title: The (mis)matching of resources and assessed need in remote Aboriginal community aged care.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine processes of aged-care needs assessment for Aboriginal people in remote central Australia to assist development of appropriate models of aged care.
  
  
  METHODS
  A qualitative study involving 11 semistructured interviews with aged-care assessors and two focus groups with Aboriginal community members.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This paper reports four major themes concerning how needs assessments relate to realities of service delivery: cultural perspectives on aged care, context of service delivery, equity and access to services, and program (mis)alignments.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Disparities exist between assessment recommendations and service availability, with a potential mismatch between Aboriginal understandings of needs, interpretations by individual assessment staff and program guidelines. Incorporating a conceptual framework, such as the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, into service guidelines to ensure structured consideration of a person's holistic needs may assist, as will building the capacity of communities to provide the level and type of services required.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Remote Health, a joint centre of Flinders University and Charles Darwin University, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.
authors.forename: Di
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.affiliation: Centre for Remote Health, a joint centre of Flinders University and Charles Darwin University, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.
authors.forename: Melissa A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Lindeman
authors.affiliation: Poche Centre for Indigenous Health and Well-being, Flinders University, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.
authors.forename: John Binda
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Reid
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006299:Health Services for the Aged; D006303:Health Services, Indigenous; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000208:ethnology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D036301:Qualitative Research
keywords: Aboriginal; Indigenous; assessment; community care; remote aged care