<< Background >>Services need to be developed where the elderly and their family can contribute on their own premises and on the basis of what they believe is important and meaningful to them. This will have to involve strengthening the user perspective and more emphasis on alternative thinking in the services. Alternative in the sense that the individual and next of kin must have more influence and control over services provided and decide what works. In this context, the use of peers and experienced workers may be appropriate measures.In recent years, in the health and welfare services, Peer Support Workers have been employed as a resource to promote the user perspective, strengthen the recovery orientation and better tailor the services to the needs of the users. When it comes to services for people with dementia, this has not yet been tested in Norway, but in the UK, there has been testing of such services on a small scale (Stott et al., 2017). There are two possible types of Peer Support Workers. (1) People in the early stages of developing dementia, and (2) next of kin to people with dementia.<< Objectives >>− The aim of the project is to help create sustainable and competency-enhancing services for people with dementia by finding new ways to involve users and their next of kin in service development.− The project is also going to help reduce the shame, stigma, and taboo associated with dementia, so that people affected are seeking help at an early stage.− Testing of Peer Support Workers in dementia care, primary for next of kin, but also for people in an early stage of dementia − Establish collaboration with involved parties in the project across countries− Find out what the status is of the services for people with dementia in selected municipalities. Clarify the role and function of experienced staff in dementia− Develop guidelines for PSW in dementia care− Disseminate information about the project to involved parties and other interested parties− Raising awareness about the status of elderly people/dementia as well as about the peer support workers and family caregivers in all participant countries.<< Implementation >>− Mapping the baseline situation− Establish the project organization− Collaboration meetings between parties to the project− Recruit and engage PSW (Peer Support Worker)− Conduct training of PSW − Testing of PSW<< Results >>Results: (intellectual outputs) double check− Report on the effects of PSW in dementia care− Developed a strategy for how to involve relatives in dementia care - advocacy− Guidelines for recruiting and qualifying of PSW− Developed training courses for PSW in dementia Care− Develop a digital platform for collaboration and networking between partners, participants and stakeholders − Established measures that can continue after the project has ended− Established a network for sharing of experience and knowledge specific for community based dementia care

Dementia is one of the major causes of disability and dependency among older people worldwide. One of the main problems in long-term care services is the lack of knowledge of professionals and direct care staff on symptoms of dementia, changes at the physiological, cognitive and behavioral levels and interventions in activities of daily living. There are different VET programmes for care staff, however, stakeholders think that learning content about dementia is not enough considered in the training curriculums of the European Countries at EQF level 4. The European strategy for the prevention of dementia has pointed out that the situation of dementia requires great efforts in national VET systems to provide caregivers with a global overview of dementia in order to face day-to-day problems (with orientation, communication, etc.) and to break taboos of the topic of dementia. In the same way, it would be important to improve professional knowledge and skills on dementia in the community healthcare services of the European countries (Alzheimer Europe, 2019).In this sense, the Danish Dementia Research Centre (DDRC) has developed a set of open educational resources (the app “Videns on Demens” and the e-learning platform “ABC dementia care”) addressed to basic care staff and professionals in long-term care services. The app is a widely used observation tool for caregivers available in Danish language and is considered as a successful experience since in 2016 it was used 52,550 times (user sessions) and had 15,575 users. In 2017 they considered managing about 26,000 online users in the platform ABC dementia-care.With this in mind, AppForDementia project partners have agreed on to create a set of open educational and multilingual resources on dementia, based on the Danish experience, with the purpose of implementing these resources in the national VET programmes for apprentices and professional caregivers in long-term care services.The specific objectives of the project are the following:• To define a methodological framework for transferring the Danish open educational resources to participant countries.•To propose an international training curriculum about “Symptoms and interventions for people with dementia” at EQF level 4 described in terms of training units and learning outcomes.•To develop a set of learning contents and training materials on symptoms and interventions for people with dementia. •To create and test a multilingual educational APP addressed to care staff, trainers, students, and professionals of the care sector.•To create and test a multilingual e-learning course on Dementia symptoms addressed to trainers, care-staff, and professionals.The project considers about 25 associated organizations in the different activities of the project. The target group is estimated about 10.000 people.The direct target groups of the activities of this project are the following: • Caregivers, basic care staff, nurses, and professionals in the long-term care services • Trainers and teachers in care educations • Students at care educations • 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 results of the Project are the following:-A methodological framework for OERS, based on a training curriculum about “Symptoms and interventions for people with dementia” at EQF level 4.- International seminar, multiplier events and workshops for developing open educational resources.- An educational app and an open e-learning course for care staff, trainers and students in the care sector. The most important expected impact is the improvement of the capacity and competencies of caregivers and the competencies of teachers/trainers/educators to be able to take care of and reply professionally to the specific and particular needs of people affected by Dementia. As a consequence, the app and the other results of this project could increase the quality of life for people with dementia and help to prevent abuse and neglect of the elderly.The consortium of the project is formed by an NGO managing a group of nursing homes in several Spanish regions (MENSAJEROS, ES); a vocational training centre in Denmark (SOSU OSTJYLLAND, DK); a NGO in the social sector in Italy (ANCIANI E NON SOLO, IT); an association for elderly care sector in Romania (HABILITAS ASSOCIATIA, RO).

In Europe, in case of chronic illnesses, 80% of all care is provided by informal carers – i.e. people who provide unpaid care to someone with a chronic disease, disability or other long-lasting health or care need, outside of a professional or formal framework. While caring for a loved one can be a source of great personal satisfaction, it does create its own set of challenges. Although in households when a member has a chronic illness or disability one of the relatives is often designated as “primary care” (i.e. the person bearing the main care responsibilities), we know that when there is a change in one family member, it affects all family members (Wright and Leahey, 2000). A functional relationship among caregivers and care recipient is the key for a successful change of roles and the adaptation of the family. Therefore, to face this change, a new balance should be established in the family. On the other hand, we know that people belonging to different age groups and with different kinships to the care-recipient (young children, adult children, grandchildren, spouses…) can have different experiences and perspective on the burden of care, so it is necessary to take all of them in account in order to be able to provide a comprehensive and effective support to families with caring responsibilities. In order to respond to all these needs the S.IN.CA.L.A. partnership believes in the importance of developing and piloting a model of pedagogical interventions based on a family-focused approach able to identifying strengths as well as vulnerabilities of all family members, addressing the challenges that might arise from the disease and building individual and family resilience. The educational tools developed will be based on experiences carried out in Greece, by partner Alzheimer Hellas, and will be adapted and transferred to all other country contexts.During the implementation of the project, the main outcome has been the development of Intellectual Output 1. This resulted in the research report focusing on the family member's experiences of caring role. With the research report the partnership created literature review that informed the methodology and built towards data collection and analysis on the respective findings. For the data collection, use of focus group interviews brought together 86 participants from the partnership countries (spouses, children and grandchildren of 60+ family member with care needs). Alongside these activities the partnership formed guidelines for such data collection, assembled data collection kit, created qualitative data analysis forms and delivered the research report with the input from the professionals working with carers in partnership countries, 42 in total. Such approach validated the findings, improved the overall process and informed the build-up of following Intellectual outputs. Especially, the Intellectual output 2, which would have resulted in pedagogical intervention tailored for family carers in partnership countries.In order to communicate the aims of the project, activities and the results of the Intellectual output 1, different type of dissemination activities were completed - project leaflets, press releases, newsletters, articles, presentations etc. The target audience varied based on the type of activity, 20-40 people in audience to 15 000 visitors on the websites monthly. Efforts were made to reach different audiences, starting from the family carers, social workers on local level, working up to national level policy makers and support networks.The main practical results expected on the completion of the project would have been: (1) a tested pedagogical method based on narration, adapted to different EU-country contexts, and targeting household who are caring for older dependent family members with the goal of increasing their family-resilience; (2) a MOOC, to transfer the results achieved and the lessons learnt to a wider audience of professionals. We therefore expect to make available a methodology that educators, social workers and carer support workers can use in their local contexts to engage with families with caring responsibilities in order to improve the resilience of the household and mitigate the negative impacts of caring in the households. The project was coordinated by MTÜ Eesti Omastehooldus and developed by a diverse partnership of NGOs working with older persons and their carers in Portugual (CASO50+), Italy (Anziani e non solo), Slovenia (Spominčica /Forget-me-not - Alzheimer Slovenia) and Co-Creation Support CLG (Ireland). The expert partner, is the Greek Association of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders (Alzheimer Hellas).For professionals and stakeholders, we expect an increased consciousness of how providing care can impact on the whole family and the capacity to use this deeper understanding to improve and innovate their services, including through the introduction of narrative techniques. On local stakeholders and communities, we expect an increased awareness of the challenges of caring at societal level and on innovative experiences and practices carried out in other countries that could be of inspiration for new policies and services. We also expect increased openness towards other European countries and cultures, increased awareness of the importance to adopt a whole-family approach and an increased awareness about the contribution of the European Union activities towards the support to informal carers. In whole, the expectations were met and the innovative approach created momentum for different interventions in favor of family carers.

"COVID-19 aggravated social exclusion of ill, older and disabled persons through measures to restrict movement and contacts, such as stay-at-home restrictions, quarantines, and lockdowns. While such measures were crucial for ensuring the safety of all, they just worsened and mainstreamed a condition of isolation that many groups of population suffered even before the pandemic. Indeed, across Europe, millions of younger and older persons with mobility impairment due to illness, age or disability or with immunodeficiency are restrained every day, often together with their informal carers, in their opportunities of social interaction and engagement in meaningful activities outside their homes. Engaging clients in meaningful activities is one of the principles of Person-Centered Care and it has been found fundamental to the health and wellbeing of the individual accessing care and support. It can help to improve physical fitness, improve mood and help to combat depression and anxiety, combat loneliness, improve the quality of sleep and even reduce falls. (Skills for care) However, it can be challenging for housebound clients to access them if not supported in doing so.As clearly showed during the peak of the pandemic, online technologies could be exploited to provide social support and a sense of belonging. However, not only many persons in Europe still have limited access to digital technologies and lack necessary skills to fully exploit them, but this is true also for many social care professionals and andragogists, who might not have the necessary competences to conceive and implement social support actions based on ICT. In fact, a barrier to e-social work is not only the lack of basic ICT skills, but rather of more advanced competences, such as the ability to access, adapt and create new social and educational intervention methods using ICTs and to deliver technology-mediated social work and community work practices. Also, the use of ICT raises specific issues in terms of ethics and privacy which must be dealt with. In this framework, the specific goal of the SOCIAL CONNECTIONS project will be to develop digital pedagogical competences of C-VET educators in the social sector, enabling them to teach to their students how to develop and use high quality digital content for social inclusion of clients which are housebound because of disability, illness or COVID-19 related restrictions.The expected tangible results of the projects are a handbook and a toolbox which will support trainers in VET and C-VET in the social sector to teach to their students how to develop and use high-quality digital content for social inclusion of clients which are housebound because of disability, illness or COVID-19 related restrictions and an e-learning course which the trainers themselves will develop as an outcome of a project-based learning activity and which students will be able to access to learn how to use ICT to engage their housebound clients in meaningful activities. These results are linked to the following outcomes:IO1 - a handbook for trainers engaged in VET and CPD training courses for social professionals, upskilling them to be able to identify the challenges and the opportunities offered by e-social work and to plan and implement training curriculum to educate social professionals to the use of ICT in their work with clients who are housebound because of disability, illness or COVID-19 related restrictions.IO2 - A ""toolbox for e-social work"", i.e. a set of pedagogical activities that care professionals can implement with their users in a digital environment. These resources will be selected and explained to students by trainers participating in the training for trainers which will implement in practice the methodology described in IO1.IO3 - An an e-learning course for the C-VET of social professionals on how to implement e-social work activities: the e-learning, developed by participants to the training for trainers as a result and practical implementation of what they learned, will then remain available as an open educational resource for social care workers across Europe."