Are rural aged care workers stressed out?

The purpose of this presentation is to explore caregiver stress among aged-care staff working with people with advanced dementia in rural residential care.

A major source of stress for aged-care staff arise from the residents who have challenging psychological and behavioural symptoms in advanced dementia. Such behavioural disturbances, including verbal or physical aggression, and excessive wandering, indicate distress in the residents, and cause stress for care staff. Caregiver stress may impact on staff turnover, absenteeism, and be detrimental to their mental health. Data for this analysis were derived from the larger rural multi-site Harmony in Bush (HiB) Dementia Study. HiB Dementia Studyis a quasi-experimental study aimed at developing a personalised plan of care based on the “Progressively Lowered Stress Threshold (PLST) Model” (Hall & Buckwalter, 1987), including a music/arts program and institutional changes in five (5) rural residental facilites. The study uses method triangulation with both qualitative and quantitative methodologies.