QUALITY OF LIFE - AGED CARE CONSUMERS

WHAT DOES A GOOD QUALITY OF LIFE LOOK LIKE FOR OLDER AUSTRALIANS?

We are talking to older Australians using aged care services about what makes for a good quality of life for them.

From their perspectives, we are developing a new quality of life measure – Quality of Life for Aged Care Consumers (QOL-ACC).

Over 1000 older Australians participating

Across five states

In residential

care and community care

Including older people from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse backgrounds

Five founding industry partners from the aged care sector

Consumer representation

FLINDERS CHANNEL

0:46 / 1:38

Caring Futures Institute: Quality of Life Aged Care Consumers Measure (QOL-ACC)

Dr Claire Hutchinson, Research Fellow, at Flinders University's Caring Futures Institute introduces the Quality of Life Aged Care Consumers Measure (QOL-ACC) that helps aged care providers demonstrate the impacts of their services and supports.

THIS RESEARCH IS FUNDED BY

An Australian Research Council Linkage Grant (LP170100664)

Financial contributions from our Founding Partners

A Caring Futures Institute Research Development Grant

The Australian Association of Gerontology Hal Kendig Research Development Grant

ABOUT THE RESEARCH

Why is this research needed?

There is currently no quality of life measure - developed from the perspectives of older people accessing aged care services themselves - that is suitable for economic evaluation. To be suitable for economic evaluation a quality of life measure needs to be preference-based.

Why do we need economic evaluation in the aged care sector?

Health and social care resources are not unlimited and therefore difficult decisions need to be made about funding the best and most effective services and supports for consumers. The use of this new measure will ensure that the quality of life preferences of Australian aged care consumers is considered by funding decision makers.

Will the quality of life measure be used by aged care providers?

Yes, the measure will be used by the aged care sector to conduct consumer quality assessments. Quality assessments are an important part of providers monitoring the impact of their services on consumers and help provide evidence that they are achieving the new quality aged care standards. The measure can be used to track the quality of life of consumers over time and can also be used by providers as a pre and post measure to assess the impact on quality of life of new and existing services and supports.