Dr Samantha Clune, Research Fellow in the Australian Institute for Primary Care and Ageing, is investigating the factors that affect social participation for older people living in aged care.
“Older people in aged care have a higher burden of chronic disease and disability, which impacts their functional ability. Despite this, they still have a strong desire to engage in meaningful activities that provide opportunities for social participation and afford friendship, entertainment, enjoyment and fulfillment,” Dr Clune says.
Unfortunately, growing evidence suggests that residential aged care services are not adequately meeting the needs of older people when it comes to social participation.
“As such, many older people living in aged care experience loneliness and social isolation. This is of particular interest, given the strong correlation between higher levels of social participation, enhanced wellbeing and improved quality of life.”
Dr Clune’s research explores older people's preferences for, and involvement in, social participation activities while living in residential aged care.
“Some older people living in nursing homes use social participation activities to keep active and busy while others remain content pursuing their own interests,” she explains.
“Social participation activities provided older people with connection to others, which is important as many connections are lost once older people move into residential care.”
“However, the ability to socially participate in activities was limited by aged-related decline. The COVID-19 pandemic restrictions also constrained social participation opportunities for some people living in nursing homes, but not all.”
Dr Clune’s work has implications for service design and delivery in aged care.
“This research builds on the evidence-base for design and delivery of aged care services to positively impact care outcomes for consumers of aged care services.”
