Project summary:

The aims of this study are, from the perspectives of those with the lived experience, to examine the impact of COVID-19
public health measures on the life and wellbeing and access to care and support of people living with dementia and their care partners
(family, friends and other informal carers); and identify key issues and challenges as well as key lessons in terms of what
worked well, what did not, what was helpful and what was not.

METHODS
Design: A repeated cross-sectional survey of people living with dementia and current care partners, complemented by a
follow-up qualitative interview

Participants: People living with dementia and carer partners (families/friends who have primary care responsibility) in Australia

Recruitment: Volunteers from StepUp for Dementia Research and StepUp Champion Organisations (aged care providers and dementia peak bodies).

Data collection: Online and Telephone survey using REDCap (Time 1 in June-July 2020 & Time 2 in mid 2021, and qualitative interview (in August-September 2020).

Project summary:

This project evaluates emerging litigation in relation to COVID-19 related deaths in Australian residential aged care centres, in terms of its capacity to address longer term structural harms of institutionalisation and activist calls for de-institutionalisation of aged care. In order to facilitate evaluation, the project compares aged care COVID-19 litigation with COVID-19 litigation strategies and outcomes in the context of an analogous confinement setting: immigration detention. The project involves critical analysis of court documents in COVID-19 litigation by reference to an interdisciplinary theoretical framework drawing on socio-legal studies, critical disability and ageing studies, and migration studies.

Project summary:

This research project focuses on whether ownership is relevant to the severity of COVID-19 outbreaks in the nursing home sector. It carries the title ‘The COVID-19 outbreak in the nursing home sector – does ownership matter?’

This research consists of (at least) two parts. Firstly, it will provide a rapid review of the evidence available on this topic. Secondly, this project will follow a case-study approach to embed the findings in their respective national context. This part of the research project will be our main contribution. We will use input from various countries (e.g. Canada and Australia) to draw conclusions. If there is sufficient data, we will analyse the relationship between the composition of the long-term care sector (i.e. for-profit providers’ share of total beds in nursing homes and/or number of homes) and the share of COVID-19 deaths in the long-term care sector across different countries.

Project summary:

Led by the UK, we are collecting qualitative and quantitative data on the experiences of public health measures on the lives of people living with dementia and unpaid carers in the UK, Australia, Poland, Italy, and India. This involve telephone semi-structured interviews with up to 25 participants in each country, as well as follow-up interviews in the UK and Australia. These findings are complemented by an online and telephone survey. This study will provide the very first international comparative analysis of the impacts of the pandemic on dementia.

Project summary:

Report on a study into the implementation of the single-site employment (SSE) practices introduced as part the Guiding Principle for Victorian residential aged care facilities (RACFs) in 2020 to assist with managing the Covid-19 outbreak. A mix of employee, union, peak and advocate plus provider interviews were conducted.