Ι CARE Erasmus Project

Project Title

Ι CARE

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Overcoming skills mismatches (basic/transversal); Open and distance learning; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

A major policy and social challenge in the European Union is the ageing of the population, and the need to ensure quality Long Term Care for the increasing numbers of dependent and older citizens. Failure to promote technical innovation to support the millions of people in this situation in Europe will have severe impacts on quality of life and level of care provided to the elderly, disabled and chronic patients, social inclusion employment and economic competitiveness. As people are getting older and the need for long term care is increasing ICT exploitation and provision of personal development adult education (i.e. soft skills such as emotional intelligence, empathy) of employees are seen as possible solutions to this kind of dilemmas. Also, the development of basic skills in specific diseases (such as chronic diseases and mental health care) is crucial for a more equitable integration of the informal caregivers in the market. In the same line it seems that incorporating the potential of ICT skills (online management, etc) in this rapidly growing sector could boost substantially employment and services in this sector. In parallel, social (soft) skills in the social and health industry are increasingly being recognized as valuable skills that are necessary for nursing professionals to possess. They need communication and leadership skills so as to have a better understanding of their roles and responsibilities once they become licensed to practice. It is widely accepted by patients’ organizations that these skills provision is absent on both VET and Tertiary Education level and this constitutes a challenge for quality of services and caregivers employability. This gap in skills provided in the education was the starting point of the consortium interest in order to share experience and best practices and develop practical tools for caregivers, patients and VET organizations.
The underlying assumption was that ICT can be, and is, a cost-effective way to improve the quality of care provided to dependent people, to ease the burden on informal caregivers, improve the quality of life of both groups (homecarers and services recipients) and enhance skills and competence status of vulnerable populations involved in caregiving (i.e. migrants, low skilled women) as well as family relatives. Moreover, soft and ICT skills, being major transversal skills, are essential for the professionalization of the qualified caregivers and integration of vulnerable employees or/unemployed and can be crucial for a fast-changing labor market as they improve informal caregivers’ learning experiences, transversal competences and employability.
The I-CARE project’s main objectives were to address these challenges by developing a multifaceted methodology that aimed to improve quality of life both of carers and services recipients. In particular, the I-CARE project involved a broad spectrum of higher education institutions, VET organizations, patient associations and social cooperatives in four (4) countries in order to develop, implement and evaluate a learning-training methodology of adult education for both formal and informal caregivers. The project undertook and successfully completed all necessary activities so as to identify current practices in respect of ICT, social and basic skills of caregivers, investigate, analyze and map educational needs and skills gaps, collect and elaborate best practices among participating countries so as to develop specially designed courses, tools and mobility schemes (i.e. MOOC, self assessment tools, training mobility courses), tools that entailed the exchange of knowledge and skills for the mutual benefit of the parties involved.
A Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) in 4 languages (English, Italian, French and Greek) on basic (healthcare), ICT and soft skills was developed and two (2) joint mobility 5-day sessions training activities took place effectively so as for a snowball effect in the partners and supporting organizations to be produced. The training content was written in 4 languages (English, French, Italian and Greek) taking into account criteria such caregivers’ educational level and socio-cultural background and patients’/service recipients’ perspective regarding their caregivers’ training needs and gaps. During the project’s life cycle and even after its completion, all project results and outputs were effectively disseminated through different channels of communication (portal, events, social media, ad-hoc meetings etc) and levels of governance (VET organisations, Universities, health care services providers, supporting and patient associations etc).

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 245314 Eur

Project Coordinator

ETHNIKO KAI KAPODISTRIAKO PANEPISTIMIO ATHINON & Country: EL

Project Partners

• ERGASIA EKPAIDEFTIKI ANONYMI ETAIRIA
• HELLENIC OPEN UNIVERSITY
• Pole Services à la Personne PACA
• Azienda Speciale Retesalute
• CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
• ANOIKTO PANEPISTIMIO KYPROU (OPEN UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS)
• PANCYPRIAN FEDERATION OF PATIENTS ASSOCIATIONS AND FRIENDS