Optimising support for Chinese carers of people with dementia by embedding iSupport in routine aged care services

iSupport is an evidence-based skill training for informal carers of people with dementia. It includes six modules: 1) Introduction to dementia; 2) Being a carer; 3) Caring for me; 4) Providing everyday care; 5) Dealing with changed behaviours and; 6) My engagement in consumer-directed dementia care. iSupport also suits personal care workers with limited dementia care knowledge.
Flinders University has been working with the three industry partners to adapt iSupport and test its effectiveness in the Chinese-Australian community. In this project, we co-designed strategies with stakeholders to embed two implementation strategies, the ‘Usual iSupport’ and the ‘Tailored iSupport’, in organisation’s routine care services and tested the effectiveness of these strategies.
We provided a train the trainer program for iSupport facilitators and supported them to train frontline staff to deliver iSupport to their clients. We also co-produced an iSupport audiobook for carers to freely download to improve the reach and representativeness of carers in iSupport, in addition to the existing web-based iSupport and e-Book.
Chinese-Australians are the largest culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) group in Australia. Research evidence generated from this project is informing a best practice model to support carers of people from other CALD communities.