JCPSLP Vol 17 No 2 2015_web

Aged care

From the editor David Trembath

Contents

A ustralia, like many countries, has an ageing population due to a declining birth rate and increased life expectancy. This demographic change presents tremendous social opportunities, but also economic and health challenges. Speech pathologists have the expertise necessary to help ensure that people not only live longer, but do so with safe swallowing and effective communication as the basis for healthy, productive, and enjoyable lives. Accordingly, this issue of JCPSLP presents a collection of reviews, clinical insights, and research articles focusing primarily on the opportunities and challenges for speech pathologists working in “Aged care”. Bennett, Ward, Scarinci, and Waite open the issue with their findings from

57 From the editor 58 Challenges to communication management in residential aged care – Michelle K. Bennett, Elizabeth C. Ward, Nerina A. Scarinci, and Monique C. Waite 63 Speech pathology services following traumatic brain injury: The perspectives of health care consumers – Kathryn A. O’Leary, Alastair D. McRae, Anna M. Copley, and Naomi A. MacBean community: Critical success factors in their sustainability – Anne Whitworth, Suze Leitão, Melanie Breese, Louise Cato, and Jade Cartwright 75 The future of speech pathology in aged care: Students’ confidence and interest in working with older people – Ronelle Hewetson, Petrea Cornwell, Susannah Davern, Anne E. Hill, and Lucy Hunter 82 Being prepared for working in palliative care: The speech pathology perspective – Ashleigh Pascoe, Lauren J. Breen, and Naomi Cocks 85 Educating a future aged-care workforce: Shaping positive attitudes and developing collaborative practice capabilities – Jade Cartwright, Brooke Sanderson, Anne Whitworth, Elizabeth Oliver, and Nigel Gribble 91 A multidisciplinary approach to difficulty swallowing medication: An alternative to dose form modification – Emily Davis and Derek Kay 94 What’s the evidence? Montessori-based interventions for people with dementia in a residential aged-care setting – Jade Cartwright and Elizabeth Oliver 98 A speech-language perspective on “doing 104 Around the journals 106 Webwords 52: Speech-language pathology: A young profession in an ageing world – Caroline Bowen 109 Resource review 111 Top ten resources in aged care – Jill Lesic 68 Volunteer-led aphasia groups in the good” in end-of-life care for people with advanced dementia – Helen Smith and Belinda Kenny

a qualitative study examining the challenges to communication management in aged-care settings. They note that communication is central to personal identity, yet providing communication services in these settings can be challenging. O’Leary, McRae, Copley, and MacBean explore the barriers and facilitators to service provision for adults following traumatic brain injury, suggesting that person-centred care with family involvement is critical to ensuring positive outcomes. Whitworth, Leitão, Breese, Cato, and Cartwright examine factors that contribute to the success of volunteer-led aphasia groups in the community, with a focus on sustainability. Three articles examine issues associated with preparing future speech pathologists for work in Aged care. Pascoe, Breen, and Cocks suggest that universities need to ensure that curricula reflect and address the growing role for speech pathologists in aged-care settings. Hewetson, Cornwell, Davern, Hill, and Hunter examine the impact of clinical placements in aged-care settings on students’ knowledge, confidence, and attitudes towards with working with older people. They report positive effects on students’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes following clinical placements, but a less malleable preference among students for working with younger populations. Cartwright, Sanderson, Whitworth, Oliver, and Gribble report similar results from a study in which students demonstrated improved attitudes, confidence, and collaborative practices following multidisciplinary placements in aged-care settings. Davis and Kay present a clinical insight piece, in which they describe how a relatively small change in practice (changing medications) led to a positive service-wide impact on medication prescription within a hospital setting. Cartwright and Oliver examine the evidence for the use of non-pharmacological Montessori-based interventions for persons with dementia, highlighting the role of the speech pathologist as part of a collaborative team. Finally, Smith and Kenny present an insightful “Ethical conversations” article illustrating possible challenges and solutions to working ethically in aged-care settings. A common theme across all articles is the importance of person-centred, multidisciplinary, evidence-based, collaborative practice. The articles leave me with the impression that the essence of working in aged-care settings is not different to that of working in other speech pathology settings. However, the opportunities are clearly many and some of the challenges unique, thus deserving and requiring a concerted, sophisticated, and enthusiastic response from our speech pathology community.

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JCPSLP Volume 17, Number 2 2015

www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au