The online education platform will train aged-care providers to meet LGBTI specific necessities.

Uniting, one of the largest faith-based providers of aged care in Australia, has been funded to deliver an innovative online education platform. The training package will up-skill the aged care sector to better meet the needs of the ageing LGBTI community.

The funding allocation is part of the Australian Government’s Dementia and Aged Care Services (DACS) Research and Innovation Funding Round announced this week by Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt.

Uniting, a leading advocate for the needs of the LGBTI community, and “Rainbow Tick” accredited LGBTI friendly provider, is well placed to develop and deliver this online resource.

Linda Justin, Director of Practice and Quality at Uniting said, “We’ve worked closely with industry leading organisations within the LGBTI community, including the Gender Centre, ACON and Pride in Diversity to refine our practices.

“There is great will and momentum within the sector to meet the needs of this community and to truly be LGBTI friendly. But we need the right tools, training and support to do it. That’s why we initiated this project.”

The online training module will feature an interactive series which will be broadcast on the Aged Care Channel (ACC TV).

Topics will include:

• The clinical needs of the ageing LGBTI community;
• Tackling discrimination myths and stereotypes;
• The impact of legislation; and
• Understanding transgender diversity and intentional and unintentional disclosure.

Another key feature of this education package will be the innovative use of mobile app technology.

“We knew the initiative needed to be easy to use, and easy to access – particularly for staff working in an aged care service anywhere across Australia. The mobile phone app will go a long way to achieve this,” Linda Justin said.

Uniting is partnering with The University of Technology Sydney (UTS), who will lead the project’s evaluation.

Professor Joanne Travaglia, an expert aged care researcher and evaluator said, “It’s important we continually review and refine this program, so it is responsive and informed by evidence and good practice.”

“This package will enable us to build our knowledge base and refine our LGBTI specific practices sector-wide” said Professor Travaglia.