The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety identified that the quality of care for people with dementia in residential care “needs significant and immediate improvement”. The ‘small household model’ was identified as an innovative way to improve dementia care. Small-scale care exists in both aged care and disability sectors, but the locations and characteristics of these settings are not well documented.
A ‘desktop’ environmental scan was selected to explore small-scale dementia care in Australia. The location of small-scale dementia care settings was gathered through stakeholder and government contact, aged care and disability data and internet searches. Sampled sites were screened and investigated via websites, registration and accreditation details, and public documents. Where information was unavailable, providers were contacted to complete data collection.
The unit of investigation for this study was the care provider. The type, number and location of small-scale settings delivered by individual organisations within and across jurisdictions were recorded and reported as de-identified data. In addition to details about the type of care and governance arrangements, information about how providers described the characteristics of the built, care, and social environments were collected, reflecting the underlying philosophy of care in aged care and disability settings in Australia.
This study generates awareness of the distribution and type of small-scale dementia care in Australia and the characteristics of care as reported by providers. Future research will investigate the experience of living and working in a sample of settings from the perspective of residents, staff and families.