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Background and Objectives: Residents in aged care homes often report lack of life purpose and meaning and limited opportunities to contribute to their community. The JAVA Memory Care program is designed to facilitate engagement for older adults with advanced dementia. This study explored whether JAVA Memory Care engaged such adults meaningfully, on social and occupational levels, within one Australian residential care home. Methods: A mixed method design guided this exploration. Trained staff facilitated six JAVA groups over 2 months. Three sources of data were utilised. Observational data (qualitative and quantitative) were obtained using a narratively enhanced Assessment Tool for Social and Occupational Engagement (ATOSE). The other two data sources were qualitative and analysed thematically: reflections by the lead JAVA facilitator and data generated by a research discussion group. Results: The quantitative data comprised 564 ATOSE behaviour markers. Participants were categorised as being engaged in 93% of these markers. Two of the three qualitative themes focused on the collective and self‐expressive nature of participant engagement. The third theme focused on practicalities such as time pressures, facilitator training, resident selection, and resource preparation. For residents, the groups provided a context for relating meaningfully to others. Conclusion: The JAVA program achieved a high level of engagement. However, it was a time intensive intervention and required a person‐centred philosophy, appropriate staff training, organisational support, and a suitable quiet space. The program had positive benefits, but practical issues identified needed to be considered before implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objectives: Global migration and an increased life expectancy led to a growing number of people with dementia from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CaLD) backgrounds living in long‐term residential care settings. These minority groups' wellbeing may be negatively impacted due to poor culturally appropriate care that fails to honour valued cultural traditions. This study considered culturally appropriate dementia care for older adults with an Indian heritage living in Sydney‐based residential aged care facilities. Research design and methods: The Nominal Group Technique was employed to collect data from three groups of stakeholders of Indian heritage over a period of 6 months: care staff (n = 8), family of residential care recipients (n = 8), and community‐dwelling older adults (n = 7). Results: Perspectives highlighted six concepts for consideration: (1) embracing a person‐centred approach to promote culturally appropriate dementia care; (2) training staff in culturally appropriate forms of respect; (3) the impact of staff ratios on care; (4) the importance of familiarity to meaningful engagement; (5) the importance of food; and (6) the necessity of engaging family and the wider Indian community in residential care activities. Conclusions: Culturally appropriate dementia care for older adults with an Indian heritage is an area in need of further development. To ensure that residents with an Indian heritage are respected as an ethnic minority, it remains crucial that research is generated to inform policy development on each CaLD group as a separate entity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The organisational, physical and social environment within residential aged care settings greatly influence its residents' sense of autonomy, choice and control and their ability to engage in meaningful occupations. Identifying to what extent these environmental contexts are supportive and well‐coordinated could assist with promoting meaningful engagement of residents. The Residential Environment Impact Scale (REIS) was developed to measure the impact of the physical and social environment on residents. This study examined the benefits and barriers to implementing the REIS in four Australian Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACFs) and factors to consider during implementation. Method: A multisite sequential mixed‐methods study was conducted. Research participants included occupational therapists conducting the REIS and leadership staff examining the REIS reports in four facilities. Data consisted of formal observations of the REIS assessment process, an online survey of all participants and two research consensus groups. Qualitative findings were generated from field notes, open‐ended survey questions and group discussions. Close‐ended survey questions provided quantitative data. Findings The REIS was considered a useful audit tool, generating a holistic overview of the RACF. It highlighted the quality of person‐centred care and the potential role of occupational therapists to promote opportunities for meaningful occupational engagement. Barriers included administration time, personal characteristics of residents and limited resources to action recommendations. Conclusion: The REIS has potential to be an audit tool for a whole‐environment approach to facility assessment of residents' sense of autonomy, occupational choice and meaningful engagement. As such, it provides occupational therapists with scope to support RACFs meeting national quality standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND We assessed the effectiveness of a simple intervention for increasing children's physical activity, play, perceived competence/social acceptance, and social skills. METHODS A cluster-randomized controlled trial was conducted, in which schools were the clusters. Twelve Sydney (Australia) primary schools were randomly allocated to intervention or control conditions, with 226 children (5-7 years old) selected randomly to participate. Data were collected at baseline and after 13 weeks. The intervention consisted of introducing recycled materials without an obvious play purpose into school playgrounds and a risk-reframing workshop for parents and teachers. RESULTS Children from the intervention schools increased physical activity and reduced sedentary time while control schools decreased physical activity and increased sedentary time. The intervention yielded increases in total accelerometer counts (β = 9350 counts, 95% CI 3490-1522, p = .002), minutes of moderate/vigorous physical activity (MVPA) (β = 1.8 min, 95% CI 0.52-3.12, p = .006), and reductions in sedentary time (β = −2.1 min, 95% CI −3.77-(−0.51), p = .01). Although the changes in time spent in play and nonplay were not statistically different (p = .08) the effect size (d = .27) indicates clinical significance. CONCLUSIONS This intervention was effective for increasing MVPA during recess and demonstrated capacity to improve play opportunities in school playgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]