Mr Shaun McCarthy

Career Summary

Biography

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Laws, Australian National University
• Bachelor of Arts, Macquarie University

Fields of Research

Publications

For publications that are currently unpublished or in-press, details are shown in italics.

Journal article (18 outputs)

Review (2 outputs)

Conference (1 outputs)

Grants and Funding

Summary

Click on a grant title below to expand the full details for that specific grant.

20191 grants / $33,000

20183 grants / $1,048,495

20175 grants / $125,273

20163 grants / $53,000

20151 grants / $55,000

20142 grants / $39,000

20111 grants / $10,000

Research Projects

Action on Elder Abuse 2017 -

This project will bring together health and legal service providers in the Newcastle and Hunter regions of New South Wales to design and pilot test an intervention to support elder abuse screening for community-dwelling older adults and the use of referral pathways for timely and effective action to address suspected situations of abuse. The intervention will be piloted with: legal practitioners recruited from law firms and community legal centres; and healthcare providers recruited from a general medical practice and aged care assessment teams (ACATs). Feedback from the pilot will inform the development of a specific screening tool, which will also be designed to identify older adults at risk of abuse so that preventative measures can also be considered as part of an overall action strategy in relation to appropriate referral pathways and support mechanisms.

AIMS:

(1)  To examine legal practitioners’ and healthcare providers’ knowledge and attitudes in relation to screening for and acting on situations of elder abuse; and

(2)  To examine the feasibility and acceptability of an elder abuse screening and interprofessional

workshop intervention delivered through legal practices, a general medical practice and ACATs, including:

(a)   practitioners’ satisfaction with interprofessional, health-legal training on elder abuse screening and action;

(b)  feasibility and acceptability of a brief elder abuse screening tool for legal practitioners and healthcare providers; and

(c)   the use of local and state resources and referral pathways to deal with both ongoing and potential elder abuse situations.

METHODS:

Study design, setting, and participants: A large general medical practice in the Newcastle region has agreed to participate in this project and a minimum of three ACATs within the area health service and approximately ten local legal practitioners will also be recruited to participate. Eligible participants will be agreeable to: participating in a half-day interprofessional training workshop; incorporating a brief elder abuse screening tool into their practice; and completing several short surveys over the course of the project. Participants will include legal practitioners, especially those whose practice focuses on wills, estates and elder law (identified from the NSW Law Society membership records and the Committee on Elder Law, Capacity and Succession); general medical practitioners, nursing professionals, and social workers. The study will have three main steps:

Step 1 - Selection of an elder abuse screening tool: The research team has already undertaken an international-in-scope literature review to identify existing questionnaire tools used to screen for elder abuse among community-dwelling older adults.[i] Such tools ask questions like: “Has anyone tried to force you to sign papers or to use your money against your will?”; “Do you trust most of the people in your family?”; “Have you relied on people for any of the following: bathing, dressing, shopping, banking, or meals?”; “Have you been upset because someone talked to you in a way that made you feel shamed or threatened?” We have also identified and examined ‘legal-health checks’ developed by community legal service providers for use by health practitioners to screen patients for legal concerns.[ii] We have also examined the risk factor assessment checklists available as part of the NSW Elder Abuse Toolkit at the NSW Elder Abuse Helpline and Resource Unit website, which provide useful information to assist in developing standardised questions to allow legal and health professionals to begin a conversation with older adults about existing or potential elder abuse. In consultation with our project advisory committee (described below), we will select a set of screening questions for use in our pilot project. The choice of tool will be guided by strengths and limitations reported in the literature, including a need to balance ease of use with accuracy and comprehensiveness, as well as appropriateness of questions for clients who may have some degree of cognitive impairment. Our aim in this step is to overcome the barrier of what questions to be asked by using the available literature, information and existing tools to develop a short series of questions that represent the best medium for accurate and comprehensive screening of older adults for existing or potential elder abuse.

Step 2 – Interprofessional workshop and resources for participating care providers: In collaboration with the Hunter Dementia Alliance, the Reference Group on Elder Abuse in the Hunter and the NSW Elder Abuse Helpline and Resource Unit (who are also working with Justice Connect), we will deliver interprofessional, health-legal training workshops for the participating, legal practitioners, GP practice and ACATs. The workshop will provide education on elder abuse, how to use the screening tool, and steps to take if situations of potential or suspected abuse are detected. Attendees will be educated on Hunter-specific and state-level resources and referral pathways to support timely intervention and follow-up. These resources include those available through the NSW Elder Abuse Helpline and Resource Unit and a recently established Reference Group on Elder Abuse in the Hunter, which offers an interprofessional case consultation service for practitioners seeking guidance on how to deal with situations of potential elder abuse. The workshop will be registered with professional organisations offering Continuing Professional Development points. We have already planned an interprofessional workshop on capacity assessment scheduled for May 2017.

Step 3 – Pilot testing of the screening tool: The participating legal practices, GP practice and ACATs will incorporate the elder abuse screening questions into their consultations with older clients. Healthcare providers will add these questions to assessments they currently perform with older clients, such as the Medicare Health Assessment for Older Persons (75+). It is estimated that at least 200 older clients will be screened during a six-month pilot testing period.

Project advisory committee: We will establish a project advisory committee that includes members of the Hunter Dementia Alliance, the Reference Group on Elder Abuse in the Hunter, the Hunter Elder Abuse Interagency Collaborative, the NSW Elder Abuse Helpline and Resource Unit and consumer representatives. The Dementia Alliance and the Reference Group include geriatricians, health practitioners employed in ACATs, professional staff of the Newcastle office of Alzheimer’s Australia, and legal practitioners with expertise in elder law. This advisory committee will provide advice throughout the project. 

MEASURES:

We will collect quantitative and qualitative data through voluntary surveys involving practitioners from the legal practices, the GP practice and ACATs. Participants may also be invited to take part in a focus group or follow-up interviews to further explore findings from the surveys. An interview guide or focus group questions will be developed based on the survey results. Ethics approval for all research activities will be sought from the Hunter New England Local Health District and University Ethics Committee as required.

Knowledge and attitudes in relation to screening for and acting on situations of elder abuse: Prior to the workshop, participants will be sent a link to a 10-minute online survey that will ask questions about their knowledge, attitudes and intentions concerning elder abuse (e.g., self-perceived competence in identifying and managing elder abuse situations; interest in and perceived barriers to using a screening tool; knowledge and use of existing state and local resources).

Satisfaction with interprofessional, health-legal training on elder abuse screening and action: At the end of the workshop, participants will be asked to complete a short paper survey with questions on the usefulness of the training and the resources identified, and any recommendations for improvement.

Feasibility and acceptability of a brief elder abuse screening tool: At the end of the six-month pilot testing period, participants will be sent a link to a 15-minute online survey that will seek feedback on the use of the screening tool. Data collected will include: number of clients screened; time taken to ask screening questions; impressions on use of the tool; impact on attitudes and perceived competence in relation to screening; and recommendations for improvement. We will contact participants at months two and four of the pilot testing period for an informal check on the progress of the intervention.

Use of local and state resources and referral pathways to deal with elder abuse situations: The post-intervention survey will also ask about: number of situations where potential and existing abuse was identified during the pilot period; types of abuse situations detected; local and state resources accessed; outcomes, where known (e.g., police involvement; change in accommodation and/or care arrangements for the client; preparation of new legal instruments, such as new enduring power of attorney appointments[iii]); and actual experiences with referral pathways, resources and support.

Dissemination of findings: We will analyse the data and prepare final pilot project findings that will be disseminated to reach a wide range of relevant audiences, including health and legal practitioner groups and community organisations serving older Australians at risk of elder abuse. If the screening tool is found to be good practice then we will publish the availability of the tool for broader use across NSW. We will produce: one or more scholarly articles that contribute to high-quality, peer-reviewed literature on the topic of elder abuse; articles for professional newsletters and online sources to reach health, aged care and legal practitioners; and presentations for conferences and other events.

Grants

Collaborators

News

Free legal clinic to support community’s vulnerable older people

November 15, 2019

Some of the most vulnerable people in our society – older people – are benefiting from a new free community legal service established by Newcastle Law School in Newcastle and Gosford.

First-of-its-kind resource aids legal practitioners in identifying elder abuse

March 20, 2019

As national conversations around the treatment of the elderly continue, academics from the University of Newcastle are supporting legal practitioners to act as another line of defence to better identify and combat elder abuse.

Capacity Assessment Symposium

July 19, 2018

Capacity Assessment Symposium

July 18, 2018

Law on the Beach

December 11, 2017

Academic honoured for making the law accessible to all

September 15, 2017

UON academic Shaun McCarthy recognised for his quality teaching practice and outstanding contributions to student learning.

Complementary legal service hits the beach for those feeling the heat

January 20, 2017

Law on the Beach, a free legal service for the community, will be held at Newcastle Beach over January and February

Legal program at Newcastle Beach riding a wave of success

January 29, 2015

A free legal clinic, metres from the crashing waves at Newcastle Beach, is pushing law students into new learning experiences.

Kathleen Folbigg case review bid challenges SIDS evidence

October 9, 2014

Shaun McCarthy discusses an evidence challenge of the Kathleen Folbigg case

Human Rights and Refugees

June 24, 2014

Kathleen Folbigg’s Sister Speaks Out

April 2, 2014

Alan Jones Lends His Support to Convicted Child Killer Kathleen Folbigg

January 20, 2014

Hit the surf and source legal advice

January 20, 2014

Young people are encouraged to tap into expertise of the University’s Legal Centre when it hits the sand for its annual Law on the Beach.

Mr Shaun McCarthy