As the prevalence of people with dementia increases, it becomes crucial to better understand the needs of people living with dementia and create environments where they can get the best care. The CE has concerns about the increasing shortage of healthcare professionals for dementia care. Although specialized education programmes in dementia have begun to appear in recent years, there remains a lack of consistency across Europe. Moreover, they often fail to equip students with a sufficient level of dementia knowledge to anticipate the required care. This results in a professional workforce who require additional professional training for successfully working with people with dementia. Even then, professional development programmes can fail to provide insight into many of the needs of people with dementia. The Improving demeNtia care Through Self-Experience (INTenSE) project will educate, equip and train health and social care professionals to better support people with dementia through innovative learning approaches and the use of ICT tools that explore the lived experience of the person with dementia. INTenSE will support the setting up of upskilling pathways for professionals across Europe that incorporate and promote successful self-experience methodologies and practices to increase knowledge and understanding of the lived experience of dementia. As a form of experiential learning, simulation practices integrate different ways of knowing (e.g., thinking, feeling and doing) to improve care services. Examples are Virtual Dementia Tours (VDT), Role-plays and Theater Laboratories practices that INTenSE will innovatively integrate in order to: • enhance cooperation and exchange of experience among organizations working in the dementia care field, developing a new permanent network of collaborating professionals; • foster digital competences of professionals through the development and use of an ICT web platform; • improve societal awareness about the ability of self-experience to improve dementia care; • promote the integration of self-experience practices into the daily activities of current practitioners. INTenSE will make integrated self-experience practices widely available via a training program for the current and next generations of dementia professionals. All project activities have been designed to successfully achieve the project objectives, as follows: 1. Detailed scoping review of the state-of-the-art and focus groups to identify best practices of VDT, Role-plays and Theatre-laboratories, and the collection of transnational experience to inform the INTenSE e-booklet. 2. Co-design and development, at European level, of the INTenSE Dementia Simulation toolkit (DST), to simulate dementia symptoms and create empathy and real understanding as a means to change dementia care practice and to improve quality of care. The DST will include: a device package of ICT accessories simulating sensory impairments; description of VDT practices for simulating physical and cognitive symptoms; details about role-plays and theatre performances to simulate psychological symptoms; and a methodology and facilitation guideline. 3. Co-design of an ICT web platform as a tool for creating mutual learning through the exchange of experiences, fostering digital competences of professionals. 4. Organization of the 1st INTenSE training, where 20 professionals will learn about self-experience practices through participatory design. This is fundamental for participants to understand the principle of and apply co-design in subsequent focus groups, carried out locally by each pilot partner, in order to collect input to successfully develop the INTenSE outputs. 5. Development of the 2nd INTenSE training (20 participants) about the facilitation and use of the toolkit and platform by participants with colleagues in their own countries. The project will have significant benefits for trained professionals, increasing their skills and competences with co-design methodology, innovative self-experience practices and the use of ICT platforms. Participant organizations will have the potential to develop and disseminate new innovative approaches for dementia care and enhance training of their professionals, while reinforcing cooperation and management skills. By leveraging experiences and networks of academic partners, INTenSE will pave the way for introducing innovative curricula education of future professionals, thus increasing professionalism to work in the field of dementia care in the EU. Finally, the project has the potential to influence public authorities to adopt new innovative dementia care policies, by increasing their awareness of dementia. The participatory approach adopted by INTenSE will create real transnational cooperation, facilitating the development of innovative scalable self-experience-based tools and methodologies to be replicated across Europe, leveraging on international experiences in different socio-cultural settings.
The main objective of the INTenSE project was to develop innovative educational methodology and tools involving self-experience techniques to enhance the skills of professionals working in the field of dementia. Self-experience practices can improve a strong understanding of the impact of this disease to anticipate the care that is required, consequently improving the quality of care. Based on the E+ KA2 objectives in the VET field, the project aimed to: - Implement a joint initiative promoting peer learning and exchange of experience of professionals working in the field, through the INTenSE web platform as a tool for creating mutual learning. - Develop and openly share the INTenSE e-booklet including successful methodologies and practices to increase knowledge and understanding of dementia and self-experience. - Develop and openly share the “Dementia Simulation Toolkit” including a solid facilitation guide for using VDT, Role-playing games, Theater Laboratories and training scenarios for self-experience practices. - Develop a new sustainable network of professionals and other stakeholders involved in dementia care. - Promote the integration of self-experience good practices into the daily activities of current practitioners.
As ageing populations live longer in our society, the prevalence rates of dementia have also increased, which has made it crucially important to form a thorough understanding of the needs of those living with dementia. Although specialist education programmes in dementia have begun to appear in the last ten years, there remains a lack of consistency across Europe. The project idea was raised from the experience of project partners in the field of dementia, and from their common identification of the emerging needs of healthcare professionals to adequately provide care assistance and to gain a strong understanding of the impact of this disease. Self-experience is scientifically proven to be the best way to create empathy and real understanding as a means to change practice, reduce issues and improve the quality of care (Beville 2002; Oh et al. 2014), but these practices have not been examined in an integrated manner for dementia. The INTenSE project was born in this context, developing and implementing an integrated, technology-based self-experience intervention that educates and trains health and social care professionals to better support and care for people with dementia.