SupportCARE – Support Informal Caregivers for Better Future of Dementia Patients
Project duration: 01.11.2022 – 31.10.2024
Programme: Erasmus+ KA2
Lead partner: Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Ministry of Labour, Health, Social, Family Affairs and Integration (Germany)
Partner countries: Italy, Belgium, Greece, Slovenia
SupportCARE will support informal caregivers of older people with dementia, who often receive too little structured support. We want to empower them, as family members and close friends play a central role in providing care. The aim of the project is to provide education and training for informal caregivers with concrete tools, knowledge and new skills to help them cope with the many tasks they carry out on a daily basis. Working materials will be developed to enable the development of an individual 'self-care' plan to improve mental and physical health. They will be able to improve the quality of care for their loved ones through various games and brain training. The training, based on virtual learning and simulation techniques, will also aim to reduce anxiety and stress and create better social relations with the carer. The project will also disseminate information and raise awareness about dementia in the wider local community and break down the many stigmas attached to the disease.
The project aims to:
- Empower and support informal caregivers of people with dementia;
- to offer tools and knowledge to prevent negative impacts on the health and well-being of informal caregivers;
- to break the stigma around dementia;
- Provide the necessary skills and knowledge to face these challenges. Through education and training of informal caregivers, they will be offered concrete tools to take care of themselves;
- create inclusive, equal and friendly communities where people with dementia and their informal caregivers are valued and respected.
Development centre of the Heart of Slovenia is coordinating work package "Self-care plan development workbook", where a comprehensive survey will be carried out in 7 areas (What is self-care? "Self-care and why it is important; Physical self-care; Self-care on a psychological and emotional level; Self-care on a social level; Self-care in leisure; Self-care on a spiritual level; Developing your own self-care plan) on tools and good practices on how informal caregivers of older people with dementia should take care of their well-being in several areas. Two "self-care" days in Slovenia will also be organised for informal caregivers of people with dementia, as well as various trainings involving virtual reality and e-learning, with the aim of reducing anxiety, stress and improving interpersonal relationships.
