The European project DEAL aims at enhancing the skills of professionals and non-professionals caregivers of people with dementia.
The piloting of educational program of the Erasmus+ project DEAL “Dementia, Education, Approach, Life” is completed in Greece. The educational program is implemented on 11, 12 & 13 May 2020 by webinar, because of the conditions. Project partners of DEAL project from Denmark, Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Italy collaborated on the production of the educational material. The approaches of each country at care of people with dementia, contribute in understanding the difference of the disease and partners record the needs of caregivers of those people.
Project partners of DEAL in Greece
Project partners in Greece are p-consulting.gr and University of Patras. University of Patras has undertaken the writing of educational content. So, the training covers the real needs of Greek caregivers (health professionals and non-professionals), taking under consideration the general guidelines of other countries. P-consulting.gr, as an IT company, has undertaken the design and the implementation of educational platform in all partners’ languages (and of course the piloting in Greece). It is an open free online platform, comprehensive and easy to users. The platform has the ability to manage a large number of users and is easily expandable for future additions / improvements. Finally, it has undertaken the design, implementation and the coordination of webinars.
The trainers of the piloting
Responsible for the education of the program was Mr. Panagiotis Alexopoulos, Epicurus Professor Psychiatry GUHP. The trainers of the program were Mrs. Georgia Voukelatou, psychiatrist, Mrs. Theofano Mavrovounioti, social worker, and Mrs. Christina Malfa, social worker. Evaluators of the program were Prof. Apostolos Vantarakis, Professor of University of Patras/Medical Department, and Mrs. Ioanna Mihou, Director of Nursing, GUHP.
The trainees of the piloting
The applications of educational program reached the number of 38. The trainees were professionals and non-professionals caregivers and students at care education. The educational material on the online platform consists of 8 modules.
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- Training-introduction
- The person- centered approach
- Non-pharmacological interventions and sensory stimulation
- Behavior challenges of people with dementia and how to cope with it
- How to communicate with people with dementia, with their families and with colleagues
- Dementia friendly environment
- How to be a caregiver of a family
- Work stress & burnout of caregivers
The trainers analyzed with details those modules to trainees and shared with them specialized knowledge for dementia. The trainees had the opportunity to develop concerns related with the dementia and discuss them at webinars. Participants filled in evaluation questionnaires before and after the training and the discussion with the trainers. Some of the remarks are the following:
- An analytic approach like this was missing from our country.
- It was an useful scientifically experience for the care of people with dementia, which it satisfied me at all the topics.
Caregivers have to understand the needs of people with dementia and their own… DEAL helps a lot in this!
