From burnout to balance in the aged care workforce

Burnout to balance in the aged care workforce

Aged care workers face concerning rates of burnout and stress that can impact the care delivered to some of the most dependent and vulnerable older Australians.

These superheroes do work that many others can’t. A project led by Professor Denise Jepsen is seeking to enhance resilience in the residential aged care workforce with strategies to buoy their mental health and improve their capacity to manage workplace stressors.

Both carers and managers are benefiting directly from the research, enabling them to better deal with pinch points. This includes drawing on their previous experience to ride out tough times.

“For the first time new strategies have been trialled in an aged care setting to give more tools to managers and frontline staff so they can develop skills to work through difficult patches,” Professor Jepsen says.

It is hoped this approach to identifying burnout factors early and actively managing them will flow through into helping retain employees, improve overall care for residents and help reduce the high staff turnover rate – an urgent issue for the sector.

The sustainable, multi-tiered training program has been delivered to 859 staff and managers at the not-for-profit Royal Freemasons Benevolent Institution's (RFBI) aged care facilities throughout NSW and ACT. The project is funded by industry body, Aged Care Research and Industry Innovation Australia (ARIIA) to address this serious problem for the sector.

Professor Jepsen and Associate Professor Monique Crane from the School of Psychological Sciences worked on developing materials for delivery through a series of workshops.

The approach uses Associate Professor Crane’s Systematic Self-reflection Resilience training (SRT) model that has been tested in military and other settings. Self-reflection is a main element, inviting staff to reflect to develop strategies to better manage their stressors, deal with workplace challenges and lift their mental health to enhance their capabilities, both in the workplace and outside.

Using supplementary journalling and workbook materials, the workshops are tailored to address the specific stressors that aged care workers identified in 75 interviews with employees.

Managers are also key to the success of the program, working on enhancing their own skills to identify future burnout in staff, and address these factors while meeting operational demands, despite limitations of capacity in time, resources and skills.

The methods include ‘soft’ psychoeducational approaches, not previously available for efficient distribution to hard-working and stretched staff and managers. Feedback has indicated it’s hitting the mark, with carers saying the training has given them new coping skills and the ability to draw on previous stressful experiences.

“It may be as simple as a manager passing a carer in the hall and letting them know they are doing a great job, and reminding them that they have successfully been through this before,” Professor Jepsen says.

Professor Jepsen has been involved with research in the aged care sector since 2013. The innovative approach to resilience training has included 120 leaders to foster a more stable and effective aged care sector.

By addressing workforce burnout, this novel approach has demonstrated clear benefits with positive changes flowing through to those who are at the receiving end of their care, often in the last weeks, months or years of their life where the relationship with aged care staff is all important.