Impact of Aging Population on Australian Healthcare Costs

This research report examines the significant impact of Australia's aging population on its healthcare system. It begins by establishing the context of increased life expectancy and the growing elderly demographic, highlighting the strain on public spending, particularly healthcare costs. The report formulates qualitative research questions to investigate the current status of the aged population, their impact on healthcare, the factors affecting the health sector's economy, and potential government interventions. An ethnographic qualitative research design is proposed to gather in-depth insights from healthcare practitioners, government officials, and the aged population. The study will employ non-probability sampling, specifically purposive sampling, to collect primary data through interviews and surveys, alongside secondary data from peer-reviewed journals. The report addresses the rigor, trustworthiness, and limitations of the study, emphasizing the use of reliable data sources and acknowledging time constraints and ethical considerations related to working with vulnerable populations. The ethical implications are discussed, including the importance of informed consent, the avoidance of ageism, and the responsible handling of data, ensuring participant privacy and data security. The report concludes by detailing the challenges and ethical considerations associated with research involving the elderly population.

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The context/perspective of this research
Over the last thirty years, economic growth and medical technological advances have
contributed to major changes in the quality of life of the developed world (Burkett et al., 2017).
Throughout Australia, the life expectancy over the last 50 years has risen dramatically (Burgan,
2015). An ever growing share of the population is represented by the elderly Australians. In
2013, 14% of the population (3,3 million citizens) were aged 65 years and over while 1.9%
(439,600 persons) were aged 85 years and over (Kulik et al., 2014). By the year, 2053, 21% of
the population aged 65 years and older (8.3 million people) and 4.2% aged 85 and older is
expected to have medium-size growth based on the Australian Statistics Office (ABS)
assumptions. However, this aging of the population would put unsustainable strains on public
spending, with specific concerns about increasing health costs and the capacity of the health care
system to support the growing number of seniors in need of treatment (Poterba, 2014).
Population ageing has been expected to grow the total number of disabled individuals largely
because people in older age groups are higher in number and disability is becoming more
common. ABS 2013 survey results show that just over half (53 percent) of Australians 65 years
of age and over have had disability; this compares to around 16 percent of those aged 25–64 and
7 percent of those under 25 years of age (Keehan et al., 2017). Older people are often more likely
to have a number of long-term illnesses than younger people. Cases are popular among the
elderly, often leading to fractures or other significant damages. The population's aging would
have far-reaching consequences for society. Rising demographic trends, increased competition
for use of health services and increasing insurance costs are main threats to the healthcare
system. This research report concentrates on the potential contribution of an aging population
over the next decades to health and old-age care expenses

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Develop a qualitative research question on this topic in this context that clearly identifies
the study population and phenomenon of interest.
Qualitative research questions are aimed at analysing or explaining phenomena and are
mostly formulated more broadly and implicitly. In this subject of the research study, the
qualitative research questions are essential. Some of the qualitative research questions for this
study on “impact of ageing population on health care industry in Australia”.
1. What the current status of the aged population in Australia?
2. What is the impact of aged population in healthcare?
3. What are the factors in aged population affecting the economy of health sector in
Australia?
4. What are the recommended steps that Australian government can take?
Appropriate qualitative study design to address the research question.
Qualitative research design is a general way of looking at things regarding qualitative
research process (Anderson & Irava, 2017). The objective of qualitative research, the position of
the researchers, the research sections and the data analysis methods is described, either explicitly
or implicitly. Perhaps the most versatile of the different experimental approaches, containing a
variety of agreed methods and frameworks, is a qualitative research design.
A consistency approach is used to assemble participants with detailed and rich knowledge
about the research goal in order to assess the current condition of the impact of adult treatment
on the Australian healthcare system (Fan & Savedoff, 2014). Ethnographic approaches are
important in the dynamic and rapidly evolving health environment, not only highlighting how

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individuals behave, but also how the interaction of actors is influenced by the context. This study
will adopt the qualitative research design of ethnography for addressing the research questions
on the impact of the aged population over the health industry of Australia.
Ethnographic research design helps the researchers to reap the benefits of comparative
immersion to obtain thick definition in a given context regarding the status of the health care
industry due to the effects of the Australian aged population.
The study population, eligibility criteria, study sample and sampling method.
This research study will be conducted over the healthcare practitioners of two eminent
governmental hospital in Australia as well as governmental officials from the Australian
department of health for successfully conducting this research study on the impact of the aging
population over the health industry of Australia (Economou et al., 2015). Further data will be
collected from a group of aged population.
The eligibility criteria for the participation in this research study is restricted since the
researcher will purse the health care individuals and the government officials who have idea
towards aging care, its costs and the overall impact of aging in the economy of the country
(Spinks, 2017). A total number of 100 sample size is appropriate for the research study.
The sampling method that is appropriate for the research study is the non-probability
sampling technique which is the most appropriate for the qualitative research study. In
accordance to the topic of the research, the aim is not for testing hypothesis about any specific
broad population, but towards the development of the initial understanding of the under
researched and small population base. For the collection of the data for the research study,

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purposive sampling technique will be used (World Health Organization., 2015) This category of
the sampling methods includes the usage of the researchers with their judgments for the selection
of the sample that is majorly useful towards the research purposes. Towards the qualitative
research purpose, the researcher will use purposive sampling which will help the researcher to
gin relevant knowledge on specific phenomenon rather than statistical inferences.
The methods to use to collect data in this study.
This research will focus on gathering primary as well as secondary sources of data.
According to the research studies, primary data can be categorized as the data that is collected by
the researcher from the original or first hand sources with the effective use of the methods like
interviews, survey as well as experiments. This type of data are being collected by having a
research project in the mind that is directly from the primary sources. Primary data will be
obtained from specific channels such as surveys and interviews, and secondary sources will
include all forms of data available in written form or online (McPake & Mahal, 2017). All types
of evidence would be used to perform this particular analysis. Among the various types of
interview methods, this study will focus majorly on the primary data, which will be collected
through observations, interviews as well as visual analysis.
Discuss rigour, trustworthiness and study limitations for the proposed study.
The rigour or the quality of the data that will be collected includes personal information
as well as direct perception of the data from the selected samples for the research study (Nghiem
& Connelly, 2017). The collected data that will be gathered from the reliable sources. This will

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promise and define the trustworthiness of the collected data set. For the secondary set of research
data, the researcher will gather data from peer reviewed journals while in case of the primary
research, data will be collected from the experienced health care professionals in the government
hospitals who are employed in elderly care department (Anderson & Hussey, 2000). Besides
these, government officials from the Australian health department will also be interviewed to
collect their perspectives towards the impact of the elderly population over the health industry or
the economy of the health sector in terms of the rising cost and other factors.
One of the major limitations of this study is that the time for this research study is very
limited. Due to the lack of time, the researcher will not be able to pursue several government
health sector of hospitals. Collection of permission for visiting the government officials off the
Australian health department will also be very tough for the researcher (Radford et al., 2018).
Apart from these, collection of data from the elderly population coming for treatment in the
hospitals will also be difficult due to the lack of proper consent letters. Availability of research
funding and financial resources is another limitations for this study.
Describe ethical implications for this study including vulnerable populations where
applicable.
Working with the aging or the elderly population, the researcher might face ethical
dilemmas. Being new in the field of research on elderly people, the researcher is unaware of the
ethical implications, the unique characteristics as well as the responsibilities towards working
with the aging population of Australia (Lucas et al., 2019). One of the major ethical implications
for this study I that the researcher will not force any of the sample participants for engaging in
the research process. No data will be gathered about any elderly people without his or her
consent. The researcher might face ageism as one of the major negative attitudes which is

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dependable over the factor of age that includes age based stereotypes, negative feels as ell a
discrimination. The researcher will not use any hypothetical or make up any data on behalf of
the aging population. The data gathered from the government officials regarding the expected
effect over the health care industry will not be revealed an all the data will be destroyed after the
completion of the research process.

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