Building on the success of the award-winning Social Workers in Schools (SWiS) program, UNE is now exploring the role that Social Work students could play in residential aged care facilities.
Coordinator of the new Social Work in Aged Care (SWiAG) project, Scott Gartshore, believes students could be a timely addition to workplaces seeking to adopt the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.
Many sweeping legislative, policy and funding changes have been proposed since the release of the Royal Commission's report into Aging and Disability (2021) and UNE social work field education is well positioned to make important contributions. In 2021, four students developed a handbook containing position descriptions for managers and social work students in aged care settings.
“We have applied a very similar model of SWiS to aged care and this has generated a great deal of interest among aged care providers,” Scott says. “I can see this new area of social work field education becoming a movement just as successful as SWiS.”
Complement to care
This year, the first two senior UNE Social Work students completed 14-week (500-hour) placements in aged care, within real facilities after COVID restrictions were lifted. Their primary roles were to support aged care residents and families, assist with activities, and to help foster connections with relevant agencies.
Case management is one of the major roles Social Work students could play in supporting a workforce drastically under-staffed and under-resourced.
Currently, most aged care staff either have nursing or TAFE qualifications. The introduction of Bachelor degree social workers, Scott believes, could complement operations in busy facilities and enable the development of individual, holistic residential care plans.
“Case management is one of the major roles Social Work students could play in supporting a workforce drastically under-staffed and under-resourced,” Scott says.
“Care in aged facilities is complex because of changes to physical and cognitive capacity as residents age.
“Social workers can develop wellbeing and support plans, conduct accidental counselling, and serve as an independent resident advocate. We consider the medical, but also the social and spiritual parts that make up a person. This ultimately contributes to happier, healthier residents who can celebrate their end of life with dignity.”
Third-year social work student, Megan Brown.
New experiences
One of the successful initiatives third-year student Megan Brown introduced into the nursing home in which she worked was a letter-writing project with local schoolchildren, to better integrate residents into the local community and deliver intergenerational benefits.
The opportunity to work in an aged care facility as a social worker “exceeded all expectations” and has perhaps even inspired a new career path.
“I had a poor experience with the nursing home where my late mother lived and was originally opposed to working in aged care,” Megan says. “My placement – the first for a social worker in the facility – ended up being a wonderful experience. The manager saw me as someone who could be there for residents and listen to them.”
As well as resident advocacy, general and crisis counselling, Megan helped new residents and their families transition to aged care. She also reinstated a group for men, after recognising that many activities were gendered.
“It gave the men time together, to share experiences and support one another, and regain some autonomy in terms of their wellbeing,” Megan says. “The use of life-story work and reminiscence therapy proved very useful to all residents, and I was able to offer some general counselling to individuals and families who have long been visiting a relative.”
Residential aged care can be a place where people achieve personal growth, where they find meaning and purpose in their final years.
One-on-one support for the stressed and overworked staff caring for and regularly losing residents was equally valuable. This was particularly true, Megan says, for the solitary part-time pastoral care worker.
“The staff were very caring, but there is never enough staff to entirely meet residents’ needs,” she says. “Having an extra person with the time to interact with residents and who could use therapeutic interventions in crises seemed very helpful. There is certainly a role for social workers in aged care, to identify gaps in service delivery and ensure that residents’ rights are respected.
“Residential aged care can be a place where people achieve personal growth, where they find meaning and purpose in their final years. My placement opened my eyes to what social workers can do and the value we can bring.”
Once UNE Social Work students become more commonplace in aged care facilities, Scott is confident they will contribute positively to research and policy development. “Eventually, we would like to see social workers permanently employed in aged care, to support the wellbeing – socially, spiritually and cognitively – of residents and to connect and network with their communities,” he says.
