In many parts of Europe people with disabilities getting older or reach for the first time a bigger number a high age. The care and support of older people with impairments, especially people with a cognitive impairment, represents a new and great challenge for many countries in the EU. These and similar challenges require current adaptions and changes in the position and adjustment of care organisations and above all from their employees. In the project "Heart thinking" important, additional competence is given for the employees in dealing with older people with cognitive impairment. The innovative knowledge acquired a new form of the maieutic nursing and care model raises the care quality and quality of life of the affected persons in the everyday life and gives security in dealing with the inhabitants and also employees. People become "heart people". In the project work four partner organisations who act in the disabled person's help Austria, Germany, Poland and Romania. In four transnational meetings affected persons are interviewed, observed and employees will be trained. The results will be published in a manual. In the first both meetings two in each case 3-day training measures take place for 40 employees with key competence, up to 8 affected persons and the members of the steering group who are an important component of this project. The manual is published in all partner languages and is introduced and spread out to all organisations who work in the field of impairments. The project partners make a network for future cooperation. The network is the base for a successful and lasting exchange of information of experiences and results. At the end of the project a lot of accumulated information and data proves a manual for the contact with older people with cognitive impairments and the specially developed curriculum (training measure) for the educational employees. The curriculum allows a knowledge mediation also after the project. In September 2019 the manual is introduced within the scope of the final event to a big professional audience. All results are to be found during the projects and in the connection also on the homepage, at all partner organisations.
In the project "Herzdenken", a curriculum in easily understandable language was developed as an advanced course for the basic qualification "Maieutic" for professional employees* in social service organizations and people with disabilities. In the project "Herzdenken", 50 persons from the four partner countries were trained with this curriculum in two learning blocks of three days each. These persons were given practical tasks (conducting the Maieutic resident meetings), which they carried out in their service organizations. A total of 100 Maieutic resident reviews were conducted in the four partner countries during the course of the project. The Maieutic resident reviews were analyzed and reflected at the level of people with disabilities, professional caregivers* and relatives. These evaluations were carried out for the first time and provide valuable new information. The resident review provides us with a holistic view of the needs, resources and current care and support needs of people with cognitive impairments, which has not previously existed to this extent. It was extremely important to "become aware" of the important role that life history has in this in order to be able to react adequately in different behavioral and life situations. The resulting added value, the sustainability and project benefits were visible and emotionally experienced by all project participants* in the form of an increase in the quality of service provision at steering meetings, Skype conferences in language and documentation. The accompanied people with disabilities receive a considerably higher self-realization, also in the life phase of aging. The long-term effects are the continuation of the Maieutic residents reviews in the countries Austria, Romania and Poland. A further aim was to find out the differences and needs of people in the life phase of aging with and without impairments in the four countries using the Maieutic care and nursing model within the framework of a qualitative research method. In each country, the following persons were interviewed with the professions "specialist social workers", "qualified nursing staff", "therapists" and persons affected. Using a standardized questionnaire, at least eight persons were interviewed in each partner country. The evaluation of the expert interviews was carried out on the basis of a qualitative content analysis. The results revealed individual theses for each country, which can be used as a basis for further content-related and organizational procedures (also serves as a basis for socio-political decisions) in the assistance of people with impairments in the life phases of aging. Five theses were adopted as joint approaches by all partner countries. A further activity in the project’s cooperation team was the further development of Maieutic instruments. The Maieutic "characteristics" and the "Maieutic perception sheet for recognizing the phase of life of aging" were developed especially for people with cognitive impairments on the one hand and for the cultural and social preconditions of the respective country on the other. These Maieutic instruments serve as a standardized basis for the professional caregivers for the daily provision of high-quality services. Through this intensive exchange of content during the project "Herzdenken", 50 persons can work as multipliers in their service organizations in their countries in order to gather new information and develop new approaches. The new information and access to education for people with cognitive impairments in easily understandable language, which were developed during the project, deserve special mention. The dissemination of the project results was an essential aspect of the project to achieve a long-term impact. For example, lectures were given at social care schools and universities of applied sciences in Austria, introduction of an "Alzheimer Café" in Romania, newspaper reports in Germany, radio interviews in Poland and much more. These serve to sensitize society to these new findings. The Caritas symposium for people with disabilities on 26 September 2019 in Austria, in the presence of all project participants*, where the results were presented to a specialist audience of 210 people, should be emphasized here. The four partner countries are now pioneers with the same level of knowledge in their countries and can thus support competitors (other social organizations) with specialist inputs. In order to jointly reflect on and further develop this acquired knowledge and practical experience on a regular basis, a further meeting has already been agreed in Romania in June 2020. The project partners thus form a network for the use and further development of knowledge beyond the duration of the project!