Environmental scan summary: Resources to support rights‑based care in aged care
Purpose and scope
To support the implementation of rights‑based care in aged care, the Knowledge and Implementation Hub (KIH) team undertook a desktop environmental scan of relevant resources in the Australian context. The purpose of the scan was to identify existing materials that can support translation of rights‑based principles into everyday practice across residential, home, and community‑based aged care settings, consistent with the Aged Care Act 2024 and the evidence underpinning the Rights‑Based Care (RBC) priority topic.
The environmental scan complements the RBC evidence review by identifying practice‑facing resources that support understanding, implementation, accountability, and system change. Together, the evidence review and the resource collection are intended to strengthen both conceptual understanding and practical application of RBC.
What we did
The KIH team conducted a structured desktop environmental scan using three complementary approaches.
First, a targeted Google search was undertaken using keywords related to rights‑based care in aged care. Second, targeted searches were conducted across key organisational websites with responsibility for aged care policy, regulation, quality, and advocacy, including the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, and the Older Persons Advocacy Network. Third, subject matter experts provided input on relevant resources.
Resources were included where they were freely available, relevant to everyday practice, and primarily developed for the Australian aged care context. Non‑Australian resources were included where they offered content directly relevant to operationalising rights‑based care for older people in Australia. Resources were also assessed for credibility, objectivity, and currency.
Overview of the resource collection
The environmental scan identified a diverse range of resources including reports, policy documents, practice guides, fact sheets, online tools, training programs, webinars, e‑learning materials, and videos. While the final number of resources was still being confirmed at the time of drafting, the collection covers multiple aspects of rights‑based care, from foundational concepts to applied practice and system accountability.
Across the collection, resources support aged care workers and organisations to understand, respect, and uphold older people’s rights in everyday practice. They address key rights such as dignity, autonomy, choice, privacy, safety, and participation in decision‑making, and support recognition and response where rights may be at risk. In addition to workforce‑focused materials, some resources are intended for older people and families, supporting awareness of rights and access to complaints and advocacy processes.
To align with the RBC evidence review, resources were mapped against the same themes.
Key areas covered by the resource collection
About rights-based care: Background and context
Consistent with the evidence review, the resource collection includes materials that establish the conceptual, legal, and ethical foundations of rights‑based care. These resources support shared understanding of what rights-based care is, why it matters, and how it is reflected in legislation and regulation.
Key resources in this area include information on the new Aged Care Act and the Statement of Rights, supporting alignment between rights‑based principles, legal obligations, and expectations of care.
Rights-based care strategies, interventions, and models
A substantial portion of the collection supports operationalising rights‑based care in practice. These resources move beyond theory to address how organisations and services can embed human rights principles into policies, systems, leadership, and everyday decision‑making.
Examples include guidance on embedding human rights into aged care governance and organisational practices, supporting action at organisational and service levels.
Practice-specific considerations for rights-based care
Consistent with the evidence review’s focus on practical applications, many resources address areas where rights are most at risk in practice. These include abuse and neglect, restrictive practices, complaints and feedback, worker concerns, and responses to harm.
The collection also includes resources addressing diversity and inclusion, First Nations rights, dementia, privacy, and specialised areas such as voluntary assisted dying and food and dining. Together, these resources reflect the importance of safeguarding rights in complex, real‑world care contexts and of supporting accountability when rights are compromised.
Key resources include:
- Abuse of older people
- Aged Care Act 2024, training and education catalogue
- First Nations Statement of Rights information sheet
- Food focus group toolkit
- Living well in multi-purpose services - Self-assessment checklist
- Managing worker risk policy
- Reparations for harm to people living with dementia in residential aged care
- Respecting the privacy and dignity of clients
- Rights-based complaints and feedback handling checklist
- Sexuality and people in residential aged care facilities: A guide for partners and families
- Types of restrictive practices
- Voluntary assisted dying - The role of aged care providers
Barriers and enablers to implementation
The environmental scan also identified resources that support an implementation lens, aligning with the evidence review’s analysis of barriers and enablers to rights‑based care. These resources explore factors that support uptake of RBC, such as regulatory frameworks, leadership, and training, as well as factors that hinder implementation, including resistance to change, unclear policies, and competing organisational pressures.
These materials support services and systems to reflect on conditions needed to sustain rights‑based practice over time.
Key resources include:
- Overcoming resistance to the rights-based care model
- Turning a ‘human-centred’ vision for aged care into reality
Practical tools to support rights-based care implementation
The collection includes practice‑oriented tools designed to support implementation and evaluation, such as checklists, toolkits, and guides for aged care workers and organisations. These tools align with the evidence review’s emphasis on supporting practical action, decision‑making, and consistency in applying rights‑based principles.
Resources in this category are intended to assist services to translate rights‑based expectations into concrete actions, processes, and quality improvement activities.
Key resources include:
- Human rights of residents in the nursing home sector: Developing practical evidence-based guidance for implementation
- Integrated health and aged care services module and user guide
Gaps in rights-based care research and practice
In line with gaps identified in the evidence review, the environmental scan found fewer resources focused on:
- Measuring the lived impact of rights‑based care for older people and families.
- Practice‑based case studies showing how rights‑based care is applied in everyday settings, particularly where tensions or barriers exist.
These gaps suggest a need for additional translation products that demonstrate what rights‑based care looks like in practice and how it influences outcomes.
Implications and next steps
The environmental scan found that there is a strong foundation of existing resources to support understanding and implementation of rights‑based care in aged care. However, consistent with the evidence review, there are opportunities to strengthen the resource collection through materials that focus more explicitly on translation into practice, lived experience, and impact.
In response, the KIH team will develop tailored resources, such as practice‑based case studies, everyday scenarios, and guidance on communication and shared decision‑making, to complement existing materials. The environmental scan will be repeated at scheduled intervals to ensure the resource collection remains current and aligned with emerging evidence, policy, and practice needs.