Dementia care workforce gains new training tool

To help aged care workers and providers deliver quality care for people living with dementia, a new app-based tool has been developed by Dementia Australia. ‘Tell TiNA’ is a new feature within Dementia Australia’s Ask Annie app; the Tina character will greet staff delivering dementia care, then ask them to answer questions about their dementia knowledge to discover where their skills can be improved.

According to Dementia Australia Executive Director of Services, Advocacy and Research, Dr Kaele Stokes, Tell TiNA will help workers and providers assess the skills they need to embed in order to better support people living with dementia and meet the Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards, which commence from 1 November 2025.

“People living with dementia have specific care and support requirements that cannot be delivered without appropriate education and training of the workforce,” Stokes said.

“This tool will support providers to take a continuous improvement approach to the care they deliver, as well as assess the strengths and areas of development within their workforce to build a comprehensive dementia care training strategy.

“Dementia education must not be a once off,” Stokes added. “It needs to include a regular process of formalised continuing professional development that benefits people receiving care as well as staff themselves.”

Tell TiNA was mapped to Dementia Training Australia’s recently released National Dementia Education and Training Standards Framework, with Deakin University’s Applied Artificial Intelligence Initiative (A2I2) collaborating with Dementia Australia in on the concept development and technical delivery.

“Our team is proud to work with Dementia Australia to develop technologies like Tell TiNA, which provides resources for care workers to best support people living with dementia,” Deakin Distinguished Professor Kon Mouzakis from A2I2 said.

Mouzakis also said that bringing together experts in dementia and technology means that more effective workforce training and support can be provided — when and where a worker needs it.

Dementia Australia Dementia Advocate, Col, who cares for his wife who lives with dementia — and has recently transitioned into residential aged care — said a focus on strengthening the workforce is important. “There needs to be a lot more support for staff — training should be continuous,” Col said.

Top image credit: iStock.com/LordHenriVoton