1 Macquarie University, 75 Talavera Road, North Ryde, NSW 2109; reema.harrison@mq.edu.au; bronwyn.newman@mq.edu.au
2 Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood Victoria 3125; k.joseph@deakin.edu.au
Consumers are increasingly being asked to contribute to their healthcare and treatment to improve safety and outcomes of care, particularly for the purposes of infection control. This session explores current evidence of strategies used to engage patients in safety during direct care, and the suitability of current strategies for diverse consumer populations. We will draw upon evidence generated via our systematic review of 26 published studies about 27 consumer engagement strategies to explore what is known about the types of consumer engagement strategies applied in the field of infection control, evidence of their effectiveness for improving care and outcomes, and for whom such strategies may be suited. We will then present evidence generated from a series of stakeholder workshops with consumer representatives for the culturally and linguistically diverse community in Australia about the extent to which current consumer engagement interventions may suit the CALD community. We propose a range of strategies to promote consumer engagement with diverse populations and ensure suitable approaches are created. We discuss the role of collaborative strategy development, a user-friendly design, proactive messaging, and agency sponsorship as mechanisms to improve engagement about safety at the point of direct care.