The language needs of residents from linguistically diverse backgrounds in Victorian aged care facilities

To investigate the language needs of residents of aged care facilities within the State of Victoria, Australia, and determine what language resources were accessible to them.

Postal questionnaires were sent to 586 aged care facilities, enquiring about residents' and staff members' languages and language-specific resources.

The response rate was 38%. The majority of facilities had residents who spoke non-English languages, and 55 different languages were represented. Three-quarters of the facilities employed staff members who spoke to residents in non-English languages and employed language-specific resources. The metropolitan and ethnospecific facilities had a greater presence of non-English-speaking residents and staff and more commonly used language-specific resources in comparison with regional and mainstream facilities.

We found a large number of languages used by many residents from non-English-speaking backgrounds, with evidence of a large unmet language resource need. Unmet need was greatest in rural areas.