Research Abstract: Free Paper - Poster Presentation Only Australian and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine Annual Scientific Meeting 2023

Connecting Communities to Care: co-designing a social care approach to improve health and wellbeing (#120)

Rajna Ogrin 1 , Kerry Rendell 2 , Elizabeth Robinson 1 , Daniel Fineberg 3 , Kaylene Fiddes 4 , Angela Yerolemou 5 , Judy Lowthian 1 6 7
  1. Bolton Clarke Research Institute, Forest Hill, VIC, Australia
  2. Bolton Clarke, Forest Hill, VIC, Australia
  3. General Medicine, Alfred Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  4. Australian Disease Management Association, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  5. South Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network, Heatherton, Victoria, Australia
  6. Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
  7. School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Aims

Social isolation and loneliness negatively impact on physical, mental and social wellbeing.  Despite this, aged care services generally focus on clinical needs rather than holistic wellbeing. This presentation will outline the process/outcomes of codesigning Connecting Communities to Care. The program aims to identify the holistic needs of older people, target ‘what matters’ to them and link them to local services intended to facilitate social connection to improve wellbeing.

Methods

The Implementation Framework for Aged Care (IFAC) was used to develop the program in a metropolitan Melbourne local government area, including involvement of community members ≥65 years, health and social care providers, and researchers as stakeholders using: 1. Discover: literature review; 2. Define: synthesis of literature; 3. Develop: group meetings and individual interviews with stakeholders and service mapping; 4. Deliver: implementation.

Results

Eight evidence-based components adapted from a successful UK program were used to structure the social connection framework.

Service mapping by a Community Connector facilitated relationship building with key stakeholders, and increased information sharing among services.

Codesign between October 2021- December 2022 online and in local venues, engaged six community members (six sessions), nine social service stakeholders (three sessions) and eight healthcare service stakeholders (six sessions) living and/or working locally.   Awareness of the program, recruitment of program participants, delivering the program and how the program would measure success were articulated and tested.

Conclusions

Building relationships within the community enabled the development of a program that promotes social connection of older community members. Implementation and evaluation are currently underway.