The European Union is facing a longevity revolution, with a remarkable increase in life expectancy and a growing number of older people. The portion of people 80+ is characterized by special growth. In 2060, so the forecasts, every 8th person will belong to the age group 80+, almost quadrupling the portion at the start of the millennium (Eurostat). Many of these older persons will suffer from dementia and other functional restrictions, implying comprehensive and long-term care needs. Nevertheless, from a positive perspective, a large majority of people 80+ are still mentally healthy, and this even applies to people 100+. However, complying with broadly spread stereotypes, very old people with functional restrictions or care needs are labeled as being solely consumers of costly services, ignoring the fact that the majority of them has the potential to take on an active role in, and even provide services for their community. In order to achieve this goal, what is needed is a transformation of social and institutional attitudes in the direction of a positive vision of active and healthy aging. The potential of older people is often not considered in institutions and facilities for seniors, and that potential vanished if it is not maintained or further-developed. Staff and volunteers in these organizations often share the attitude that their clients should be cared for "from above", thus depriving old people of opportunities to engage in meaningful activities and gain personal fulfillment through learning experiences. "It is never too late to learn" applies in a special way to persons of a high age. Since their public environment is often limited, professionals and volunteers working with service providers can be their most important external contact persons. Their knowledge and ability to develop meaningful activities with their clients and support them in detecting or re-developing hidden strengths can be crucial in providing access to learning and ensuring greater independence, autonomy and dignity in later life. Our vision is a) to facilitate and provide access to informal learning opportunities for old people with functional limitations or care needs and b) to combat negative stereotypes about this population group as regards being restricted to the role of consumers of services. The concrete project objectives, referring to the vision above, are to 1) Provide educational institutions in the field of health and social care with a training package for staff and volunteers, enabling them to function as adult educators and facilitators for older seniors 2) Initiate and facilitate practical measures in care homes, day centres and other facilities to demonstrate the learning and activation potential of older seniors 3) Disseminate successful ways of implementing learning and activation offers as well as good practice examples among decision-makers and practitioners in the realms of educational and social policies so as to spread know-how on how to cope with this new issue 4) Raise public awareness on the potential of older seniors by involving the press and other media at local, regional, national and European level in the dissemination of the results gained 5) Sustain the project results by cooperation with interested parties The key deliverables of the ACT80+ related to these objectives project are: • The European Benchmarking Report "Learning and active citizenship at very high age" is a synthesis of research results on the state of the art of learning and active citizenship of very old persons in the European Union • The Training Package ACT80+ is based on the results of the European Benchmarking Report and will elaborate the framework for the training of staff and volunteers of care homes and facilities for older seniors • The European Analysis Report "Outcomes and impacts of trial workshops" summarizes the assessment of the design and implementation of the ACT80+ training measures in trial workshops and, after several weeks, follow-up activities resulting from the training • The Handbook for Trainers is comprised of a general introduction to the background of the project ACT80+ and its overall aims. It will further describe the characteristics of the workshop participants in their role as staff and volunteers in facilities of frail or dependent old persons as well as the potentials of their clients for learning and active citizenship. • The Handbook for Practitioners advises paid staff and volunteers in how to design meaningful actions and activities for and with their senior clients. Practice examples will be given to show the range of their potentials in learning and active citizenship. • Political decision-makers at local, regional, national and European level will be addressed through policy recommendations which are derived from the results of the project.
We are witnessing a longevity revolution; in 2060, one in eight Europeans will be 80 years or older. Very old people will thus not be a small minority in our societies but a significant citizen group. General perceptions of very old age are mainly associated with limitations, loss (e.g. abilities, possibilities, autonomy) and health and care issues. The ACT80+ partnership believes that the attitude towards the very old has to be changed and the focus from inabilities shifted to opportunities and strengths. Therefore, the vision of the Active 80+ project was a) to facilitate and provide access to informal learning opportunities for old people with functional limitations or care needs and b) to combat negative stereotypes about this population group as regards being restricted to the role of consumers of services. Since the access to social and public environment of very old people is often limited, professionals and volunteers working with them belong to their most important contact persons. Their support in detecting and re-developing hidden strengths of very old people they are involved with and their encouragement of very old people to engage in meaningful activities can be crucial in providing access to learning and ensuring greater independence and enjoyment of later life. The core idea of the ACT80+ project was to develop a research-based training concept and train care staff and volunteers to function as coaches for people 80+. Coaches supported older people in developing and realizing their own ideas of learning and active citizenship ("projects"). Therefore, the ACT80+ project involved the following target groups: A) Experts and very old people as interviewees: At the beginning of the project, in all partner countries and at European level, interviews were performed with key actors, including citizens at very high age, experts, policy-makers, researchers and practitioners. Their comments and feedback have been considered in the development of the training concept (Training Package ACT80+). B) Staff and volunteers of health and social service providers (as training participants and coaches) C) Very old people with funcional restrictions or care needs (as older learners and (co-)initiators of projects) D) Organizations (health and social service providers, associations representing the needs of the older people, adult training-providers) & other relevant stakeholders at national and European level Experiences gained in developing and realizing the research-based (see European Benchmarking Report O1) training for care staff and volunteers working with people 80+ were summarized in the Handbook for Trainers (O4). Furthermore, the partnership elaborated the Handbook for Practitioners (O5), which addresses volunteers and paid staff of health and social services providers, empowerment groups, older people’s organisations and associations willing to coach, empower and work with people 80+ interested in learning and meaningful activities. This publication is meant to inspire and provides many practical examples of projects that emerged from our Active 80+ trainings in the partner countries. In order to nudge also changes at structural level, the ACT80+ partnership elaborated policy recommendations at the EU, national, regional and local levels (O6). The Erasmus+ project was carried out from October 2014 to September 2016 and involved six partner organizations in five EU-countries: Austria (queraum. cultural and social research - EU coordinator; Austrian Red Cross), Germany (ISIS), Italy (Lunaria), Lithuania (Senior Initiatives Center) and the Netherlands (OVN-NL - Oudere Vrouwen Netwerk - Nederland). All partners involved in the ACT80+ project • are experienced in planning, realizing, managing and disseminating European projects, • are active in the fields of socio-gerontology and the promotion of active citizenship and civic competencies of older people, familiar with the issue of active citizenship and lifelong learning of very old people • are experienced in developing and implementing training concepts • are well networked at local, regional, national and European level and • share long-term collaborative relations The ACT80+ partnership is convinced that, the project contributed to the change of perception of older people 80+. The main outcomes, such as the Handbook for Trainers, the Handbook for Practitioners and the Policy Recommendations as well as comprehensive dissemination activities in all partner countries raised awareness for the issue and encouraged stakeholders in care homes, welfare organizations and at political level to continue their activities in this field and /or transfer the ACT80+ approach to their contexts. Additionally, experiences gained and outcomes of the ACT80+ project enriched discussions at European level.