Welcome to My Continence Care
Empowering aged care through dignified continence support
Continence Health Australia is proud to introduce ‘My Continence Care’™ – a purpose-built program designed to increase the knowledge, confidence and capabilities of the residential aged care direct care workforce.
This values-driven initiative goes beyond traditional toileting and continence aid training. It equips staff with the tools to deliver holistic, person-centred continence care that honours dignity, promotes wellbeing and supports residents to live with comfort and confidence.
What makes My Continence Care different
My Continence Care is a non-clinical, strengths-based training program tailored specifically for direct care staff in residential aged care. The program empowers staff to:
- deliver individualised, dignified continence care
- understand the why, what and how of person-centred continence support
- apply practical strategies that integrate seamlessly into daily care routines.
Learners journey alongside relatable characters, Pearl and Frank, as they transition into residential care. Through ‘Continence Conversations’, staff engage in peer-to-peer learning, sharing real-life strategies and insights that enhance continence care practices.
Unlike traditional training, My Continence Care focuses on:
- empathy and communication in sensitive care situations
- practical, scenario-based learning that reflects real aged care environments
- team-based reflection to strengthen shared understanding and care planning.
‘After almost 20 years in aged care, I've never experienced a [training] session like this. It reminded me of the core human and empathetic factors we often overlook in our busy routines. The module encourages reflection on how we communicate sensitive issues like toileting and continence care with the individuals we support.’ My Continence Care champion (pilot program), Rural Victoria
Why My Continence Care matters
In response to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, Continence Health Australia secured a Commonwealth Standard Grant Agreement in 2022 to develop a best-practice model for continence care.
Through extensive sector consultation including aged care providers, Victorian Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) and tertiary institutions, we identified a critical gap: current Certificate III and IV training did not adequately prepare staff to deliver comprehensive continence health support.
As a result, many care workers only gained this essential knowledge through experience, rather than through structured learning. My Continence Care™ was created to bridge this gap.
Pilot success and real-world impact
An independent evaluation of the pilot confirmed the My Continence Care pilot program’s success in enhancing best-practice continence care across diverse aged care settings. The program empowered staff with confidence, capability and practical strategies to deliver respectful, person-centred care.
Over a 5-month pilot across 11 sites there were:
- 936 initial enrolments to My Continence Care
- 525 online module completions (56%)
- 816 continence conversations delivered
Impact on care delivery
Evaluation of staff experience and implementation showed:
- 98% of staff reported gaining a better understanding of best-practice, dignified, person-centred continence care
- 99% of staff implemented learnings into practice
- 90% said nothing prevented them from applying their learnings into everyday practice.
At a large residential aged care facility with over 100 direct care staff:
- 37 out of 48 care plans in the high care unit over a period of 4 weeks were updated to reflect more dignified, individualised strategies
- staff reported increased confidence and collaboration
- teams shared and trialled new approaches to meet residents’ unique needs.
Personal care attendants showed the greatest improvement in knowledge and reported increased confidence and capability to deliver person-centred continence care.
Staff reported facilitating greater involvement of residents and families in care decisions.
Champions observed tangible improvements in care delivery and team collaboration.
‘It gave us as a team an opportunity to connect and share ideas on what worked for each staff member which was helpful as staff are now able to trial different strategies to meet residents’ needs.’ My Continence Care participant (pilot program)
‘Pilot learnings will indeed go a long way in improving how we all address the issues of continence. It will also help us in updating care plans with strategies that can be used for future residents’ issues.’ My Continence Care participant (pilot program)
National rollout
Continence Health Australia is now working towards nationwide implementation of My Continence Care across more than 2,600 residential aged care facilities.
If you’re ready to uplift your workforce and transform continence care in your facility, we invite you to reach out via the Expression of Interest Form.