Enhancing the lives of older refugees: an evaluation of a training resource

Shameran Slewa-Younan, Yvonne Santalucia, Regina McDonald, Marisa Salem

Resources 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. Eleven 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. Analysis 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. The 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.