Enhancing residents’ wellbeing

A Brisbane aged care service is breaking new ground in an innovative wellbeing pilot project thanks to a partnership with the University of Queensland (UQ).

The pilot at Zion Lutheran Home, consisting of five one hour sessions conducted over a two week period with two groups of 10 participants, recently kicked off to heighten the experiences of aged care residents.

The UQ business school research project comprises five researchers from the schools of psychology and marketing observing two groups of (volunteer) employees and residents with the purpose of understanding their day-to-day activities.

Pictured is Professor Janet McColl-Kennedy (The University of Queensland Business School), Professor Nancy Pachana (UQ School of Psychology), Dr Liz Ferrier (UQ Business School), Dr Hannes Zacher (School of Psychology).

The researchers will observe the roles, activities and interactions the aged care residents have with their service provider (the things or practices they actually do on a regular basis) in order to create and design new interactive opportunities representing their interests.

Customer value co-creation is a strategy which focuses on the client experience. The approach encourages more active involvement from clients by working together to create options that will result in a rich, valuable and personally meaningful experience.

Customer value co-creation in an aged care setting seeks to improve residents’ wellbeing by identifying their preferred roles, activities and interactions.

Lutheran Community Care (LCC) chief executive, Jacqueline Kelly, said she was delighted the organisation’s Nundah aged care service was participating in the pilot study.

“The project will help us become increasingly person-centred focusing on wellness and enablement. LCC wants each resident at our service to have an exceptional experience.” 

Person-centred care is about responding to people as individuals, listening to their voice and respecting residents’ choices and decisions.

“LCC is honoured to be working in collaboration with UQ and looks forward to changing people’s experience of ageing through this important research,” Ms Kelly said.

UQ Business School Professor of Marketing, Janet McColl-Kennedy, claimed LCC was reportedly the first aged care service to be involved in customer co-creation. 

“This impactful research will provide practical outcomes to deliver clients the services they want in a way they value,” she said.

LCC director of care directions and continuous improvement, Kylie Congram, said the UQ study will investigate how person-centred care can influence customer engagement and satisfaction.

“The project will draw insights which could help shift aged care services away from focusing on function and tasks to creating a sense of wellness and wellbeing for the benefit of clients and staff.

“This is an important step forward in positioning LCC to respond to consumer directed care and the changing expectations of our clients.”

For more information about Lutheran Community Care visit www.lccqld.org.au