Application

This unit describes the performance outcomes, skills and knowledge required to establish positive relationships with older people in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities and support their general health and wellbeing. It includes the requirement to identify ‘at risk’ situations for older people. In the Australian health system, older Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people are usually defined as those over 55 years of age. However, individuals could be significantly older.
Older people may be living at home, in residential aged-care facilities, or in community organisations providing health care specifically for the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community.
The unit does not cover the skills needed for dedicated work roles in aged care or home and community care. Those skills are addressed in individual care units in the Community Services Training Package.
This unit is specific to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people working as health workers or health practitioners. They work as part of a multidisciplinary primary health care team to provide primary health care services to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander clients and communities.
The skills in this unit must be applied in accordance with Commonwealth and State or Territory legislation, Australian standards and industry codes of practice.
No regulatory requirement for certification, occupational or business licensing is linked to this unit at the time of publication. For information about practitioner registration and accredited courses of study, contact the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice Board of Australia (ATSIHPBA).

What You'll Learn

Assessment Requirements

Performance Evidence

Evidence of the ability to complete tasks outlined in elements and performance criteria of this unit in the context of the job role, and:
• provide support to three different older Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander clients and consistently:
• communicate in culturally safe ways
• show empathy and sensitivity according to individual needs
• for each of the three older clients, and according to their individual needs, provide clear information and explanations about:
• daily living habits to support a healthy lifestyle
• the nature and impacts of physical, cognitive or emotional changes in older people
• ways to manage the specific impacts of changes affecting the person
• available aged care home support services, assessment requirements and how to apply
• ways that the client may advocate for their rights
• according to actual client interactions or case studies, identify indicators of the following in older people and facilitate referrals to required services:
• physical challenges
• cognitive challenges
• social and emotional wellbeing challenges
• grief and loss
• abuse.

Knowledge Evidence

Demonstrated knowledge required to complete the tasks outlined in elements and performance criteria of this unit:
• organisational policies and procedures for:
• maintaining confidentiality of client information
• reporting situations where older people may be at risk
• organisational responsibilities and role boundaries for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health workers and practitioners in working with older people and relationships between different members of the multidisciplinary health care team
• key issues facing older people and their carer(s) in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities
• basic features of local, state or territory, and Commonwealth government health services and programs for older people, specifically those available to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people:
• aged care home support services
• assessment requirements and how to apply
• key elements of national quality frameworks for aged care services, how they link together and how they are implemented
• current philosophies of service delivery for older people:
• concepts of ageing in place and positive ageing
• empowerment
• re-ablement
• rights-based approaches
• person-centred practice
• communication techniques that underpin effective interactions with older Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people:
• exploring and acknowledging the role of family
• allowing time for interactions
• avoiding medical terminology
• recognising possible impairments
• being positive and focussing on strengths
• respecting the older person’s rights
• checking own understanding and the understanding of the older person
• key contents of current Australian national dietary guidelines:
• the principal recommendations and guidelines
• characteristics and examples of types of food in the five groups
• proportions of the five food groups recommended for consumption each day
• characteristics and examples of discretionary foods to be avoided
• recommendations for daily and weekly physical activity from the current Australian national physical activity guidelines for older people
• common age-related changes in individuals and their potential impacts on daily living activities:
• decreased muscle strength and aerobic capacity
• changes in bladder and bowel function
• decreased bone density and joint flexibility
• skin thinning and loss of elasticity
• changes in nutritional requirements and loss of appetite
• decreased glucose tolerance
• reduction in sensory perception
• vasomotor instability
• memory loss and reduced cognitive awareness
• changes in mental health and wellbeing
• altered sexual functioning
• increased likelihood of, and reasons for, older Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people experiencing the following:
• loss and grief
• loneliness and social isolation
• strategies for older people to manage the impacts of ageing, advocacy and their rights:
• using own support network including family, friends and community groups
• using available support services
• staying connected to community
• being prepared to stand up for own rights
• using formal legal instruments to ensure trusted significant others advocate for rights and manage important matters:
• powers of attorney and enduring guardianships, and their purpose
• advanced care directives
• for advanced care directives:
• their purpose, and difference between the purpose of wills, powers of attorney and enduring guardianships
• inclusions including the person responsible for making medical decisions when client is unable, treatments the client would like or would refuse, and personal values and beliefs about things such as treatments and dying
• how they are used by medical practitioners, nurses and other members of a multidisciplinary care team to provide end of life care
• overview of legal requirements for the local state or territory, and considerations for review and renewal
• indicators of the following in older people and their prevalence in the local community:
• challenges impacting quality of life:
• physical
• cognitive
• social and emotional, including loss and grief and signs at different stages
• elder abuse:
• physical
• psychological
• sexual
• financial.

Assessment Conditions

Skills must be demonstrated in a health service workplace within a multidisciplinary primary health care team.
Evidence of performance must be gathered:
• during on-the-job assessments in the workplace under live conditions while interacting with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, or
• during off-the-job assessments in the workplace, not under live conditions, using simulated activities while interacting with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people.
Evidence of workplace performance can be gathered and reported through third party report processes. (Refer to the Companion Volume Implementation Guide for information on third party reporting.)
Evidence can be supplemented by assessments in a simulated workplace environment using simulated activities, scenarios or case studies only when:
• the full range of situations covered by the unit cannot be provided in the individual’s workplace, or
• situations covered by the unit occur only rarely in the individual’s workplace.
Assessment must ensure the use of:
• information about aged care services and how they operate in Australia
• current Australian national dietary guidelines and associated resources:
• the principal recommendations and guidelines
• guides to healthy eating
• consumer brochures
• current Australian national physical activity guidelines for older people
• organisational policies and procedures for:
• maintaining confidentiality of client information
• reporting situations where older people may be at risk.
Assessors must satisfy the Standards for Registered Training Organisations requirements for assessors, and:
• be an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person who has applied the skills and knowledge covered in this unit of competency through experience working as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker or practitioner, or
• be a registered health practitioner with experience relevant to this unit of competency and be accompanied by, or have assessments validated by, an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person.

Foundation Skills

• {'skill': 'Reading skills to:', 'description': 'interpret familiar detailed organisational policies and procedures.'}
• {'skill': 'Oral communication skills to:', 'description': 'use language and terms sensitive to the needs of older people; provide information using plain language and terms easily understood; ask open and closed probe questions and actively listen to determine client needs and understanding of information provided.'}

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