Navigating the complexities of aged care services for older Australians and their families

The Australian ageing population poses increasing demand on the health and social care systems. Home care utilisation has quadrupled in the last decade. Challenges include inadequate funding, staff shortages, and a complex aged care system that is difficult to navigate. This thesis employs qualitative and quantitative methods to thoroughly examine the experiences and obstacles faced by older adults and their families in accessing formal home-based aged care services in Australia. In Chapter 1, I presented a brief introduction to government-funded aged care in Australia (focusing on home care) and provided an overview of the pathway to accessing aged care services. In Chapter 2, I conducted a scoping review of 26 studies to synthesise the international literature on the concept of ‘aged care navigation’ and what was known about the needs and experiences of older adults and their carers as they navigate community-based aged care services. This chapter suggested that social connectedness played an important role in the navigation behaviours of older adults and their carers. In Chapter 3, I conducted a secondary data analysis to quantitatively examine the influence of psychosocial factors on the utilisation of formal home-based aged care, using data from the Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers. The study suggested that older adults facing psychosocial difficulties were more likely to encounter barriers in accessing formal home-based aged care. Using the findings from Chapters 2 and 3, I developed a mixed-method study including qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys to explore consumers’ lived experiences with home-based aged care navigation in Australia (Chapter 4). In this study, as a bilingual candidate, I interviewed and surveyed 20 care recipients or family carers from English or Chinese-speaking backgrounds to explore their experiences of obtaining and managing home-based aged care. In Chapter 5, I discussed the implications and policy recommendations of this thesis. The findings provide insights ...