With the implementation of the Resil4Care project the partners aimed: • To improve the coping skills of informal carers and empowering their resilience with the use of online support groups created in a social network (e.g. Facebook) in each pilot site • To create a digital training manual for futures group of facilitators of the Resil4Care model together with other innovative materials and tools for different groups of informal carers (young carers, elderly carers, working carers, male and female carers, carers of people with dementia and other diseases, etc.) the Resil4Care manual was created also to be used by the stakeholders reached during the project’s dissemination activities in each partner country and at EU level dealing with informal carers • To bridge the digital divide, especially for older carers and those reluctant to use social media platforms.
In Europe, informal caregiving contributes to more than three quarters of all long-term care provided, around 80%, (Petrini et al., 2019) and according to Eurocarers (2017) statistics, informal carers number more than 100 million. Informal caregiving is argued to have all the characteristics of a chronic stress experience; it creates physical and psychological strain over extended periods of time (Vitaliano et al., 2003). The Covid-19 pandemic situation has shown how essential their contribution is for the sustainability and resilience of European long-term care systems (European Commission, 2021). About two-thirds of these care for a parent or spouse, but caregiving patterns vary across age groups (OECD, 2019). All these data highlighted how much it was necessary to work on the psycho-physical health of informal carers. The Resil4Care project aimed to improve the coping skills of informal carers and empowering them in their role using social media platforms capable of creating specific online support groups to help developing their resilience in a smart and remote way with online support groups set up through Facebook in each pilot site: Treviso (Italy), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Patras (Greece) and Valencia (Spain).