Aged Care in Rural Areas

A CQU student assists an older gentlemen who is in a wheelchair as part of a home care service.
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It's time for a new way of thinking about aged care in rural areas. We work with local communities to design better services, creating sustainable solutions that meet the needs of older adults and improve home-based care.

Time for "new" thinking about aged care in rural areas.

Critical gaps exist in effective services. They must support home-based care that meets rural and remote older adults' needs.

Access, resource limitations, and workforce constraints challenge effective care.

Designing services with communities ensures older adults receive care that fits their context. Program co-design supports local innovation and sustainability.

A strengths-based approach involves working with local communities and healthcare providers. It supports the idea that "those who own the program will grow the program."

Who Are We?

The Aged Care in Rural Areas (ACRA) research team came together in 2021.

We have an interest in improving care for older people in rural areas. We were asked to contribute to a review (Storuman Cares) of aged care services in the Storuman Municipality in northern Sweden:

  • Literature review on the types and scope of aged care services which can be sustained in rural and remote areas (Vaughan et al., 2022),
  • A review of approaches to community-led innovation in rural health and care services (Carson et al., 2022),
  • A critical assessment of the process of conducting and acting on the Storuman Cares review (Jonsson, 2023).

The team has also started to develop an evaluation framework. It uses data from home care providers. The framework assesses the value of service innovations to improve client outcomes and cut service costs.

We have showcased our work to academics and practitioners in rural and regional Queensland and New South Wales through links with CQU’s Health Workforce Academy and the Manna Institute. This has led to the enthusiasm of stakeholders in the Central Highlands region (Queensland) to support our internal research grant.

We are also engaged in an international grant, The CREATE Project. With partners in Canada and the USA we are exploring: How can those who undertake research, across various disciplines and settings, become more connected and accountable to those they are obligated to serve? How can we pursue the goal of health equity through the formation of research practices and networks where social accountability is a core value?

Our Projects

Past Events

Public Seminar: Forget about it! Time for ‘new’ thinking about aged care in rural areas

22 April 2024.

CQUniversity Emerald Campus

Presented by: 

  • CQUniversity Emerald,
  • Aged Care in Rural Areas (ACRA) Consortium
  • Umeå University Department of Epidemiology and Global Health.

Professor Dean Carson, from Umeå University, shared his experience. He worked with rural Swedish municipalities to develop new aged care models. He outlined how challenges in rural Queensland were similar to those in remote Sweden.

Presentations (PowerPoint Pdf):

Media article: Don't forget about aged care - Central Queensland Today

Our Research Team

Stakeholders and External Relationships

Key Partners

  • CatholicCare Central Queensland
  • Central Highlands Regional Council
  • Umeå University
  • The University of Notre Dame

International Stakeholders

We have introduced the network and the Storuman Model internationally:

  • Sweden (the Future of Welfare program at Mid-Sweden University),
  • Canada (the Spatial Determinants of Health Laboratory at Carleton University),
  • Austria (Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Ageing and Care at Graz University and the Department of Geography at Salzburg University.
  • Southern Africa (CHS Connect network which includes researchers and practitioners interested in community health services)

Current Grants

  • Aged Care in Rural Areas Pilot Study, 2023 CQUniversity Internal Research Grants Round 2
  • Community-engaged Research in Education, Advocacy, & System Transformation for Equity (CREATE): Exploring the Transformative Potential of Socially Accountable Research Networks Locally and Globally. Learn more about The Create Project.
    • From: 01/06/2023 to 01/06/2029
      Funding Scheme: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Partnership Grants 2022 THROUGH Northern Ontario School of Medicine
      Total Funding: $92,000.00

Published Papers

Contact Us

ACRA are keen to explore collaboration opportunities with local, national and international organisations.

Get in Touch