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Received: 20 September 2024
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Accepted: 17 December 2024
Published: 2 January 2025
Citation: Lane, A.P.; Tieman, J. “We
Work in an Industry Where We’reHere
to Care for Others, and Often Forget to
Take Care of Ourselves”: Aged-Care
Staff Views on Self-Care. Geriatrics
2025,10, 3. https://doi.org/10.3390/
geriatrics10010003
Copyright: © 2025 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
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Article
“We Work in an Industry Where We’re Here to Care for Others,
and Often Forget to Take Care of Ourselves”: Aged-Care Staff
Views on Self-Care
Anna P. Lane 1 ,† and Jennifer Tieman 2, *,†
1National Ageing Research Institute, 34-54 Poplar Road, Gate 4, Building 8, Royal Melbourne Hospital,
Parkville, VIC 3050, Australia; a.lane@nari.edu.au
2
Research Centre for Palliative Care, Death and Dying, Palliative and Supportive Services, College of Nursing
and Health Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5042, Australia
*Correspondence: jennifer.tieman@flinders.edu.au; Tel.: +61-8-7221-8237
†These authors contributed equally to this work.
Abstract: Objective: This study aimed to explore self-care understanding and behaviours
among aged-care workers in Australia. It was conducted as part of a project to co-produce
a self-care resource for the Australian aged-care workforce. Methods: Semi-structured
interviews with eleven aged-care staff and a focus group with four staff at an aged-care
facility were undertaken to understand how staff understand and practice self-care and
how death and dying affect workers. Thematic analysis was performed using software to
generate a data coding tree. Results: Aged-care workers view self-care as taking care of
oneself and as being a way to manage and maintain wellbeing so that they can continue
to care. As practiced in daily life, self-care is highly individualised, with actions at work
and at home having significant impact on a person’s wellbeing. Supportive organisational
cultures and collegial teams were found to be particularly relevant in helping staff to
deal with death and dying. Conclusions: Aged-care workers may benefit from an online
self-care resource tailored to their specific needs and based on their first-hand experiences
of working in aged-care. Organisations can support aged-care workers by creating space
and time for self-care.
Keywords: self-care; residential aged-care facility; terminal care
1. Introduction
The purpose of this study was to explore the self-care experiences of aged-care
workers—defined as those providing services to older people in aged-care facilities and
the home—to inform the development of an online support resource. The importance of
aged-care has increasingly been recognised as the world’s population ages and the need
for care and support in older years grows. Workforce pressures have been acknowledged
as well as the changing demands on those providing direct hands-on care, which can lead
to fatigue and emotional stress. This is noted in both residential aged-care settings and in
those providing aged-care services to clients in the home [1–4].
Self-care broadly refers to the actions that an individual takes in the interest of their
own wellbeing, and often involves personal coping strategies [
5
]. It is often viewed as
a strategy to protect healthcare workers against burnout and compassion fatigue due
to occupational stress. Burnout is a “psychological syndrome emerging as a prolonged
response to chronic interpersonal stressors on the job” [
6
] and is characterised by emotional
Geriatrics 2025,10, 3 https://doi.org/10.3390/geriatrics10010003
Geriatrics 2025,10, 3 2 of 12
exhaustion, distancing from patients and colleagues, as well as negative feelings and
cynicism about one’s job, and decreased motivation and productivity. Compassion fatigue
is a reduction in the ability to empathise due to physical and emotional exhaustion, and
contributes to burnout [7].
The challenges of aged-care work are well documented and include excessive work-
loads, time constraints, limited career growth opportunities, long working hours, heavy
physical demands, insufficient training to deal with complex conditions, and work schedule
demands [
8
–
10
]. For home care workers, concerns include working in unsanitary condi-
tions, working with aggressive patients, and working alone. With an estimated 35% of
all deaths in Australia occurring in residential aged-care facilities, dealing with death and
dying is considered another source of stress among the aged-care workforce [
11
]. However,
this association is currently underexplored.
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the aged-care workforce. The
Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety concluded in a special report: “The
COVID-19 pandemic has been the greatest challenge Australia’s aged care sector has faced.
Those who have suffered the most have been the residents, their families and aged care
staff” [
12
]. As frontline workers in an essential industry, aged-care workers reported to
their place of work during lockdowns and quickly accommodated new workplace and
care protocols. They faced a plethora of anxiety-provoking issues including fatigue from
long shifts spent wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), fear of being exposed to
COVID-19 at work and taking the infection home to families, as well as anxiety associated
with high rates of death in aged-care facilities [13–15].
While there is no evidence on the prevalence of burnout among aged-care workers in
Australia, a systematic review of burnout in healthcare professionals providing palliative
care reported prevalence rates ranging from 3% to 66%, with professionals in general
settings experiencing more symptoms of burnout than those in specialist palliative care
settings [
16
]. Aside from the toll on workers’ own health and wellbeing, burnout is harmful
to the aged-care sector because it causes high staff turnover and workforce shortages [
16
,
17
],
and lower-quality patient care [
18
]. While self-care may be viewed as an individual action
and thus an individual responsibility, there are implications for organisations and how
they create the conditions in which self-care practice may be normalised and enabled.
Self-care theory and frameworks recognise wider determinants of individual self-care
behaviours [19].
The importance of self-care for the aged-care workforce is observed in policies and
standards governing the sector. Under Standard 7 of the Aged Care Quality Standards,
aged-care providers are required to employ a workforce that is “skilled and qualified to
provide safe, respectful and quality care services” [
20
]. Additionally, Standard 9 of the
National Palliative Care Standards appeals to employers to support workers with self-care:
“Staff are trained in self-care strategies and advised on how to access personal support” [
11
].
Evidence about self-care and the aged-care workforce is limited. The associations
between self-care, wellbeing, and burnout have been examined more extensively in other
populations. A number of studies have evaluated self-care planning [
21
,
22
], mindfulness-
based programmes [
23
–
25
], yoga [
26
], and expressive writing [
27
] in cohorts of nurses
working in settings other than aged-care, such as oncology, hospices, and hospitals. In a
systematic review of burnout intervention studies for nursing home staff, three Australian
studies were identified which all looked specifically at improving care for clients with
dementia by supporting dementia care workers [28]. Additionally, knowledge about how
self-care influences wellbeing and theory for self-care is underdeveloped [19,29].
The capacity of Australia’s aged-care workforce to deliver quality care to people at the
end of their lives is a core ambition of the End of Life Directions for Aged Care (ELDAC)
Geriatrics 2025,10, 3 3 of 12
project. Commencing in 2017 and supported by the Australian Government Department of
Health, ELDAC is conducted by a national consortium of eight partners including Flinders
University. The ELDAC team work to support aged-care workers through provision of
tailored and accessible information and resources. Given the evidence linking self-care
activity with the capacity to care for others, as well as the stressors facing the aged-care
sector currently, ELDAC conducted a project to explore and support self-care as viewed
by aged-care staff who provide direct care to older Australians in residential and home
care settings. Evidence on self-care among this population is lacking, yet it is imperative
to the development of tailored resources to support this vital workforce. Given that this
study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, we needed to adjust strategies
for participation to meet the social distancing restrictions and lockdowns. In particular,
face-to-face focus groups were not feasible, and online interviews and focus groups were
used in their place. However, even with these restrictions, through the discovery stage of
this project to design a useful and accessible self-care resource, we gained insights into the
self-care experiences and needs of aged-care workers.
2. Methods
2.1. Participants and Data Collection
The findings presented in this paper represent the first phase of a co-design project
conducted online during the COVID-19 pandemic, to develop an online self-care resource.
This phase of the co-design process—which engaged aged-care staff to explore their views
on self-care—involved ideation. Using insights and knowledge gathered in the first phase,
the research team identified initial design elements for an online tool and engaged again
with the aged-care staff to seek their inputs and refine further. A prototype (i.e., a web
page, with sub-pages of content informed by the findings) was then developed, followed
by testing and evaluation.
Participants were working aged-care staff with experience providing direct care to
older people in residential aged-care facilities and home care settings in Australia. A
convenience sample was recruited through ELDAC marketing channels, which included
items in the monthly newsletter and items on ELDAC’s social media channels such as
Twitter/X, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Interested staff completed an online expression-of-
interest form. The method of approach was open and exploratory, seeking to capture
diverse perspectives and include staff across a range of aged-care roles. Demographic data
were not obtained.
Data were collected by the first author via semi-structured interviews with eleven
staff, and one focus group with four staff at a private residential aged-care facility during a
lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the intention of co-producing an online
resource, during this discovery stage of the project, participants were asked questions
covering three core topics: (i) What is ‘self-care’ and why does it matter to aged-care staff?
(ii) What resources have been developed for aged-care staff, and can staff benefit from them?
(iii) What are some ideas for managing stress and maintaining wellbeing over the long term
while doing this work? (to view Interview Guide, see Supplementary Material S1).
Participants were informed of the voluntary and confidential nature of their involve-
ment, and that they could withdraw or decline to answer questions at any time. The
interviews and focus group were conducted online between June and August 2021 and
were each about 45 to 60 min. They were recorded and transcribed verbatim. All partici-
pants received an e-voucher.
Geriatrics 2025,10, 3 4 of 12
2.2. Analysis
The analysis was tailored to the needs of the project and the objective of creating
a self-help tool for those working in aged-care. Data were thematically analysed (AL)
through key stages of familiarisation, reviewing of transcripts, and coding for emergent
themes [
30
]. NVivo software version 12 was used to create a data coding tree. Analysis was
deductive and inductive and used to generate material for an online self-care resource. To
ensure fidelity between the interview data and emergent themes, the authors met regularly
to discuss key findings. Quotations are included here to illustrate the themes identified in
the data. Occupations are used to protect participant anonymity. Findings were discussed
at project advisory group meetings. The project advisory group comprised stakeholders
with practical or subject matter expertise in the areas of aged-care, palliative care, self-care,
and technology.
2.3. Ethics
This study was conducted as part of a project to co-produce a self-care resource for
the Australian aged-care workforce. Ethical approval was obtained from the Flinders
University Human Research Ethics Committee (project no. 4652).
3. Results
Participants were 14 aged-care staff, most (n= 13) of whom were female and working
in the residential aged-care setting. Only one participant worked in the home care setting.
The sample included a range of occupational roles that make up the direct care workforce
(Table 1). Some (n= 4) participants had managerial responsibilities. One person partici-
pated in both an interview and a focus group. Key themes are identified in Table 2and
discussed below.
Table 1. Details of participants.
Occupation Setting State Interviews Focus Group
1. Personal care worker (PCW) RAC SA
2. Home support worker (HSW) Home SA
3. Personal care worker RAC SA
4. Consultant in residential aged-care and former
personal care worker RAC SA
5. Registered Nurse (RN), Residential Manager RAC QLD
6. Chaplain RAC NSW
7. Chaplain RAC NSW
8. Pastoral carer RAC VIC
9. Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) (Community
palliative care, RACF outreach) RAC NSW
10. Lifestyle assistant RAC SA
11. Registered Nurse, Chief Executive (CE) RAC ACT
12. Clinical manager RAC ACT
13. Clinical manager RAC ACT
14. Consumer concierge officer RAC ACT
Note. RAC: residential aged-care. Home: home care. ACT: Australian Capital Territory. SA: South Australia. QLD:
Queensland. NSW: New South Wales. VIC: Victoria. The grey shading indicates participation in an interview, a
focus group, or both.
Geriatrics 2025,10, 3 5 of 12
Table 2. Key themes.
Theme
1. Holistic Self-Care and Shared Responsibility
2. Self-Care, Individual Responsibility, and Organisational Support
3. Preventing Burnout in the Face of Acute and Ongoing Challenges
4.
Personalised Approaches to Self-Care and the Role of Workplace Relationships
5.
Emotional Impact of Death and Dying: Coping Through Care, Connection, and
Reflection
3.1. Holistic Self-Care and Shared Responsibility
Participants typically used the expression “looking after yourself” to explain the
meaning of self-care and connected their health and wellbeing with their capacity to care
for others.
“Self-care means looking after yourself in all respects of your health, whether
your mental health, your physical health, your spiritual health. I think it goes,
the old cliche saying, that you need to fill your cup before you can help others, so
making sure that you look after yourself first.” (HSW)
In addition, participants described self-care as taking care of each other, suggesting a
collective identity and sense of responsibility for each other’s wellbeing that has a flow-on
effect for aged-care residents/clients.
“You’ve got to support each other. You can’t turn around and say, ‘Oh well, that
carer can look after herself’, or whatever. You’ve all got to look after each other.
If you see that one’s doing more than what they should be doing, step in and you
help them.” (PCW)
3.2. Self-Care, Individual Responsibility, and Organisational Support
Participants felt self-care was important but something they often overlooked or let
slip because the core business of aged-care is to care for others. They frequently described
how the nature of the job made it difficult for them to care for themselves.
“We work in an industry where we’re here to care for others, and often forget to
take care of ourselves. In the different settings, more so the environment we live
in right now, it’s stressful. The job is stressful.” (RN)
Participants viewed self-care as a responsibility of the individual. However, their
responses strongly supported a view of organisations as having a role in encouraging and
supporting employee self-care, since many of the factors that affect them are beyond their
control.
“I think that yes, it still comes back to the individual and you could provide all the
tools possible, but the individual’s got to make the choice to use them. But that
being said, being a workforce in a changing environment, where we have to give
a lot of ourselves, not just physically, emotionally as well, that the organisation
should have some part in assisting them to take self-care.” (RN)
3.3. Preventing Burnout in the Face of Acute and Ongoing Challenges
Self-care was typically described as an approach to prevent exhaustion and burnout,
and participants identified several work challenges that would lead them to cut back on
their hours or leave the workforce completely. Participants described how the ongoing
threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with the aged-care reforms, has created an
Geriatrics 2025,10, 3 6 of 12
ever-changing and demanding work environment. One participant described the impact of
lockdowns on staff and consumers, as well as their families.
“It’s very hard in aged-care. A lot of people don’t understand, even though we’ve
been doing them for 12 months. We’re currently in a lockdown now and the staff
and the residents, we went through a terrific gastro outbreak where the facility
was locked down. We had one day, we got the clear, we came out of that, and
after one day we were put into lockdown for COVID-19 prevention. The last
month has been very stressful and tiring for the residents and for the staff, and
the families.” (RN)
Another participant described the impacts on staff of change due to reforms and
pandemic conditions.
“On top of COVID, and as we keep saying to people, give us a break because
we have just lived through the worst two years of probably all our days. And
then on top of that, post the Royal Commission is just change after change after
change. That’s fatiguing.” (RN/CE)
They described high workloads, the demands of working in dementia care, and a
growing weariness with the negative press around the sector as having a significant impact
on workers. For managers, recruitment and retention of staff were sources of stress.
3.4. Personalised Approaches to Self-Care and the Role of Workplace Relationships
Participants described many ways in which they were taking care of themselves and
others, supporting the view that self-care is different for everyone and there is no one way
to look after yourself. When described how they take care, participants identified things
that they do at home and work. At work, the quality of relationships and interactions with
colleagues and residents were frequently described as having an impact on how they feel.
In view of the broad, individualised nature of self-care and participants’ emphasis on the
relationship between caring for oneself and caring for one’s colleagues, it was clear that the
quality of workplace relationships was a significant aspect of self-care from the perspective
of participants. Table 3shows some behaviours that impact aged-care staff wellbeing.
Table 3. Self-care behaviours of aged-care staff.
Actions Illustrative Quote
Actions performed at work
Going for a walk I would go for a walk in my lunch break, morning tea break it would be a walk
around the block. We used to do walking meetings. (Consultant/Former PCW)
Getting to know colleagues
I like to talk to people. I find out about them. You know, what do they like to do? Do
they have family? Like how’s their weekend. Or anything that I can help them with,
you know any work-related stuff that I can help them with. You know?
. . .
Because
you can detect, if one day they become very stressed. They get a bit worked up. You
know, this is not you. This is unlike you. (CNS)
Debriefing
Debriefing, that’s so important. And you know when someone debriefs to you,
you’re not judging them. You’re giving them, “What have you done well. Maybe
next time, you know this is what we can improve. But that’s all right. You know I’m
not blaming, but let’s learn from this”. (CNS)
Getting to know residents
Probably something that’s made me feel good in the work setting is having time
with the residents. It’s not task focused, it’s not going to see them because of a
complaint. It’s genuinely sitting with them and learning their story or speaking with
them as a fellow adult, and not being a nurse and having to go to them because you
have to, but learning from them . . . . (RN)
Geriatrics 2025,10, 3 7 of 12
Table 3. Cont.
Actions Illustrative Quote
Releasing emotion
I help a gentleman once a fortnight. I go around, and we take turns, there’s different carers
that go, but once a fortnight, it’s my job to go and help him with his personal care. And he has
a brain tumour, and he’s fairly severely impacted by that. So it’s tough. It’s physically tough
and mentally tough. And when I leave there, sometimes I will just sit in my car and have a
good cry. (HSW)
Actions performed at home
Walking
For me, I like to walk, so that’s
. . .
. We’ve got three little dogs who love to walk, so I’m making
myself do a morning walk with them, which they all enjoy. And that way it just helps me
clear my brain before I start work and I’m in a much better frame of mind.
. . .
On a weekend,
I’ll do a two hour walk and just really expel it out. (RN/CE)
Leaving work at work
And then I try and bring no work home after 5:00. I’ll answer a phone but I won’t answer an
email. (RN/CE)
Cooking I cook, I create, doesn’t always work, but I just cut off from the rest of my dog and my
husband and I just focus on cooking, so that is just my time. (CM)
Taking a long bath For me, it’s about just when I have absolutely given everything to everybody, that’s when I
need to go home and recharge and that might be a three-hour bath. (RN/CE)
Talking to spouse
I’ve got my partner that I’m able to talk to about it. He can empathise. He doesn’t understand
it, but sometimes you just need to offload it in some way. (HSW)
Actions performed by other people
When teams work well together
You do get some that you can’t connect with, but you can’t connect with everybody anyway,
but the ones I work with now, we work really well together. We talk to each other. We don’t
just say, “Well, I’m doing this and you’re doing that”. We all pitch in and we all help, yeah.
(PCW)
When residents are happy
Having residents say that they loved me and that they enjoy being with me because I actually
listen to them. I don’t just say, “I haven’t got time now. I’ll be back later”.
. . .
It makes me feel
that I’m doing my job properly. (PCW)
When families give good feedback
I always feel good when I get feedback. Like, this morning we had a death over the weekend.
A really long-term resident here. And the daughter drove in especially this morning to tell me
what fantastic care she had. That makes me feel better, that what we’re doing is right.
(RN/CE)
When someone thanks you
And you know, if somebody grabs your hand and say thank you, all the brickbats that you
receive, that’s worth a thousand of them. . .. Just those kinds of things are really, that’s the
thing that keeps you going. It’s not all the brickbats. It’s not even the bouquets. It’s those
moments where you think I’ve made a difference in your life. That’s a good thing. You’ve
made a difference in mine. (RN/CE)
When supervisors empathise
But when I needed support, my coordinator had the knowledge and understanding to listen
and comfort me. She really listened. She just stopped. And she closed the door. And that was
really important.
. . .
Because sometimes all you want to do is talk. You don’t need someone to
solve anything for you. You just want to be heard. (LA)
3.5. Emotional Impact of Death and Dying: Coping Through Care, Connection, and Reflection
Participants reported being affected by the death and dying of the people that they
personally cared for. As one personal care worker said:
“Because I try and build a relationship with the people I look after, when they’re
palliative and they’re at the end of their life, shedding some tears for them is a
way for me of saying I loved her or him and I’m going to miss them.” (CW)
More intense emotional reactions were associated with first death experiences, unex-
pected or traumatic deaths, hospital deaths, and the presence of a personal connection. As
one participant mentioned:
Geriatrics 2025,10, 3 8 of 12
“If people die in hospital, that’s another grief. Because they don’t get to say
goodbye. Often the hospital won’t tell you
. . .
. The family will tell you first that
the person’s died, not the hospital.” (RN/CE)
Death and dying was also seen as a stressor, and one that has been accentuated by the
pandemic and aged-care reforms.
“On top of COVID, on top of reform, there is the day-to-day business which in
aged-care is all about essentially living until death and dying is your companion.
And with the reforms that have come through, death and dying comes much
sooner than it used to do in the past. People could stay 5, 8, 10 years in aged-care.
Now they come in for usually less than two years. Your churn through palliation
is much greater. Your ability to burnout is pretty high. . ..” (RN/CE)
Participants described experiences that take place prior to death and when the res-
ident/client is at the end of life, immediately before and immediately after death, and
following death. For most participants, making residents comfortable was a way for them
to deal with death and dying.
“And I take a lot of pride in making them comfortable and knowing that I’ve
had a big part of that. So that if I am there when they do go, I’m usually holding
their hand, or talking to them, “It’s okay. It’s okay.”
. . .
I like to take a trolley
into the person’s room, we’ve got the mouth swabs on it, so we can keep them
moist. I have creams, and I’ve got a music player. And I usually put on their
favourite music, or I’ll do the things that they wanted for their end of care if it’s
requested.” (PCW)
Participants also recognised the importance of reflection and of expressing emotion
to deal with the death of a resident. Indeed, in so far as exposure to death and dying had
an impact on the mental wellbeing of aged-care workers, connecting with residents and
reflecting on their relationships and experiences with them comprised a key element of
self-care.
4. Discussion
This study explored the concept of self-care as it is understood and practiced by
aged-care staff in Australia. People working in aged-care understand self-care as taking
care of oneself. This is largely consistent with how other healthcare occupational cohorts
describe and make sense of self-care, including in the context of palliative care [
31
]. Self-
care may have had particular significance given that the study was conducted during the
COVID-19 pandemic, which led to additional workforce stressors and a deeper contact
with potential illness and death. Additionally, this personal understanding held by aged-
care staff is reflected in the resources that have proliferated because of the COVID-19
pandemic and are available for aged-care workers. These include the web-based resource
produced by Phoenix Australia [
32
], which was one of four organisations funded to deliver
an
A$12.4 million Grief
and Trauma Response Package to the aged-care sector, and the
self-care planning tool developed by Palliative Care Australia [33].
This study showed that self-care can mean many things and is highly individualised.
This can be seen in the diverse array of practices and behaviours that people have engaged
in to take care of themselves and others, and perhaps also reflects workforce diversity.
Therefore, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to supporting self-care. For self-care to be
effective and to have impact, people will benefit from having access to a range of resources
that they can personalise. Ideally, a useful resource will help to connect workers and
provide a mechanism for the sharing of ideas from those with first-hand experience. The
results of this study point to the importance of providing contextualised supports for
Geriatrics 2025,10, 3 9 of 12
aged-care staff, and for designing a useful and accessible resource with aged-care staff,
as the need knowers and end users. The messages that resonate are those that capture
the stories and experiences of aged-care staff, as told in their own voices. To personalise
self-care, aged-care workers are likely to need access to a suite of resources.
The link between self-care and care quality as well as potential workforce sustain-
ability was evidenced, supporting investments by organisations in enabling and fostering
opportunities for staff to take up and embed practices of self-care. Promotion of staff
wellbeing requires a whole-of-system approach. While individuals have a responsibility
for their own wellbeing, organisational responses (such as supervisor support and the
development of adaptive coping skills) can facilitate recognition of workplace pressures
and enhance self-care [
34
,
35
]. This is particularly important given the increasing numbers
of older Australians who will be cared for through to the end of life in residential aged-care.
A workplace culture that recognises this reality, provides mechanisms for staff to take care
of themselves as care providers for older people at the end of life, and destigmatises the
expression of emotion is needed.
The themes presented here will be used to orient the resource to the specific needs of
its intended users. These themes inform the content of the resource and how best to deliver
that content to the end user. For example, the online resource may provide an interactive
and dynamic space for aged-care staff to share their own self-care tips and provide a
mechanism for staff to support each other with self-care. In recognition of the view that
self-care is a shared responsibility, content will target organisations and provide examples
of how they can support their managers and teams to practice self-care and look after each
other. Additionally, there will be content that raises staff awareness of situations that may
impact the wellbeing of staff, such as death and dying, the potential benefits of self-care for
maintaining wellbeing and resilience, and encouragement of self-care behaviour via the
provision of good practice examples.
Limitations and Future Research
Given that this study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, insights on how
aged-care staff conduct self-care and many of the results may not be applicable after the
pandemic, which is a limitation of this study. We note that the absence of demographic
data could limit the generalisability of the findings and that this adds to the complexity of
considering the impacts on the understanding of self-care and the subsequent development
of self-care resources. While we tried to capture a diversity of perspectives, the study
would have benefited from greater participation of people from culturally and linguistically
diverse (CALD) backgrounds, and from workers in home care. The utility and accessibility
of existing resources for the aged-care workforce will need to be addressed in future studies.
Care workers are lightly trained, and increasingly the workforce is made up of foreign-born
workers with differing levels of English language proficiency. In a multicultural work-
force, there are likely to be considerable differences between people in their attitudes and
behaviours towards death and dying as well as self-care. Further, care workers in commu-
nities, as opposed to residential care settings, face additional occupational stressors and
barriers to self-care practice, which a self-care resource will need to take into consideration.
In community settings, workers are tasked with meeting the daily, personal care needs of
older people while they are living at home. Workers must navigate social complexities
involving older peoples’ family and friend networks, and they have limited face-to-face
contact with peers, who can be an important source of emotional as well as instrumental
support. In residential care settings, workers operate in proximity to their peers, which
affords greater opportunities for incidental interaction and mutual support, including with
Geriatrics 2025,10, 3 10 of 12
self-care activity. Theory on self-care and the mechanisms via which wellbeing is influenced
remains to be resolved.
5. Conclusions
This study found that the aged-care workers who participated viewed self-care as
taking care of themselves, as well as a way to manage and maintain wellbeing so that
they could continue to provide care. Self-care was viewed as highly individualised, and
supportive organisational cultures and collegial teams were found to help staff deal with
death and dying. The findings indicate that organisations can support aged-care workers
by creating space and time for self-care, and that aged-care workers may benefit from
an online self-care resource tailored to their specific needs and based on the first-hand
experiences of those working in aged-care.
Supplementary Materials: The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https:
//www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/geriatrics10010003/s1, File S1: Interview Guide.
Author Contributions: Conceptualisation, A.P.L. and J.T.; methodology, A.P.L.; formal analysis,
A.P.L.; data curation, A.P.L.; writing—original draft preparation, A.P.L.; writing—review and editing,
J.T.; supervision, J.T.; project administration, J.T.; funding acquisition, J.T. All authors have read and
agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding: This research was funded by the Department of Health and Aged Care, End of Life
Directions for Aged Care (ELDAC 2020-2023), and by the Specialist Palliative Care and Advance Care
Planning Advisory Services Grant Opportunity (G01992).
Institutional Review Board Statement: The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration
of Helsinki, and ethical approval was obtained from the Flinders University Social and Behavioural
Research Ethics Committee (project number 4652, 3 August 2021, human ethics low-risk panel—
Flinders University).
Informed Consent Statement: Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in
the study
.
Data Availability Statement: The datasets presented in this article are not readily available because
approval for such disclosure was not part of the participant consent process.
Acknowledgments: We extend our deepest gratitude to the participants of this study for offering
their time and insights for research. Thank you also to Seth Nicholls for his help with the preparation
of this manuscript.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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