Queensland Aphasia Research Centre (QARC)
Optimising the lives of people with Aphasia
Conversations About Care
This project aims to improve access to preventative health care through better conversations about care.
Progress
This project is in the early stages (Stage 1).
The team are talking to people about their experiences with aged care services.
They want to know about:
- Key conversations in their aged care journey
- What has helped communication
- What has made communication harder.
They are talking to:
- People receiving aged care;
- Family and significant others;
- Aged care staff.
Read Scoping Review on Communication Partner Training for Aged-Care Workers (PDF, 896.7 KB)
What is the research about?
- It is important for older people and care workers to communicate well with each other.
- This can be difficult.
- The research team was to create and test resources to help people communicate well with each other.
Research stages
The research will have 3 stages:
- Stage 1a: Learning about people’s experiences.
- Stage 1b: Working out what type of resources would help communication. Putting these in priority order.
- Stage 2: Working together to design resources.
- Stage 3: Testing the resources.
Expected outcomes
The team aims to develop a tool kit of resources that will help communication in aged care.
The resources will be:
- Tailored
- Easy to use
- Effective.

Contact
Get in touch with Dr Michelle King or Associate Professor Sarah Wallace to learn more.
Email conversationsaboutcareproject@uq.edu.au
Funding and acknowledgements
Conversations About Care is funded by:
- Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Dementia, Ageing and Aged Care grant (APP2015728; 2022-2027)
- Dementia Centre for Research Collaboration seed grant (2021-2023).
Associate Professor Wallace is supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Emerging Leadership Investigator Grant (1175821).
Partner organisations
We are grateful for the support of our partner organisations:
Media and awards
Team
Chief investigators
- Associate Professor Sarah Wallace
- Professor Louise Hickson
- Professor Victoria Palmer
- Professor Deirdre Fetherstonhaugh
- Professor David Copland
- Associate Professor Anthony Angwin
- Dr Kirstine Shrubsole
- Professor Joanne Wood
- Associate Professor Nerina Scarinci
- Dr Samantha Siyambalapitiya
- Associate Professor Asad Khan
- Dr Peter Worthy
- Associate Professor Geoff Argus
- Dr Arpana Arjunan
Associate investigators
- Dr Bonnie Cheng
- Kym Torresi
- Sam Edmonds
- Silvia Holl
- Associate Professor Erin Conway
- Dr Barbra Timmer
- Sandra Glaister
- Michelle Ryan
- Julie Cameron
- Dr Michelle King
- Dr Asmita Manchha
- Dr Amy Coe
- Bridget Burton