Papers by Maria T O'Reilly
Research in gerontological nursing, Jan 28, 2015
Sampling design is critical to the quality of quantitative research, yet it does not always recei... more Sampling design is critical to the quality of quantitative research, yet it does not always receive appropriate attention in nursing research. The current article details how balancing probability techniques with practical considerations produced a representative sample of Australian nursing homes (NHs). Budgetary, logistical, and statistical constraints were managed by excluding some NHs (e.g., those too difficult to access) from the sampling frame; a stratified, random sampling methodology yielded a final sample of 53 NHs from a population of 2,774. In testing the adequacy of representation of the study population, chi-square tests for goodness of fit generated nonsignificant results for distribution by distance from major city and type of organization. A significant result for state/territory was expected and was easily corrected for by the application of weights. The current article provides recommendations for conducting high-quality, probability-based samples and stresses the ...
The Gerontologist, Jan 18, 2015
This study aimed to explore the experience of living with and caring for a person with dementia w... more This study aimed to explore the experience of living with and caring for a person with dementia who wanders and transgresses boundaries into out-of-bounds and potentially hazardous areas (wandering-related boundary transgression [BT]), from the perspective of family members and care staff. This descriptive qualitative study utilized four focus groups with care staff (n = 28), one with family members (n = 4), and individual interviews (n = 8) with family members. Content analysis generated key concepts that formed the basis of the development of a theoretical understanding of the experience. Care staff and families described wandering-related BT as a common dementia-related behavior in residential aged care (RAC). Drawing on the generated concepts, a complex theoretical trajectory of tolerance for BT was developed. At one end of the trajectory, BT was perceived as being beyond the control of the individual and when unwitnessed by others, having little or no impact. Tolerance for BT s...
The JBI Database of Systematic Reviews and Implementation Reports, 2015
What is the effectiveness of meaningful occupation interventions for people living with dementia ... more What is the effectiveness of meaningful occupation interventions for people living with dementia in residential aged care facilities (RACFs)?
International Journal of Older People Nursing, 2013
Undernutrition, weight loss and dehydration are major clinical issues for people with dementia in... more Undernutrition, weight loss and dehydration are major clinical issues for people with dementia in residential care, with excessive weight loss contributing to increased risk of frailty, immobility, illness and premature morbidity. This paper discusses a nutritional knowledge and attitudes survey conducted as part of a larger project focused on improving nutritional intake of people with dementia within a residential care facility in Brisbane, Australia. The specific aims of the survey were to identify (i) knowledge of the nutritional needs of aged care facility residents; (ii) mealtime practices; and (iii) attitudes towards mealtime practices and organisation. A survey based on those used in other healthcare settings was completed by 76 staff members. The survey included questions about nutritional knowledge, opinions of the food service, frequency of feeding assistance provided and feeding assessment practices. Nutritional knowledge scores ranged from 1 to 9 of a possible 10, with a mean score of 4.67. While 76% of respondents correctly identified risk factors associated with malnutrition in nursing home residents, only 38% of participants correctly identified the need for increased protein and energy in residents with pressure ulcers, and just 15% exhibited correct knowledge of fluid requirements. Further, while nutritional assessment was considered an important part of practice by 83% of respondents, just 53% indicated that they actually carried out such assessments. Identified barriers to promoting optimal nutrition included insufficient time to observe residents (56%); being unaware of residents' feeding issues (46%); poor knowledge of nutritional assessments (44%); and unappetising appearance of food served (57%). An important step towards improving health and quality of life for residents of aged care facilities would be to enhance staff nutritional awareness and assessment skills. This should be carried out through increased attention to both preservice curricula and on-the-job training. The residential facility staff surveyed demonstrated low levels of nutrition knowledge, which reflects findings from the international literature. This has implications for the provision of responsive care to residents of these facilities and should be explored further.
International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 2007
A A n na ar rr ra at ti iv ve e r re ev vi ie ew w Abstract Background Issues
Proceedings of 8th National Conference of …, 2009
Residential aged care in Australia does not have a system of quality assessment related to clinic... more Residential aged care in Australia does not have a system of quality assessment related to clinical outcomes, creating a significant gap in quality monitoring. Clinical outcomes represent the results of all inputs into care, thus providing an indication of the success of those inputs. To fill this gap, an assessment tool based on resident outcomes (the ResCareQA) was developed and evaluated in collaboration with residential care providers. A useful output of the ResCareQA is a profile of resident clinical status, and this paper will use such outputs to present a snapshot of nine residential facilities. Such comprehensive data has not yet been available within Australia, so this will provide an important insight. ResCareQA data was collected from all residents (N=498) of nine aged care facilities from two major aged care providers. For each facility, numerator-denominator data were calculated to assess the degree of potential clinical problems. Results varied across clinical areas and across facilities, and rank-ordered facility results for selected clinical areas are reviewed and discussed. Use of the ResCareQA to generate clinical outcome data provides a concrete means of monitoring care quality within residential facilities; regular use of the ResCareQA could thus contribute to improved care outcomes within residential aged care.
AJAN, 2011
... Stacey. ... The indicators of depression were subsequently replaced by the Cornell Depression... more ... Stacey. ... The indicators of depression were subsequently replaced by the Cornell Depression in Dementia Scale (Alexopoulos et al 1988), a screening tool which can be applied to both cognitively intact and cognitively impaired individuals (De Bellis and Williams 2008). ...
AJAN, 2009
... Maria O'Reilly MOccThy PhD Candidate/Senior Research Assistant, Institute of Health ... more ... Maria O'Reilly MOccThy PhD Candidate/Senior Research Assistant, Institute of Health and Biomedical ... au Professor Helen Edwards PhD, RN Head, School of Nursing, Queensland University of ... Quality of Life The Australian WHOQOL‑100 (WHOQOL Group 1998; Murphy et al ...
International psychogeriatrics / IPA, Jan 22, 2015
Dementia is a chronic illness without cure or effective treatment, which results in declining men... more Dementia is a chronic illness without cure or effective treatment, which results in declining mental and physical function and assistance from others to manage activities of daily living. Many people with dementia live in long term care facilities, yet research into their quality of life (QoL) was rare until the last decade. Previous studies failed to incorporate important variables related to the facility and care provision or to look closely at the daily lives of residents. This paper presents a protocol for a comprehensive, multi-perspective assessment of QoL of residents with dementia living in long term care in Australia. A secondary aim is investigating the effectiveness of self-report instruments for measuring QoL. The study utilizes a descriptive, mixed methods design to examine how facility, care staff, and resident factors impact QoL. Over 500 residents with dementia from a stratified, random sample of 53 facilities are being recruited. A sub-sample of 12 residents is also...
International psychogeriatrics / IPA, Jan 22, 2015
Dementia is a chronic illness without cure or effective treatment, which results in declining men... more Dementia is a chronic illness without cure or effective treatment, which results in declining mental and physical function and assistance from others to manage activities of daily living. Many people with dementia live in long term care facilities, yet research into their quality of life (QoL) was rare until the last decade. Previous studies failed to incorporate important variables related to the facility and care provision or to look closely at the daily lives of residents. This paper presents a protocol for a comprehensive, multi-perspective assessment of QoL of residents with dementia living in long term care in Australia. A secondary aim is investigating the effectiveness of self-report instruments for measuring QoL. The study utilizes a descriptive, mixed methods design to examine how facility, care staff, and resident factors impact QoL. Over 500 residents with dementia from a stratified, random sample of 53 facilities are being recruited. A sub-sample of 12 residents is also...
International journal of …, 2002
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 2002; 17: 226±230. Publish... more INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 2002; 17: 226±230. Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/gps.592 ... Does the HoNOS 65 meet the criteria for a clinical
Australasian Journal on Ageing, 2010
Aim: Australian residential aged care does not have a system of quality assessment related to cl... more Aim: Australian residential aged care does not have a system of quality assessment related to clinical outcomes, or comprehensive quality benchmarking. The Residential Care Quality Assessment was developed to fill this gap; and this paper discusses the process by which preliminary benchmarks representing high and low quality were developed for it.Methods: Data were collected from all residents (n = 498) of nine facilities. Numerator–denominator analysis of clinical outcomes occurred at a facility-level, with rank-ordered results circulated to an expert panel. The panel identified threshold scores to indicate excellent and questionable care quality, and refined these through Delphi process.Results: Clinical outcomes varied both within and between facilities; agreed thresholds for excellent and poor outcomes were finalised after three Delphi rounds.Conclusion: Use of the Residential Care Quality Assessment provides a concrete means of monitoring care quality and allows benchmarking across facilities; its regular use could contribute to improved care outcomes within residential aged care in Australia.
Australian Health Review, 2010
To undertake exploratory benchmarking of a set of clinical indicators of quality care in resident... more To undertake exploratory benchmarking of a set of clinical indicators of quality care in residential care in Australia
Australian residential aged care does not have a system of quality assessment related to clinical... more Australian residential aged care does not have a system of quality assessment related to clinical outcomes, nor comprehensive quality benchmarking. The ResCareQA was developed to fill this gap, and this paper discusses the process by which preliminary benchmarks representing high and low quality were developed for it.
Australian Health Review, 2007
Recent years have seen the introduction of formalised accreditation processes in both community a... more Recent years have seen the introduction of formalised accreditation processes in both community and residential aged care, but these only partially address quality assessment within this sector. Residential aged care in Australia does not yet have a standardised system of resident assessment related to clinical, rather than administrative, outcomes. This paper describes the development of a quality assessment tool aimed at addressing this gap. Utilising previous research and the results of nominal groups with experts in the field, the 21-item Clinical Care Indicators (CCI) Tool for residential aged care was developed and trialled nationally. The CCI Tool was found to be simple to use and an effective means of collecting data on the state of resident health and care, with potential benefits for resident care planning and continuous quality improvement within facilities and organisations. The CCI Tool was further refined through a small intervention study to assess its utility as a quality improvement instrument and to investigate its relationship with resident quality of life. The current version covers 23 clinical indicators, takes about 30 minutes to complete and is viewed favourably by nursing staff who use it. Current work focuses on psychometric analysis and benchmarking, which should enable the CCI Tool to make a positive contribution to the Aust Health Rev 2007: 31(4): 582-591 measurement of quality in aged care in Australia.
Quality in Ageing and Older …, 2003
E Ed dw wa ar rd ds s, , H He el le en n E E. . a an nd d C Co ou ur rt tn ne ey y, , M Ma ar ry ... more E Ed dw wa ar rd ds s, , H He el le en n E E. . a an nd d C Co ou ur rt tn ne ey y, , M Ma ar ry y D D. . a an nd d O O' 'R Re ei il ll ly y, , M Ma ar ri ia a T T. . ( (2 20 00 03 3) ) I In nv vo ol lv vi in ng g o ol ld de er r p pe eo op pl le e i in n r re es se ea ar rc ch h t to o e ex xa am mi in ne e q qu ua al li it ty y o of f l li if fe e i in n r re es si id de en nt ti ia al l a ag ge ed d c ca ar re e. . Q Qu ua al li it ty y i in n A Ag ge ei in ng g: : P Po ol li ic cy y, , p pr ra ac ct ti ic ce e a an nd d r re es se ea ar rc ch h 4 4( (4 4)
Australasian Journal on Ageing, 2003
Cate (2003) Quality of life measures for residents of aged care facilities: a literature review. ... more Cate (2003) Quality of life measures for residents of aged care facilities: a literature review. Abstract: 248 Review: 3915 References 886 -1 -Abstract With increases in life expectancy and increasing numbers of older people utilising residential aged care, there is a widely felt need to improve the quality of long term care for older people. One facet of quality of care being strongly advocated is the consumer perspective, in particular, the attainment of an optimum quality of life. Yet, despite the proliferation of quality of life measures, those with utility in the residential aged care setting are quite limited. This paper explores issues of quality of life measurement with particular emphasis on the availability and appropriateness of tools for use in the residential aged care setting. Residents of aged care facilities tend to be significantly frailer than the general population and are living in a distinctly different environment. The majority of quality of life measures available either do not measure issues relevant to residents of aged care facilities, such as control and autonomy, or they measure areas that are not appropriate, such as work status. Further, an over-emphasis on health and physical function and a lack of resident-centred measures may produce a more negative picture of quality of life, than actually experienced by this group of people. This paper argues for the utilisation of a standard quality of life research instrument that is resident-focused and includes the many facets and domains that comprise quality of life for the residential aged care recipient. Data from such a tool may assist policy makers in their decision-making, if used on a national basis.
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Papers by Maria T O'Reilly