A Good Life: Developing A New Quality of Life Instrument with Older People For Economic Evaluation in Aged Care

“The ageing of Australia’s population represents a significant challenge for aged care. New methods, techniques and evaluative frameworks are needed to overcome resource constraints while maximising the quality of life and wellbeing of older Australians. Our new quality of life instrument will be the first of its kind.”

- Ratcliffe

The importance of quality of life to aged care consumers and their families was highlighted in the  Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety in 2020. Spending on aged care programs and services is expected to rise to $80 billion by 2054-2055 (AIHW).

Goal

Help decision-makers fund services and supports that maximise quality of life for older people.

Aims

Develop a descriptive model of what good quality of life means to aged care consumers.
Quantify older people’s preferences which can then be used in the economic evaluation of aged care services.
Develop a preference-based quality of life measure, producing a scoring algorithm for use in quality assessment and economic evaluation of aged care services.
Support Consumer Directed Care and the successful implementation of the new Aged Care Quality Standards.

Researchers

From Flinders
Professor Julie Ratcliffe (Lead Investigator)
Dr Claire Hutchinson (Project Manager)
Dr Ruth Walker (Co-Investigator)
Dr Rachel Milte (Co-Investigator)
Ms Jenny Cleland (PhD Candidate)
Ms Alexandra Mudd (Research Assistant)

Research collaborators
Professor Ian Cameron
Ms Candice McBain
Professor Emily Lanscar

Grant Details

ARC Linkage Grant - $406,665 + $180,000 industry partner contributions

Chief Investigator: Professor Julie Ratcliffe

Commenced: 2020
Completion Due: 2023

Tools and Resources

Quality of Life – Aged Care Consumers

Quality Assessment Tools

Cleland, J., Hutchinson, C., McBain, C., Walker, R., Milte, R., Khadka, J. & Ratcliffe, J. (2020). Developing dimensions for a preference-based quality of life instrument for older people receiving aged care services in the community, Quality of Life Research, 1-11. doi:10.1007/s11136-020-02649-5

Khadka, J., Ratcliffe, J., Chen, G., Kumaran, S., Milte, R., Hutchinson, C., Savvas, S. & Batchelor, F. (2020). A new measure of quality of care in aged care: psychometric assessment, and validation of the Quality of Care Experience (QCE) questionnaire. Adelaide: Caring Futures Institute, Flinders University.
https://agedcare.royalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-02/attachment-qce-and-community-expectatons.pdf

Ratcliffe J, Chen G, Khadka J, Kumaran S, Hutchinson C, Milte R, Savvas S, Batchelor F (2020). Australia’s aged care system: the quality of care experience and community expectations. Caring Futures Institute, Flinders University, South Australia.

Ratcliffe J, Chen G, Cleland J, Kaambwa B, Khadka J, Hutchinson C, Milte R (2020) Australia’s aged care system: assessing the views and preferences of the general public for quality of care and future funding. Caring Futures Institute, Flinders University, South Australia.

Collaborators

Professor Ian Cameron from the University of Sydney, Professor Emily Lanscar from the Australian National University, Ms Kate Swaffer from Dementia Alliance International, and Emeritus Professor Stuart Parker from the University of Newcastle, UK.