This project aimed to improve the competencies of caregivers who support older adults towards healthy ageing strategies, and it is based on a digital transformation of its training and daily work. In this sense, the EducAGE consortium developed high-quality content and tools based on European policies and recommendations (ICOPE WHO) but also considering national and local contexts to best fit the caregiver's needs. As such, EducAGE has created three main digital tools for caregivers: 1) an m-Learning app, 2) a blended learning course, created and available through the Moodle e-learning platform, that is complemented by interaction sessions with flipped classroom and round table methodologies, and 3) a digital white paper, that besides containing basic, useful and easy to understand information for caregivers, also gathers and redirects caregivers to reliable resources available online and tools with useful information related to the daily activities of caregiving.
The European Union expects an increase of around 149.2 million older people in 2050, representing 28.5 % of the total population. This remarkable goal of increasing life expectancy must be accompanied by European policies and initiatives to assure the life quality of these citizens. Recently, the WHO has described the plan for a Decade of Healthy Ageing 2020-2030, where caregivers, including young people and family members, play an important role as educators to ‘foster healthy ageing for current and future generations and promote intergenerational solidarity. Furthermore, in the European Union, around 80% of all long-term care is provided by family members, neighbours or friends, who often do not have access to training to perform these functions. For these reasons, we develop an innovative approach based on digital transformation to empower formal and informal caregivers to support older people in understanding and putting into practice healthy ageing directives. The digital solutions for caregivers developed by EducAGE are easy-to-use tools that caregivers can incorporate into their daily activities.