Enhancing formal caregiver skills in dementia care Erasmus Project

Project Title

Enhancing formal caregiver skills in dementia 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 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Health and wellbeing

Project Summary

The Demetra project was carried out by a consortium of 8 organizations, including public bodies (Ad Personam, the Lower Silesian Region and the Province of Enzkreis), a transnational network (SERN), two research and training centers (EDV and the University of Parma) and two assistance service providers (SZL and Emmaus) from October 2018 to September 2020.
the first part of the project was aimed at sharing existing practices already used in some contests. This was a preparatory step for the training of experienced trainers. Indeed, the trainers who participated in the project had very different training backgrounds, so the first step was to reorganize the training material according to the knowledge of the participants.
The partnership has made it possible to compose an important reference framework for the training of caregivers who operate in the field of dementia but not only. The corpus of notions and experiential activities created has produced a manual in which, in line with the premises of the project and in line with previous experiences, we have made available a series of materials for the development of theoretical and practical skills in the field of psychology positive and psychological well-being. if on the one hand it was very complex to make an important theoretical corpus such as the one cited usable and operational, even for expert trainers, on the other it was surprising to witness the amazement of formal caregivers during the training phase addressed to them: for many of them it was the first time that they were able to work on their experiences, on the meaning of emotions in the care work, and it was the first time that they were able to experience how attention to their well-being generates positive relationships even with people with dementia.
The network worked on the ability to regulate emotion through positive psychology and mindfulness. The project has generated various results both in terms of output and in terms of outcome of collaborative value and transnational relationship.
Specifically, we have created a manual, which we have made available for free. The manual contains theoretical and experiential aspects, useful for learning techniques and methods of recognition and management of emotions, psychophysical relaxation, communication with colleagues and the elderly and relationship models on an approach oriented to the person with dementia. a solid partnership has been developed with the subjects involved, more than an exchange of practices, in our opinion, an even more significant step has been achieved: the sharing of a theoretical and practical reference framework, which will be inserted by all as d ‘ gold standard for the training of its employees. The effect of the project that was carried out was the subject of absolutely enthusiastic and positive perceptions by the caregivers who received the training. We will verify the fallout beyond the time limits set by the project, as training courses for formal caregivers will be developed in the individual local realities, starting from February 2022 and different target groups will also be involved: trainers, formal caregivers, service managers, middle managers and, indirectly, people with dementia and their families.
Each national partner, with the exception of SERN, which had a predominantly collaborative role between the partners, and the University of Parma, which had a predominantly supervisory role and organization of the material, selected a certain number of trainers who participated in both the construction phase of the framework following the delivery phase of the training course for caregivers. The expert trainers made available were numerically the following:
ASP ad personam 5 trainers;
EDV made 3 trainers available;
SZL Linz provided 2 trainers;
Emmaus made 2 formators available;
The Lower Silesia region provided 2 trainers,
the province of Enzkreis made available 3 formators.
In total, a group of 15 experts was trained and prepared for the DEMETRA training. Each trained trainer then provided a training course of at least 8 hours with groups of operators made up of at least 8 people.
Unlike the others, Linz decided to take the training not with the caregivers but with the middle managers of the company: we were interested in their feedback on the appropriateness, sustainability and feasibility of training for caregivers. (in addition to this there were important reasons for the restriction of working in groups for health workers).
, the only goal we are currently working on is the creation of a MOOC, which will be able to make the training material even more accessible. It is a complicated challenge given the interactive and experiential nature of the training itself.

Project Website

https://www.erasmus-demetra.eu/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 109077,4 Eur

Project Coordinator

AD PERSONAM AZIENDA DI SERVIZI ALLAPERSONA DEL COMUNE DI PARMA & Country: IT

Project Partners

• SZL Seniorenzentren Linz GmbH
• UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PARMA
• Emmaus vzw
• SWEDEN EMILIA ROMAGNA NETWORK
• EXPERTISECENTRUM DEMENTIE VLAANDEREN
• Urzad Marszalkowski Wojewodztwa Dolnoslaskiego
• Landratsamt Enzkreis