Many older Australians with cognitive impairment or dementia also have hearing and vision problems. When hearing or vision problems are not well supported, the effects of cognitive impairment or dementia are often worse. This can lead to frustration, agitation, depression, social isolation, and higher care needs. Families and care staff also feel the impact.
SENSECog is a global research community working in many countries to support healthy eyes, ears, and minds. SENSECog have partnered with Brightwater on two projects, one to improve sensory support for people with dementia living in residential aged care (SENSECog Residential Aged Care), the other to explore the sensory needs of older Australians using home care services (SENSECog Home Care).
This project will develop and test a ‘sensory support’ intervention to improve resident’s hearing and vision. The intervention includes training staff to more effectively support residents with their hearing and vision needs, improving access to hearing and vision aids (such as glasses) and improving the environment (e.g. reduce background noise). This program was developed together with clients, family, staff and sensory care professionals.
This study will evaluate how accessible and well-received the intervention is for residents and staff, and how it impacts quality of life and daily activities for residents.
This study has been extended to include the development of international hearing and vision practice recommendations for aged care facilities.
Accurate estimates of older people experiencing hearing loss, vision loss, and cognitive impairment while living at home have not been clearly established. This project will collect information from screening tests for hearing, vision, memory, wellbeing, and quality of life among older people who receive home care services, with the goal to better understand the sensory characteristics of this population.
Professor Piers Dawes
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, the University of Queensland
Sense-Cog Aged Care (Australia)
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