Towards a model for community integrated residential aged care: Evidence from four case studies in New South Wales, Australia.

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Copyright: Wijesurendra, Anjalika
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Abstract
Gerontological theory and ageing policy have long emphasised the importance of older people’s participation in the communities around them for active and healthy ageing. How this can be achieved for clientele with higher care needs in residential aged care facilities is a critical question. This thesis sets out to investigate the relevance of supporting higher care needs residents to remain socially engaged with the community, within emerging models of what is termed community integrated residential aged care. It does this through the lens of salutogenic theory and its application in Psychosocial Supportive Design. In doing so, it addresses three key research questions: 1. How have residential aged care delivery models in NSW incorporated the principles of community integration? 2. How do care receivers perceive the value of community integration? and 3. How well are the needs of high care residents accommodated in the practice of community integration principles? In the investigation of these three research questions, the views of stakeholders and residents are examined in four illustrative case studies of residential aged care in New South Wales via qualitative in-depth interviews. The findings of the research are used to better understand the nature and implementation of community integration by the development of a conceptual model of community integrated residential aged care (CI-RAC) model. This model is developed through a review of theory, research and international exemplars in the aged care sector. The CI-RAC model proposes three components of community integration focusing on a supportive operational environment, a supportive social environment and a supportive built environment of a care facility. The model demonstrates how these three components work together to deliver community integrated residential aged care settings. Secondly, the research proposes a four-tier conceptualisation of what constitutes ‘community’ for care receivers and providers, arrived at through the empirical findings of this study. In the light of the findings, the model is extended with a refinement which presents an integrating schema of three cross-cutting dimensions - referred to as permeability, porosity, and propinquity - that seeks to integrate the components of care provision defined by the model.
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Author(s)
Wijesurendra, Anjalika
Supervisor(s)
Judd, Bruce
Randolph, William
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Publication Year
2020
Resource Type
Thesis
Degree Type
PhD Doctorate
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