ABSTRACT

Name of RepresentativeDanny Hills, PhD
Name of Employer/OrganizationMonash University
PositionSenior Lecturer
Grant Year2016

Research Theme

Identifying anxiety in later life

Abstract

Prior to and during the 12-month funding period until 16th March 2018 for the conduct of the research, eight rural, suburban and inner city General Practice organisations were engaged in the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria. General practice nurses universally reported that the Geriatric Assessment Inventory – Short Form (GAI-SF) was readily integrated into the annual 75 years and over health assessment (75+ HA), was easy to use and was well accepted by older persons. Overall, in a sample of 631 people aged 75 years or more undertaking the 75+ HA, 19.8% (125) had clinically significant symptoms of anxiety (range 13.6% – 38.9%). Rates were lowest in the inner city and rural practices. General practice nurses reported that most of those persons detected with symptoms of anxiety had not previously been known to experience these symptoms, suggesting that routine screening for anxiety in general practice settings was highly effective. This research has paved the way for a successful application for funding to develop and trial a nurse-led intervention to mitigate the symptoms of anxiety, which may be experienced by up to a million older Australians.