Aged care research gets a helping hand
by Geraldine Hinter
Collaborative
research aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of older people
has been given a boost with the launch last month of the
International Research Centre for Aged Care Studies at Mawson Lakes.
With an international research partnership based around three entities that combine research, teaching and service delivery, the Centre provides a focus for collaborative research activities from the pooled expertise of the Helping Hand Aged Care, UniSA’s Centre for Research into Sustainable Health Care and the Group for Elderly Care Research based at the University of Oslo, Norway.
The Centre is led by world-renowned authority in the field of research into aged care service provision, Professor Julianne Cheek, who holds academic posts in both UniSA and Oslo. Also playing a leading role is the well-respected researcher in aged care, Professor Marit Kirkevold from the University of Oslo.
Based at Helping Hand Aged Care’s Mawson Lakes facility, the Centre is undertaking research into loneliness of older people, developing a teaching environment to improve the quality of aged care services and promote greater understanding of employment opportunities in aged care, and setting up an exchange program for staff to examine research activities being conducted in aged care facilities overseas.
Helping Hand Aged Care, which has been delivering innovative and best practice services in the aged care sector since 1953, is providing financial support, infrastructure and essential industry links to Australian research data.