DEAL: Dementia, Education, Approach, Life Erasmus Project

Project Title

DEAL: Dementia, Education, Approach, Life

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: Health and wellbeing; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Cooperation between educational institutions and business

Project Summary

“DEAL – Dementia, Education, Approach, Life” was a 2-year ERASMUS+ project, which aimed 1) to improve the competences of teachers and caregivers with regard to dementia, 2) to extend the cooperation between educational institutions and caregiving organizations 3) to elevate the status of dementia caregiving and 4) to give recommendations to decision makers in the field of education. The project started in November 2018 and ended in December 2020.
The number of people suffering from dementia is growing in the whole world. It will continue to grow and consequently, the socio-economic burden will increase. Due to their prevalence, cost and profound impact on society, Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia therefore are public health priorities in EU Member States. As most European countries are recognizing the challenge they are facing, they have launched national dementia plans with many initiatives to be carried out. In the more wealthy countries, new technology is developed and implemented in the field. However, there seems to be a missing link between on one side: all the research done, all the existing knowledge, the awareness, the enormous amount of money spent – and on the other side: the priority this topic is given in the education of the basic care staff in the care educations in Europe.
The DEAL project was carried out internationally to exchange experiences and best practices among very different ways of caring for people with dementia in different countries – including differences in the approach to the person in need of care. It was successfully implemented by eight partners from Denmark, Greece, Italy, Netherlands and Spain. The project partners worked in double partnerships in each country: One partner representing working life and the other partner representing care educations.
DEAL project was targeting:
• Trainers and teachers in care educations
• Students at care educations
• Care staff – first and foremost professional caregivers, but also informal caregivers can benefit
• Decision makers in the field of education
However, relatives of people with dementia will also benefit from the project results and the final beneficent is the person suffering from dementia.
The objectives of the project were to:
• improve the competences of teachers and trainers who educate and train caregivers about dementia
• extend and qualify the cooperation between educational institutions and caregiver organizations
• elevate the status of care for people with dementia as it is a low-status area in the field of care
• give suggestions and recommendation to the decision makers in the field of basic health care education
During the project’s lifetime, the following main outputs were produced:
• Online training program for caregivers of people with dementia: The training program provides specialized knowledge on dementia and methods for supporting and caring for people with dementia. The training program consists of 8 modules and a Teacher’s Guide in English, Italian, Dutch, Greek, Danish and Spanish. Besides it contains four modules that were developed for the specific national context in Denmark, the Netherlands and Italy. These modules are to be found in the national languages only.
• Video for caregivers of people with dementia: The project partners created a video promoting the care work for people with dementia. This video aims at elevating not only the status of the care for people with dementia, but also the status of basic care and basic care education in general. The video shows that it is meaningful and rewarding to work with people with dementia in spite of all the difficulties.
• A policy paper for decision makers. The policy paper is targeting relevant stakeholders in the field of education. It consists of a general part containing the results of the DEAL project and sections containing the national recommendations.
The DEAL training program was tested by about 150 persons in Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy and Greece: professional caregivers, family members/friends of people with dementia and students at medical schools and health care colleges. As the DEAL material is already being used by the involved organisation, the impact is increased competences among teachers and caregivers in the field.
The video promoting dementia care will be disseminated and used by health care educational institutions to attract students and staff to dementia care, it will elevate the status of the care and also give a better understanding of what dementia is.
Another important impact is that the cooperation between care institutions and educational institutions has been strengthened, which has led to a greater understanding and the creation of more practice-adapted education.
All partners carried out many dissemination activities including Multiplier events (face-to-face or online) in Denmark, Italy, The Netherlands and Greece.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 209376 Eur

Project Coordinator

SOSU OSTJYLLAND & Country: DK

Project Partners

• PANEPISTIMIO PATRON
• Aarhus Kommune – Sundhed og Omsorg
• ASP Martelli
• C.M. SKOULIDI & SIA E.E.
• Errotu Taldea S.L.P
• Irecoop Toscana
• ROC Drenthe College