Rainbow Inclusive Aged Care Project

Retirement village scene with Rainbow graphic on top

The project aims to improve care for gender and sexually diverse people in residential aged care.

It follows an Appreciative Inquiry approach and identifies what enables and constrains inclusive care. Co-creation, co-design, and co-research methods with LGBTQ+ people as active participants shape the project and its outcomes.

It includes a national survey of residential aged care workers and field research in two project sites (Queensland and Western Australia), involving two aged care providers and 12 residential aged care homes. An inclusive model of care will be co-created with LGBTQ+ people, and then implemented and evaluated in partner homes.

Key outcomes

Improved care

Improved quality of care provided to gender and sexually diverse people living in residential aged care

Older female couple

Increased safety

Increased safety for all people from gender and sexually diverse communities in visiting, living or working in residential aged care

Photo of two older gay men

Enhanced knowledge

Enhanced knowledge of what enables and constrains inclusive care for gender and sexually diverse people in residential aged care

Trans and Proud sign

Inclusive model

A co-designed rainbow-inclusive model of care for residential aged care, with supporting guidelines and resources

Older woman with scarf

Feature article

Study targets inclusive care for LGBTQ+ people

A five-year multi-stakeholder collaboration is co-designing a best-practice inclusive model of residential aged care for LGBTQ+ older people to roll out nationally. The Southern Cross University-led study aims to investigate how Australia’s aged care sector can enhance its service delivery to cover a wider demographic of gender and sexual diversity.

Read article
Two older gay men

Any questions?

rainbow.aged.care@scu.edu.au
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