Briony Dow

• BSW, MA, PhD (Sociology)
• Director at National Ageing Research Institute

Objectives The STrAtegies for RelaTives (START) programme was designed in the United Kingdom to support informal dementia carers. This study was designed to assess therapists' perspectives on the feasibility of START in the Australian healthcare context in terms of its acceptability to therapists (i.e., confidence in delivery, perceived client rapp...

The aim of the research was to identify interventions for the management of urinary incontinence (UI) in nursing homes. A scoping review was conducted with methods adapted from The Joanna Briggs Institute reviewers’ manual 2015 methodology for conducting scoping reviews and reporting was guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review...

To co-design and pilot test a best practice model of continence care and knowledge translation resources for Australian residential aged care, a mixed methods study was undertaken. The study had four stages: (1) a scoping review of literature; (2) a survey, interviews and co-design workshops with residential aged care stakeholders; (3) the co-desig...

Background The escalating prevalence of dementia in India highlights the need for effective dementia care, particularly in a context marked by limited specialized services and resources. In response to this growing challenge, we sought to contribute to the understanding of societal expectations of multidisciplinary dementia care by exploring the qu...

There is interest in routinely measuring quality of life (QoL) in aged care homes, evidenced by the Australian Government’s implementation of QoL as a mandatory quality indicator. This study explores views of aged care staff, residents, and family members on the benefits, challenges, and feasibility of implementing routine QoL measures. Qualitative...

Background The Promoting Independence Through quality Care at Home (PITCH) project aimed to improve outcomes for people with dementia and their carers via a co‐designed training intervention for home care workers (HCWs). The results of the primary efficacy analysis of the successful stepped‐wedge cluster RCT (n = 172 HCWs in 18 clusters in 7 Austra...

The authors begin by Acknowledging they are visitors to nipaluna on palawa Country and pay respect to palawa Elders, and the specific knowledge systems that have always existed in this place. Posed as a provocation, and leaning into the 2024 conference theme, the authors ask how being-with, listening to, and learning with the fresh air of palawa Co...

Background and Objectives Screening for elder abuse can improve detection, but many health providers lack the necessary skills and confidence. To address this, training for health providers on elder abuse screening was co-designed as part of a trial aimed at improving elder abuse detection and response. Research Design and Methods Between March an...

The EQ Health and Wellbeing (EQ-HWB) is a new generic quality-of-life measure for use in evaluating interventions in health, public health and social care. This study aimed to explore proxies’ views regarding the appropriateness of the EQ-HWB for measuring residents’ quality of life living in residential aged care facilities. Qualitative think-alou...

Objectives The primary aim of this pragmatic stepped‐wedge cluster RCT was to determine the efficacy of a co‐designed dementia specialist training program (the PITCH program) for home care workers (HCWs) to improve their confidence and knowledge when providing care for clients living with dementia. Methods HCWs who provided care to clients with de...

Introduction We report a mixed-methods process evaluation embedded within a randomised controlled trial. We aimed to test and refine a theory of change model hypothesising key causal assumptions to understand how the New Interventions for Independence in Dementia Study (NIDUS)-Family (a manualised, multimodal psychosocial intervention), was effecti...

Background This study investigated how different spaces within multigenerational local parks are being used by older people and other age groups. Methods Observation of park visitors occurred in six Victorian parks one month after park refurbishment. Parks were classified into six spaces based on equipment/amenities and associated expected activit...

Background Recreational parks can play a significant role in older people’s health, with emerging evidence suggesting that changes in the physical environment, such as refurbishments of local parks, can increase park visitations and physical activity engagement. The ENJOY MAP for HEALTH aimed to evaluate the impact of Seniors Exercise Park installa...

Objectives In India, globalisation is purported to have contributed to shifting family structures and changing attitudes to long‐term care (LTC) facility use. We investigated the attitudes to and usage frequency of LTC in India. Methods We conducted secondary analyses of: (a) The Moving Pictures India Project qualitative interviews with 19 carers...

Introduction This process evaluation was conducted in parallel to the randomised controlled feasibility trial of NIDUS-Professional, a manualised remote dementia training intervention for homecare workers (HCWs), delivered alongside an individualised intervention for clients living with dementia and their family carers (NIDUS-Family). The process e...

Background Elder abuse often goes unreported and undetected. Older people may be ashamed, fearful, or otherwise reticent to disclose abuse, and many health providers are not confident in asking about it. In the No More Shame study, we will evaluate a co-designed, multi-component intervention that aims to improve health providers’ recognition, respo...

Objective Using the concept of relational solidarity, we examine how autonomy, equality, dignity, and personhood are practiced in the care of people living with dementia at home in urban India. Methods Video interviews with 19 family carers and 25 health providers conducted in English, Hindi, and Kannada in Bengaluru between March to July 2022. Da...

Introduction In the first randomised controlled trial of a dementia training and support intervention in UK homecare agencies, we aimed to assess: acceptability of our co-designed, manualised training, delivered by non-clinical facilitators; outcome completion feasibility; and costs for a future trial. Methods This cluster-randomised (2:1) single-...

Recreational spaces are important public spaces for people of all ages to engage in leisure and physical activities, however older people remain one of the lowest users of park. This study investigated older people's perceptions and reasons for visiting parks that have undergone refurbishment with the installation of age-friendly outdoor exercise e...

The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia has profoundly affected older adults, particularly in the state of Victoria, which experienced strict lockdown restrictions six times since the pandemic began in 2020; totalling 245 days over three years. This study explored the experiences of older adults living in retirement villages during the first three lockd...

Introduction We report a process evaluation embedded within a UK Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), which demonstrated that New Interventions for independence in Dementia Study (NIDUS)-Family (a manualised, multimodal psychosocial intervention), was effective relative to usual care, on the primary outcome of Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) over one y...

Background Although national guidelines recommend that everyone with dementia receives personalised post-diagnostic support, few do. Unlike previous interventions that improved personalised outcomes in people with dementia, the NIDUS-Family intervention is fully manualised and deliverable by trained and supervised, non-clinical facilitators. We aim...

Introduction: Elder abuse often goes unreported and undetected. Older people may be ashamed, fearful or otherwise reticent to disclose abuse; and many health providers are not confident in asking about it. In the No More Shame study, we will evaluate a co-designed, multi-component intervention that aims to improve health providers’ recognition, res...

Background The NHMRC‐funded Promoting Independence Through quality Care at Home (PITCH) project aimed to improve outcomes for people living with dementia and their paid and family carers via an evidence‐based dementia specialist training program for home care workers (HCWs). PITCH training was co‐designed with HCWs, family carers and people with de...

Background Despite the rapid proliferation of smartphones in low and middle‐income countries (LMICs), few studies have explored how to harness this technology to improve dementia care. Using a case‐study from India, where 830 million people are smartphone users, we describe the co‐design of a fully digitalised dementia care intervention for family...

The aim of the research was to identify interventions for the management of urinary incontinence (UI) in nursing homes. A scoping review was conducted with methods adapted from The Joanna Briggs Institute reviewers’ manual 2015 methodology for conducting scoping reviews and reporting was guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review...

Despite the health benefits of parks and outdoor recreational spaces, small numbers of older people visit parks. This study identified older park visitors’ perceptions of their local parks, visit motivation, health, and physical activity level in six parks in Victoria, Australia. Characteristics of general community park visitors and their physical...

Objectives Ethnically diverse family carers of people living with dementia (hereafter carers and people with dementia) experience more psychological distress than other carers. To reduce this inequality, culturally adapted, multilingual, evidence-based practical assistance is needed. This paper details the Draw-Care study protocol including a rando...

There is an increased use of preference-weighted quality-of-life measures in residential aged care to guide resource allocation decisions or for quality-of-care assessments. However, little is known about their face validity (i.e., how understandable, appropriate and relevant the measures are ‘on their face’ when respondents complete them). The aim...

Like other high-income countries, Australia has an ageing population, with about 3.8 million Australians aged 65 and over representing 15% of the population (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Older Australians at a glance. AIHW, Canberra, 2018). Older Australian people have a range of heritages, with First Nations peoples the proud custod...

Objectives: Resources to support dementia carers from ethnically diverse families are limited. We explored carers' and service providers' views on adapting the World Health Organization's iSupport Lite messages to meet their needs. Methods: Six online workshops were conducted with ethnically diverse family carers and service providers (n = 21) f...

Background People living with dementia increasingly prefer to live in their own home as their care needs progress. Home care workers (HCWs) are essential for supporting independent living, and need training and support on how to deliver evidence‐based and best‐practice dementia care. The home care workforce is diverse, and in Australia, the number...

Background: There are limited longitudinal studies on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and well-being, including the effects of imposed restrictions and lockdowns. Aims: This study investigates how living in a pandemic, and related lockdowns and restrictions, affected the mental health of people living in Australia during th...

Objective: To articulate how Aboriginal community-controlled art centres support the role of Elders and older people within an ontologically situated, intergenerational model of care. Methods: In this paper, we draw on stories (data) generated through interviews involving 75 people associated with three Aboriginal community-controlled art centre...

Background: The Exercise interveNtion outdoor proJect in the cOmmunitY (ENJOY) Seniors Exercise Park program uses specialized outdoor equipment and a physical activity program to engage older people in physical activity, with multiple health benefits. We determined the cost-effectiveness of the ENJOY program. Methods: The economic evaluation com...

Policies supporting caregivers (“caregiver policies”) are limited in the extent to which they meet the needs of those who care for others. Where policies do exist, they focus on relieving the burdens associated with caring or the needs of the person they care for, rather than consider the holistic needs of the caregiver that would enable them to fl...

Objectives Depression and cognitive impairment are disabling conditions that commonly occur together in older adults. The interaction is challenging when choosing appropriate measurement scales. This review aimed to summarize the scales to measure depression symptoms in older people with cognitive impairment, investigating how cognitive impairment...

To co-design and pilot test a best practice model of continence care and knowledge translation resources for Australian residential aged care, a mixed methods study was undertaken. The study had four stages: (1) a scoping review of literature; (2) a survey, interviews and co-design workshops with residential aged care stakeholders; (3) the co-desig...

Applying co-design methodologies is increasingly recommended for engaging diverse end-users and bridging evidence-practice gaps. Yet, one of the ongoing challenges for research using co-design is the lack of evidence as to whether co-design leads to better outcomes than not using co-design. In this article, we outline how, despite adhering to a tim...

Background/objective: Co-production is a collaborative method that can make the research process more egalitarian by ensuring researchers work in partnership with key stakeholders in both the design and delivery of research projects and outcomes. A departure from more traditional ways of conducting research, co-production requires the researcher to...

Introduction: There are approximately 90 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community controlled art centres across Australia, the majority in geographically remote locations. This survey explored how these centres are supporting older people, including people living with dementia, if and how they are collaborating with aged care services and w...

Background Physical activity is important to maintain health in older age, with physical activity in the outdoors providing mental and physical health benefits for all age groups. One way by which older people can engage in physical activity in the outdoors is through using suitable age-friendly outdoor exercise equipment, the Seniors Exercise Park...

BACKGROUND India is undergoing a demographic transition characterised by population ageing and is witnessing a high dementia rate. Although, around 4.4 million people live with dementia in India, dementia awareness is poor and current resources addressing dementia care are basic and often incomplete, duplicated, and/or conflicting. To address this...

Background: India is undergoing a demographic transition characterized by population aging and is witnessing a high dementia rate. Although nearly 7 million people live with dementia in India, dementia awareness is poor, and current resources addressing dementia care are basic and often incomplete, duplicated, or conflicting. To address this gap,...

Background With increasing numbers of people living with dementia relying on family to care for them at home, there is an urgent need for practical and evidence-based programs to support carers in maintaining their mental health and well-being. The objective of this study was to evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of a modified STrAtegies fo...

Undertaking co-design with the end users of services has rapidly evolved as the best-practice approach to program design, development and implementation. Increased interest in using participatory co-design in dementia care has drawn attention to the need for evidence-informed methods for facilitating the meaningful involvement of people with dement...

Most people living with dementia want to continue living in their own home for as long as possible and many rely on support from homecare services to do so. There are concerns that homecare often fails to meet the needs of clients with dementia, but there is limited evidence regarding effective interventions to improve its delivery for this client...

Background: Our objective was to explore what people receiving and providing care consider to be ‘good’ in-home care for people living with dementia. Methods: We conducted 36 in-depth interviews and two focus groups with key stakeholders in Australia in the first quarter of 2018. Participants included those receiving care (4 people living with dem...

Background The ENJOY project (Exercise interveNtion outdoor proJect in the cOmmunitY for older people) is a community-based research project actively promoting physical activity engagement through the delivery of an exercise program using outdoor multimodal exercise equipment. This study investigated the impact of the physical activity program on f...

Background Home care service providers are increasingly supporting clients living with dementia. Targeted and comprehensive dementia-specific training for home care staff is necessary to meet this need. This study evaluates a training programme delivered to care staff (paid personal carers) of clients living with dementia at home. Methods This stu...

Background Most people living with dementia want to remain living in their own homes and are supported to do so by family carers. No interventions have consistently demonstrated improvements to people with dementia’s life quality, functioning, or other indices of living as well as possible with dementia. We have co-produced, with health and social...

Background Australia has a population of 26 million, and on January 28th 2021, 28,794 COVID‐19 infections and 909 deaths. 685 deaths were at residential aged care facilities, and data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that 72.7% of the people who died of the coronavirus in Australia (up to 31 August 2020) had at least one pre‐existi...

Recommendations provided regarding options for obtaining aged care consumer input about home care services and providers and to assist in identifying provider level and/or systemic risk.

Background The physical environment has been shown to have a positive effect on the promotion of physical activity of older people. Outdoor environments that incorporate specialised exercise equipment suitable for older people are uniquely placed to promote physical activity and social connectedness amongst older people. The ENJOY project included...

Background Homecare workers carry out complex work with people living with dementia, while under-supported, undervalued and undertrained. In this ethnographic study, we explore the skills, training and support needs of homecare workers supporting people living with dementia. Research Design and Methods We conducted 82 interviews with people living...

Primary carers play an important role in supporting the Australian Government's policy of 'ageing in place' or encouraging people to receive care in their own homes or communities rather than in institutions. Supporting carers in their role is therefore an important aspect of the policy's success. Despite numerous programs in place, this study find...

Introduction: Medication-related harms may occur if residents and families are not involved when important medication decisions are made. We examined how residents and families engage in the management of residents’ medications in aged care facilities. Areas covered: A systematic review was undertaken, which was registered with PROSPERO (CRD4202015...

Background As places of both residence and work, what constitutes “good quality care” in residential aged care requires consideration of staffs’ perspectives. Objective A meta-synthesis of the qualitative literature was conducted exploring residential aged care staff perspectives on “quality of care.” Methods Six electronic databases were searche...

Background This protocol describes an ongoing study of the impact of befriending on depression, anxiety and loneliness in older people living in residential aged care facilities in Australia. While systematic reviews of befriending have indicated positive benefits of befriending for people in a range of ages and settings, there have been no randomi...

Background: With increasing numbers of people living with dementia relying on family to care for them at home, there is an urgent need for practical and evidence-based programs to support carers in maintaining their mental health and well-being. The objective of this study was to evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of a modified STrAtegies f...

Objectives Long-term engagement and participation in physical activity by older adults in the general population is poor. The Exercise interveNtion outdoor proJect in the cOmmunitY for older people (the ENJOY project) is a community-based research project utilizing an outdoor Seniors Exercise Park that demonstrated increased physical activity level...

There is increasing interest in harnessing aged care residents’ perspectives to drive quality improvement in aged care homes. We conducted a systematic review of qualitative evidence including literature examining residents’ descriptions of “quality of care” in aged care homes, using database searches and screening records according to eligibility...

Objectives: Residents in nursing homes are being isolated to prevent exposure to COVID-19. Many are prone to depression, anxiety and loneliness, and extra isolation leaves them vulnerable to compromised mental health. In this study, trained volunteers providing befriending for residents with symptoms of depression, anxiety and loneliness switched t...

Background People with dementia are uniquely vulnerable to elder abuse, including from their family members and carers. However, when confronted with instances of elder abuse, service providers often struggle to balance the carer’s needs and the older person’s rights. Without clear and consistent messaging and training, significant discrepancies ca...

Background Many research studies evaluate physical activity interventions for older people in the community, however relatively few successfully promote maintenance of physical activity beyond the completion of the intervention. This study aimed to implement and evaluate the effects of sustained engagement in physical activity on mental, social and...

Elder abuse often goes unreported. Perpetrators of elder abuse are frequently the adult children of the victim and this relationship may contribute to the reluctance of older adults to seek help. This study aimed to understand older people’s experiences of elder abuse and the barriers to reporting it. Twenty-eight semi-structured interviews were co...

Men aged 85 years and over have the highest rate of suicide of any age or gender group in Australia. However, little is known about their trajectory toward suicide. The objective of this study was to understand the role of masculine norms and other life factors in the suicidality of older men. Thirty-three men aged 80 years or more took part in a s...

Objectives: Symptoms of depression are highly prevalent and under-treated in residential aged care facilities. Behavioural activation is a simple, cost-effective psychosocial intervention that might be appropriate to help reduce depression and improve well-being in this setting. The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility and effi...

This qualitative study explored the barriers and facilitators to sexual communication between older adults and friends. Fifty-three women and men aged 58 and older were interviewed about their intimate relationships and sexual behaviours and attitudes. Findings indicated that talking about sex with friends played an important role in providing supp...

This article explores implications of language used in communicating death and dying in residential aged care, which increasingly emphasizes a “family-centered” approach to end-of-life care. Based on focus groups with care professionals and families, our findings reveal a persistent clinical culture that resists frank discussions of dying, with man...

Objectives This review informed development of the first national Physical Activity (PA) Guidelines for Older Australians with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) or Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD) (http://www.dementiaresearch.org.au/images/dcrc/output-files/1567-pa_guidelines_for_mci_or_scd_full_report_final.pdf). These guidelines are directed at h...

The aim of this Australian study was to investigate effects on depression of a 6-month individually tailored home-based exercise program for caregivers, designed to be done with the person they care for. Ninety-one caregiver-care recipient dyads and 30 caregiver-only participants (caregivers scoring ≥4 on the 15 item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS...

A growing body of research is examining the way that virtual reality (VR) technology might enrich the lives of older adults. However, no studies have yet examined how this technology---combining head mounted displays, motion tracking, avatars, and virtual environments---might contribute to older adult wellbeing by facilitating greater social partic...

In Australia there is an absence of an elder abuse screening instrument that is widely accepted and that has been designed with, and for, end-users. This study aimed to develop an effective and acceptable elder abuse screening instrument by engaging with frontline professionals through a co-design process. To date, co-design methodologies are recom...

Global population ageing has meant a rapid increase in the numbers of older people with dementia, most of whom live in their own homes. Staying at home is an important determinant of health and well‐being. As care needs increase, the quality of community support which older people receive directly influences their capacity to remain in their own ho...

The importance of family’s involvement in care planning has been stressed to cater individualized, person-centered care in residential aged care. However, in reality, there are numerous structural obstacles and barriers that limit opportunities for their involvement. The aim of this article is to explore what they are. The findings based on the 12...

Interventions based on comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) have been implemented in many countries. These interventions, based on the premise that such assessment will delay individual decline and reduce demand on medical and institutional care, generally result in equivocal or modest outcomes. This article presents findings from a critical re...

Objectives: Australia's aged care workforce is facing pressures due to increased demands from an ageing population. This paper reflects upon whether existing workspace environmental design evaluations are supporting the aged care workforce. Methods: This brief report was informed by a 2018 Optimising Aged Care Workspace Environment Symposium wit...

Background: Creating inclusive and accessible outdoor environments that provide and encourage opportunities for older adults to engage in physical activity and social interaction is important for healthy ageing. The Senior Exercise Park is outdoor exercise equipment designed specifically for use by older people that provides physical and social be...

In recent years, increased awareness leading to much-needed research has expanded the evidence base, regarding violence experienced by older women in Australia. However, this research is primarily focused on intimate partner violence of older women. Less apparent is that substantial numbers of older women are also victims of another form of family...

Background: Population ageing is projected to reduce labour force growth and aggregate labour force participation, whilst increasing demand for informal carers. Increasing the labour force participation of Australians who face barriers to employment (including carers) is part of the solution to labour market pressures occurring due to demographic c...

Introduction As Australia's aging population increases and diversifies, there will be a growing need to address the burden of dementia among culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities. Due to a lack of CALD‐appropriate services and bilingual health professionals, older people from CALD backgrounds often receive a delayed diagnosis of...

Provision of choice and participation in falls prevention strategies is challenging for people with dementia. This study outlines development of a discussion tool to aid engagement of people with dementia and their caregivers in falls prevention strategies. The tool is based on a literature review of falls prevention and dementia care (1990–2016) a...

Purpose: Strong evidence exists for falls prevention, yet uptake of strategies can be fragmented and limited. For people with dementia, adoption of strategies may be impacted by changes in memory and planning. This paper describes the findings of a knowledge translation intervention for adoption of falls prevention strategies for people with demen...

Australia has a long history of providing publicly-subsidised community care. Over time the service model has grown in complexity and in the size of the client base. Serial reviews have prompted reforms and evolution in the system, with the latest reforms featuring a single point of entry (My Aged Care, 2018), a single funding entitiy, and a focus...

Background and Objectives: Without an effective screening tool, accompanied by clear guidelines of what to do when elder abuse is suspected, health workers may face challenges when asking questions about elder abuse. This study aimed to find the most effective and acceptable existing elder abuse screening tool and to create guidelines for using th...

Purpose of review: Many people living with dementia (PLWD) wish to continue living at home. The quality of home care services directly influences their ability to stay at home, their quality of life, and can promote independence for PLWD, and reduce burden for the family carer. For high-quality, effective, person-centred community-based dementia c...

Objectives There are growing concerns that social isolation presents risks to older people's health and well‐being. Thus, the objective of the review was to explore how technology is currently being utilised to combat social isolation and increase social participation, hence improving social outcomes for older people. Methods A systematic review o...