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Meg Polacsek

Aged Care Research and Industry Innovation Australia (ARIIA)


Meg Polacsek

Meg is a Senior Research Fellow in ARIIA’s Workforce Capacity and Capability team. She has extensive experience in research, project management, communications and advocacy in academic, public health and service provider settings. Meg has a Master of Health Science (Aged Services Management) and was awarded a PhD in 2018. More recently, she completed a Specialist Certificate in Implementation Science. However, it is her early experience as a personal carer in residential and community aged care that most strongly informs her efforts to improve the experience of ageing and aged care.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Countries Australia;
Topics Access to care; Ageing in place; Care Homes; Care innovations; Care integration/ coordination; Co-production in LTC; Dementia care and support; End-of-life care and LTC; Ethics and care; Implementation; Loneliness among older people; LTC Workforce; New models of care; Person-centered care; Residential LTC services; Rights and people’s voices in LTC systems; Social connection;
Methods Case studies; Document analysis; Focus groups; Grounded Theory; Guidelines development; Implementation science; Knowledge-exchange; Mixed methods; Observational studies; Policy analysis; Qualitative studies; Questionnaire; Research ethics; Surveys; Thematic analysis; Theory and frameworks; Training materials;
Role Research;
Interest Groups Ageing and Place; Employment Education and Family carers; Long-Term Care Policy;
ORC.ID0000-0002-2945-3594
LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/meg-polacsek-phd-24765386/
Research interests

Qualitative research

Ageing, aged care and mental health

Key publications

O’Dwyer, M., Porter, T., Rittinghausen, N., Tribuzio, L., & Polacsek, M. (2024). Who speaks my language? Linguistic diversity among people living in Australian residential aged care facilities. Australasian Journal on Ageing. doi.org/10.1111/ajag.13275

Polacsek, M., & Porter, T. (2023). A service provider approach to rights-based research, in Urbaniak, A., & Wanka, A. (Eds.). Routledge International Handbook of Participatory Approaches in Ageing Research (1st ed.). Routledge. doi.org/10.4324/9781003254829

Polacsek, M., & Porter, T. (2023). Facilitating advance care planning in the thriving retirement village setting. Australasian Journal on Ageing, 42(2), 423-428. doi.org/10.1111/ajag.13168

Polacsek, M., & Woolford, M. (2022). Strategies to support older adults’ mental health during the transition into residential aged care: A qualitative study of multiple stakeholder perspectives. BMC Geriatrics, 22(1), 151. doi: 10.1186/s12877-022-02859-1

Polacsek, M., Boardman, G. H., & McCann, T. V. (2021). A theory on the components of depression self-management in older adults. Qualitative Health Research, 31(1), 160-171. doi:

10.1177/10497323209610

Woolford, M., Joyce, C., & Polacsek, M. (2021). Strategies to optimize aged care volunteer recruitment and retention: A systematic review. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 1-18. doi: 10.1080/01634372.2021.1923605

Polacsek, M., Goh, A., Malta, S. … Dow, B. (2019) I know they’re not trained in dementia’: Addressing the need for specialist dementia training for home care workers. Health & Social Care in the Community. doi: 10.1111/hsc.12880

Polacsek, M., Boardman, G., & McCann, T.V. (2019). Understanding, choosing and applying grounded theory: Part 2. Nurse Researcher, 26(3), 43-49. doi: 10.7748/nr.2019/e1593

McCann, T.V., & Polacsek, M. (2018). Understanding, choosing and applying grounded theory: Part 1. Nurse Researcher, 26(3), 36-41. doi: 10.7748/nr.2018/e1592

McCann, T. V., & Polacsek, M. (2018). Addressing the vexed issue of authorship and author order: A discussion paper. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 74(9), 2064-2074. doi: 10.1111/jan.13720

McCann, T. V., & Polacsek, M. (2017). False gold: Safely navigating open access publishing to avoid predatory publishers and journals. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 74(4), 809-817. doi: 10.1111/jan.13483

Polacsek, M., Boardman, G., & McCann, T. V. (2016). Paying patient and caregiver research participants: Putting theory into practice. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 73(4), 847-856. doi: 10.1111/jan.13222