcripts from 149 clients who accessed a national online gambling help service in Australia.

Social inclusion and the Fatosphere: the role of an online weblogging community in fostering social inclusion.

Overweight and obesity are one of the most salient issues within society today, and the stigmatisation of overweight individuals is prevalent and widespread. Utilising interviews with 44 individuals who blog within an online fat acceptance community known as the Fatosphere, participants' perceptions of inclusion and exclusion were examined within their offline and online environments. Additionally, the effect this had on their offline lives was examined.

The health and service needs of older veterans: a qualitative analysis.

Background: With substantial numbers of older people within the Australian veteran population continuing to age well within the community, appropriate planning of community support and health services is important for this ageing population.

Objective: The purpose of this research study was to investigate the health and service usage of a group of older Australian war veterans who receive Australian Government support for their health-care needs and conditions.

Design: This paper reports on qualitative data gathered from the longitudinal MELSHA study.

Translating research findings into community based theatre: More than a dead man's wife.

Increasingly, qualitative scholars in health and social sciences are turning to innovative strategies as a way of translating research findings into informative, accessible and enjoyable forms for the community. The aim of this article is to describe how the research findings of a doctoral thesis - a narrative study about 58 older women's experiences of widowhood - were translated into a unique and professionally developed script to form the basis for a successful theatrical production that has travelled extensively within Australia. This article reports on the process of collaboration between a researcher, a highly regarded Australian actor/script writer and an ensemble of well-known and experienced professional actors.

The role of the fatosphere in fat adults' responses to obesity stigma: a model of empowerment without a focus on weight loss.

Obese adults face pervasive and repeated weight-based stigma. Few researchers have explored how obese individuals proactively respond to stigma outside of a dominant weight-loss framework. Using a grounded theory approach, we explored the experiences of 44 bloggers within the Fatosphere--an online fat-acceptance community.