3.5 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
3.5.8 Factors in the success and effectiveness of a day respite program – Opinions of Care Workers,
Part of the focus of this evaluation is on assessing the appropriateness and effectiveness of the model of service provided by the Program. The survey sought information from those delivering the service that was designed to elicit the key success factors associated with this model. Care Workers, Coordinators/Managers and CEO/Service Directors expressed quite similar views regarding those key factors and the relative importance of each, but with the exception of the most frequently identified factor (a care recipient focus), gave different priority to each. Figure 80 shows the mean scores on each factor for each of the three groups.
There was consistency in the top five most important factors as rated by each of the three groups. All groups rated “A focus on the needs of care recipients” as the most important factor (see Table 19). Flexibility in hours and days of opening, and in program design were the next most important factors, followed by having sufficient staff to support an individualised focus, having activities appropriate to care recipients’ needs and a focus on the needs of carers.
Providing transport as part of the service, and linking carers and care recipients to other services in the RACF or the community received relatively lower ratings.
1.9% 1.0%
7.7%
26.0%
36.5%
26.9%
.0% 2.9%
8.8%
29.4%
44.1%
14.7%
0.0%
23.1%
30.8% 30.8%
0.0%
15.4%
% 10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Not at all improved Slightly improved Somewhat improved Moderately improved Greatly improved Don't Know / Not Stated
Improvement in service networks between your organisation and others Care Workers Coordinators/Managers CEOs/Directors
Table 19: Comparison of the top five most important factors in the overall success and effectiveness of day respite in the residential aged care setting, as rated by Care Workers, Coordinators/Managers and CEOs/Directors
Factor RANK (1 = most important)
Care Workers Coordinators/
Managers*
CEOs/
Directors*
A focus on the needs of care recipients 1 1 1
Flexibility in hours and days of care available 2 5 5
Flexible program design that can be modified in response to changing needs
3 2 2
Staff to care recipient ratios that enable reasonably individualised focus
4 5 3
A focus on the needs of carers 5 4 2
Nature of activities provided on site (appropriate to care recipients’ needs)
3 4
Linking carers and care recipients to other services provided by the organisation
3
Provision of transport to/from the respite service 3
Qualifications and/or experience of care workers and other personnel involved
4 Linking carers and care recipients to other services in
the community
5 Ability to meet the cultural and language needs of
people from diverse backgrounds
5
* Some factors were rated equally. These are shaded together.
For separate lists showing the top five factors identified by Coordinators/Managers - see
Table 20 and by CEOs/Service Directors – see Table 21.
Table 20: Ordered list of the top five most important factors identified by Coordinators/Managers
COORDINATORS/MANAGERS
Factor Rank*
A focus on the needs of care recipients 1
Flexible program design that can be modified in response to changing needs 2 Nature of activities provided on site (appropriate to care recipients’ needs) 3
A focus on the needs of carers 4
Staff to care recipient ratios that enable reasonably individualised focus 5
Flexibility in hours and days of care available 5
* Some factors were rated equally. These are shaded together.
Table 21: Ordered list of the top five most important factors identified by CEOs/Directors
CEOs/DIRECTORS
Factor Rank*
A focus on the needs of care recipients 1
Flexible program design that can be modified in response to changing needs 2
A focus on the needs of carers 2
Staff to care recipient ratios that enable reasonably individualised focus 3 Linking carers and care recipients to other services provided by the organisation 3
Provision of transport to/from the respite service 3
Qualifications and/or experience of care workers and other personnel involved 4 Nature of activities provided on site (appropriate to care recipients’ needs) 4 Linking carers and care recipients to other services in the community 5 Ability to meet the cultural and language needs of people from diverse backgrounds 5
Flexibility in hours and days of care available 5
* Some factors were rated equally. These are shaded together.
Figure 80 shows the mean scores on each factor for each of the three groups. There were two factors which CEOs/Directors rated as significantly less important (p<.05) than did Care Workers and Coordinators/Managers -
“Ability to include residents in the day respite organisation’s activities”, and “Co-location of the program in a residential aged care facility”.
Figure 80: Importance of 15 factors in the overall success and effectiveness of a day respite program at a residential aged care facility - Opinions of Care Workers, Coordinators/Managers and CEOs/Directors
*** CEOs/Directors rated these statements as significantly less important than did Care Workers and Coordinators/Managers (p<.05).
4.8
4.8
4.7
4.7
4.7
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.3
4.7
4.8
4.6
4.5
4.6
4.5 4.8
4.9
4.8
4.6
4.9
4.4
4.3
4.6
4.0
4.9
4.9
4.7
4.6
4.8
4.7 4.5
4.8
4.7
4.6
4.6
4.2
3.7
4.7
3.4
4.8
4.9
4.5
4.2
4.6
4.5
2 3 4 5 6
Flexibility in hours and days of care available
Flexible program design that can be modified in response to changing needs
Staff to care recipient ratios that enable reasonably individualised focus
Qualifications and/or experience of care workers and other personnel involved
Nature of activities provided on site (ie appropriate to care recipients’ needs)
Nature of activities provided off site (ie appropriate to care recipients’ and carers’ needs)
Ability to include residents in the day respite program’s activities***
Provision of transport to/from the respite service
Co-location of the program in a residential aged care facility***
A focus on the needs of carers
A focus on the needs of care recipients
Ability to meet the cultural and language needs of people from diverse backgrounds
Ability to meet the specific needs of Indigenous people
Linking carers and care recipients to other services provided by the organisation
Linking carers and care recipients to other services in the community
Factors in the overall success and effectiveness of a day respite program at a residential aged care facility: Comparison of responses from Care Workers,
Coordinators/Managers and CEOs/Directors
Care Workers (n=104) Coordinators/Managers (n=34) CEOs/Directors (n=13)
All three groups rated “Co-location of the program in a residential aged care facility” as the least important factor in the success and effectiveness of a day respite program. The factor “Ability to include residents in the day respite program’s activities” was also one of the three least important factors identified by Care Workers,
Coordinators/Managers and CEOs/Directors (Table 22).
Table 22: The three least important factors identified by Care Workers, Coordinators/Managers and CEOs/Directors
Factor Rank
(1 = least important) CARE WORKERS
Co-location of the program in a residential aged care facility 1 Nature of activities provided off site (appropriate to care recipients’ & carers’ needs) 2 Ability to include residents in the day respite program’s activities 3
COORDINATORS/MANAGERS
Co-location of the program in a residential aged care facility 1 Ability to include residents in the day respite program’s activities 2 Nature of activities provided off site (appropriate to care recipients’ & carers’ needs) 3
CEOs/DIRECTORS
Co-location of the program in a residential aged care facility 1 Ability to include residents in the day respite program’s activities 2
Ability to meet the specific needs of Indigenous people 3
In conclusion, the factors which survey feedback identify as making a difference to providing appropriate and effective day respite care in a RACF setting are:
A focus on the needs of care recipients
A focus on the needs of carers
Staff to care recipient ratios that enable a reasonably individualised focus
Flexibility of program design in order to accommodate changing need
Flexibility in the provision of times of opening to meet diversity of carer need
Provision of appropriate activities on site to meet care recipient needs And to a lesser extent:
Having appropriately skilled and qualified staff to deliver individualised and flexible care
The provision of transport as part of the service, reducing carer burden in the process
Having services that are linguistically and culturally appropriate for carers and care recipients
Having services that specifically meet the needs of Indigenous carers and care recipients
The capacity to link carers and care recipients to other services provided by the RACF and outside of the facility.
The following factors are considered least important, relative to the foregoing factors:
Provision of appropriate activities off site to meet care recipient and carer needs
Being able to include RACF residents in day respite activities.
4 CONCLUSIONS