Abstract
BackgroundResources and training for aged care workers who are working with older people from refugee backgrounds are limited. Thus, a resource titled ‘Enhancing the Lives of Older Refugees: A self-Improvement Resource for Community Service Providers’ was developed in 2011, and later accompanied by a training program developed in 2012. The aim of the resource and accompanying training was to assist community aged care service providers, based in South Western Sydney and surrounding areas, to recognise an older refugee, increase their knowledge and skills in working with older refugees, have a greater understanding of older refugees’ life experiences, and provide additional information that would allow them to offer appropriate services to those in their care. This paper reports on the evaluation of the training package provided to community aged care personnel.MethodsEleven training sessions were conducted with all participants invited to take part in the research. One hundred and twenty-eight consenting participants completed a pre and post training evaluation questionnaire.ResultsAnalysis of the data indicated a positive change in participant’s ability to define an older refugee, understanding older refugee’s life experiences, loss and grief, the impact of the refugees’ experience in old age and the capacity to locate and access information to support the care of older refugees.ConclusionsThe findings lend support that this mode of training can provide information and resources to increase the capacity of aged care workers to better meet the needs of older people from a refugee background.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13033-016-0067-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Resources and training for aged care workers who are working with older people from refugee back‐ grounds are limited
96 % of participants had no previous training related to older refugees
This study aimed to evaluate the ability of the older refugee training program, consisting of a written resource titled ‘Enhancing the Lives of Older Refugees: A selfImprovement Resource for Community Service Providers’ and the accompanying training, to improve the care of older refugees
Summary
Resources and training for aged care workers who are working with older people from refugee back‐ grounds are limited. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that at the end of 2013 there were approximately 51.2 million people forcibly displaced by persecution and conflict [1]. A refugee is a person who has left their home country as a result of “a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion” [3]. This persecution often involves serious human rights abuses, including torture, imprisonment and violence. Australia has resettled approximately 700,000 refugees since the end of World War II [2]
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