Introduction: The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety estimates 50 residents of aged care services per week are targets of unlawful sexual contact nationally. This is considered an underestimation of actual incidence. Despite over 500 submissions being made to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality outlining the failures of aged care homes and the regulators’ approach to incident management, these responsibilities continue to remain largely "in-house." More specific approaches to management and preventive measures must be developed and implemented beyond a compulsory reporting scheme.
Aim & Method: The purpose of this research was to design and implement a self-guided e-learning educational training course based on existing research, national and international approaches to human rights approaches to sexual assault. The intervention addressed content pertaining to staffs’ legal and regulatory requirements, managing incidents and, awareness of key services. English speaking Australian RACS nurses were recruited to undertake the intervention via email. An anonymous, online, course evaluation survey was conducted post-intervention completion.
Results: Thirty-eight of 45 eligible participants responded (84.4%). Participants reported they would recommend the intervention to a colleague (n=36, 97.3%). Participants self-reported (i) advanced learning post-completion; (ii) raised awareness (n=29, 78.4%) (iii) prompted current practice reflection (n=35, 94.6%) and (iv) prompted improving USB workplace management (n=34, 91.9%). The manuscript describing this study has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Older Persons Nursing.
Conclusions: The intervention was relevant, engaging, and practical. The findings contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the specific training topics relevant and useful to RACS staff.
3 x Key Learnings:
1. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence-based intervention in place to prevent or manage unwanted sexual behaviour in Australian aged care services and the most recent internationally.
2. The “Preventing unwanted sexual behaviour in RACS” course provides a model and curriculum of specific topics to guide development of training initiatives nationally and internationally.
3. Results demonstrate online training regarding unwanted sexual behaviour for aged care staff can be successfully implemented. This has important implications for the replicability and flexibility, as training can be completed in any facility, at any time.