Research helping people to communicate for life

A group of researchers from The University of Queensland are working with stakeholders across the country to give a voice to the more than 400,000 older Australians with communication difficulties.

At the helm of the project is Dr Sarah Wallace from UQ’s School of Health and Rehabilitation and Sciences, whose research in helping people raise their voice has seen her recognised as a 2023 Queensland Young Tall Poppy.

Dr Wallace said every person, at any stage of life, deserves the basic right to be heard and have their needs met.

“Communication is a vital part of the human experience,” Dr Wallace said.

“It's how we express our feelings, concerns and ideas and is how we foster and maintain social connections.

“Many older people living in aged care can struggle to make their needs known due to a range of communication difficulties including things such as cognitive changes and dementia which can greatly impact their quality of life.

“Through our project we are working with aged care providers, residents and care recipients and workers alongside health professionals and industry partners to amplify the voices of those who need it most, to deliver the outcomes they need and want.

“We will work together to create tools for describing the communication needs of older people, communication training for aged care workers, resources to support conversations about care, and guidelines to support ‘communication friendly’ care planning, feedback and complaint resolution.”

Women with long dark brown hair and brown eyes in a floral dress and black cardigan

Dr Sarah Wallace

A group photo of 25 people. They are positioned in tiered rows smiling at the camera

The UQ research team with stakeholders

The first phase of the project kickstarted in July, with partners and stakeholders from across Australia coming together for a roundtable discussion, sharing their experiences and the outcomes they want to see from the research.

Here’s what some of them had to say about the project:

Danijela Hlis

Author and Dementia Australia Advocate.

Why is this project important to you?

Our society assumes that we all communicate well, are listened to and heard. But there are many people unable to communicate including, those with a speech impairment (my family member and a friend); those reverting to mother tongue due to dementia (another friend); people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds, like my parents and some of my friends and people who are illiterate or live with other communication difficulties or disabilities.

If the people who listen to us only hear what they want and not what we are saying, then all communication fails. This is why I volunteered to be involved. We can work hard and improve the situation.

What do you hope this project achieves?

Find solutions to eliminate current barriers to respectful and clear communication, with new tools and training to enable the change we need. So that our basic human right, to be listened to and heard, is respected.

What were the top three outcomes or highlights from the launch?

For me, the highlight was that researchers and professionals from different organisations and consumers with lived experience sat down together for a day and worked in harmony. As well as the fact that we were open to learning from each other and hearing each other’s experiences and knowledge.

Attendees listening to a speaker. The speaker is a woman wearing a black button up shirt and pants. She is speaking into a microphone and standing in front of a powerpoint presentation.

Kristina Chelberg

Family member of person living with dementia in aged care, socio-legal researcher in dementia and aged care.

Why is this project important to you?

My father is living with advanced dementia in residential aged care, and my father and family have experienced harms, grief and poor outcomes contributed to by poor communication.

What do you hope this project achieves?

I hope the project contributes to a greater focus on the importance of hearing all voices in aged care, particularly those with cognitive decline through use of innovative methods to support two-way communication.

What were the top three outcomes or highlights from the launch?

Meeting such a vibrant engaged group of people, feeling a sense of optimism (finally) that change may come.

Woman sitting at a table speaking on a microphone. She has light brown hair, black glasses and in wearing a light tan outfit.

Kristina Chelberg

Group of six women in two rows smiling at the camera for a group photo.

Project stakeholders: Top row L-R: Kristina Chelberg, Daniella Hlis, Jasmine Siggs. Bottom row L-R: Gwenda Darling, Lesley Forster, Jen Muller

Image of a room with a high glass circular ceiling. The room has various couched in which attendees are sitting and chatting

Bottom left to right: TBC

Jennifer Muller

Southern Cross Care Queensland

Why is this project important to you?

My passion in life is to give people (in aged care) the best living experience possible.

What do you hope this project achieves?

To improve their quality of life through research.

What were the top three outcomes or highlights from the launch?

Meeting everyone and listening and learning what ideas everyone had. I feel that this group will help the aged people to have a better quality of life which is very important to me and them.

Lesley Forster

National Older Persons Reference Group, Co Convener of the Aged Care at Home Forum and member of the Community Voices Self Managed Home Care Group.

Why is this project important to you

This project is important to me because my experience of ageing is older people are invisible in society. There is a stronger focus on the economy and older peoples’ value as a commodity to build business than there is to ensure a very high quality of enjoyment in old age. The high focus on dementia scares me because it has such a strong influence on ageism as it leads many people to believe every aged person has a form of dementia and needs to be taken care of as if they were a child. When we are given labels we lose our autonomy, our dignity of risk and our ability to choose how we live our lives. We are people not illnesses and diseases.

What do you hope this project achieves?

I believe this project can shine a light on ageism if it is committed to learning from lived experience, if it maintains a strong focus on recipients of aged care and it has the courage to tell it like it really is.

What were the top three outcomes or highlights from the launch?

It was a great opportunity to meet everyone involved in the project in person. It was pleasing that participants could speak freely and that many of them were well informed.

People sitting in groups at tables listening to a presentation. There are stationary items on the tables and a powerpoint presentation on a hanging screen.

‘Unspoken, Unheard, Unmet: Improving Access to Preventative Health Care through Better Conversations about Care’ brings together an impressive list of collaborating partners.

This includes; the Australian Government Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, Wesley Mission Queensland, Southern Cross Care Queensland, the Older Person’s Advocacy Network, Dementia Australia, the Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland, Speech Pathology Australia, Audiology Australia and Southern Queensland Rural Health.

August 20 to 26 is Speech Pathology Week and the 2023 theme is 'Communicating for life.' It aims to highlight the vital role speech pathologists play in supporting quality of life across the lifespan.