Supporting aged care providers deliver inclusive services: Evaluating OPAN's Education Initiative

The Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) serves as a national advocacy network of nine state and territory organisations that provide advocacy and education services to older people. With funding from the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, OPAN developed the Diversity Education Project (DEP) to help Aged Care Providers (ACPs) to deliver inclusive and respectful care that is tailored to the needs of older people from diverse and marginalised groups.

This initiative directly responded to Recommendation 30 of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, focusing on designing services that accommodate diversity, difference, complexity, and individuality. The DEP's interactive learning series addresses knowledge gaps about local diversity data, helps providers overcome service barriers, and increases awareness of resources for delivering safe and inclusive services.

Allen + Clarke's team brought specialised aged care expertise and evaluation skills to this important project. Our task was to measure the DEP's effectiveness in engaging providers, delivering appropriate content, influencing behaviour change, and building organizational capacity to implement inclusive strategies.

Working within a tight timeframe, we developed a three-phase approach that balanced thoroughness with efficiency.

By strategically using existing OPAN survey data and conducting secondary analysis, we reduced participation burden on aged care providers while still addressing all key evaluation questions. This approach demonstrated our commitment to efficient, practical evaluation methods that respect the time constraints of all stakeholders.

Our evaluation found the DEP was largely delivering the right training, to the right people, in the right way. Evidence showed the program effectively increased knowledge of diversity needs and influenced individual behaviour change. However, the extent of organisational capacity building was less clear due to limited available information.

Based on these findings, we developed seven practical recommendations to enhance future DEP delivery. These included prioritising increased participation rates, offering both in-person and online delivery modes, addressing data quality issues through collaboration, updating content to address specific provider needs, encouraging integration of diversity considerations into existing initiatives, ensuring that the content remains aligned with legislative requirements, and improving data collection.

Our timely delivery produced three significant benefits for OPAN: