Using strengths-based practice to support culture change: an Australian experience

Workplaces across the globe have experienced an unprecedented pace of change. The effects of a problem focus, de-personalisation and over regulation in long-term care settings are experienced similarly by carers, residents, their families and nursing homes as a whole. A pathology focus is no longer appropriate, inviting a paradigm shift to explore how accessing the unique strengths and resources of all parties becomes an imperative role in changing organizational culture. This paper draws comparisons between the experiences and tasks of all those involved in care settings. Adapting the powerful work of Eron and Lund (1996) to organizational settings, this paper describes a clear intervention model and the effects of strengths-based practice on carers, residents, family members and organizational culture when utilized in a nursing home consultation. The model is not only a reactive intervention model, but is a way of re-mobilizing and motivating carers, residents and care settings to be at their best.