Join the Discussion: ​Building a Well-Trained Rural & Remote Dementia Workforce​

Dementia is the leading cause of disease burden in older Australians. A well-trained health and aged care workforce will improve support and care for rural and remote people living with dementia.

Despite higher rates of dementia in regional, rural and remote parts of Australia, healthcare workers in these areas face specific challenges in accessing dementia care training and can have different needs to their city counterparts. Working over long distances in settings where local resources are limited poses special challenges and can lead to unmet health needs and poor care for people living with dementia, a situation compounded for First Nations Australians requiring culturally safe dementia care.

Commissioned by Dementia Training Australia in 2023, The Western Australian Centre for Rural Health undertook a multi-phase research project that reviewed the relevant published literature, then conducted focus groups with 66 participants across six rural and remote locations, and a national online survey to investigate the perspectives on dementia training of a sample of 558 diverse rural and remote health care workers from across all Australian jurisdictions. Rich information was obtained. We found the key barriers to accessing dementia training for the rural and remote workforce included cost, travel, lack of access to local training and training design that did not consider rural and remote contexts. A significant barrier consistently noted through all research phases was the impact of workforce shortages. Participants overwhelmingly wanted opportunities to learn about the First Nations and CALD populations to whom they provided care, many reporting that the offerings available to them to date did not adequately meet their needs. Rural and remote providers wanted training that was informed by their local context, and that utilised the expertise that existed in their local area as well as opportunities for learning from dementia experts outside of their region.

We will summarise the research findings and discuss how to translate ideas into targeted training solutions in rural and remote Australia.

These findings enhance our understanding of how to better meet the educational needs of this workforce and will be of significant interest to consumers, community stakeholders, clinicians and policymakers.