2019 RM Gibson Program Recipients

AAG would like to congratulate the following individuals on their successful applications for the RM Gibson Research Fund Grant:

Dr Claire O'Connor
Affiliation: HammondCare and University of NSW
Project Title: Developing an assessment guide for practitioners implementing reablement programs for people living with dementia
Awarded: $7,000
Aims of the project:

There is currently no standardised approach to delivering reablement services to people living with dementia in Australia. The recently completed Reablement in Dementia project sought to address this by developing an evidence-informed Handbook of Reablement programs to support function in people living with dementia.1 The Handbook programs were developed by translating the diverse and at times, poorly described research into practical protocols for use by health practitioners. The next phase of this project involves dissemination to promote uptake of the Handbook across the dementia and aged care sector. Appropriate assessment of the efficacy of these newly synthesised programs is paramount. Yet, how the programs will be assessed in practice in such a diverse industry with a range of health practitioners has not been determined. The focus of this current application is to develop a brief guide for health practitioners on using a standardised approach (Goal Attainment Scaling-GAS) to assess the impact of engaging in reablement interventions for the person living with dementia.

Kristin Carson-Chahhoud
Affiliation: University of South Australia
Project Title: Augmented reality to translate evidence into practice for better asthma management among older Australians
Awarded: $7,000
Aims of the project:

The aim of this study is to determine if augmented reality (AR) technology is an acceptable and feasible approach to improve asthma self-management and inhaler technique among older Australians (2: 65 years) with asthma.

Dr Mandy Archibald
Affiliation: Flinders University
Project Title: Mobilizing Research Evidence Through Video Co-Design: Consumer Driven Videos for Frailty Awareness and Education
Awarded: $7,000
Aims of the project:

To develop three creative media (knowledge translation) resources to promote knowledge and awareness of frailty and healthy ageing for the public (and specific to ageing for Forgotten Australians) using an iterative co-design framework.

Paulene Mackell
Affiliation: NARI & RMIT
Project Title: A good news story: the positive contribution of older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders within their communities
Awarded: $6,930
Aims of the project:

This project will analyse data collected as part of a broader project that is exploring how Aboriginal controlled art centres are supporting older artists in remote communities. That project has established a set of questions that will be analysed, and funding constraints restrict its ability to expand that enquiry further. However, it is clear there is an opportunity to separately approach this large primary data-set with an alternative and important line of enquiry, one that will describe the varied, important and positive role older Aboriginal people play within their communities.

Picture: Paulene receiving her award from Anthony Brown (NSW Chair) at the 2019 Conference in Sydney