“Cuidar a quien Cuida”:support and training for caring for older people in their social and family environment(Completed in 2020)

The “Cuidar a quien Cuida” project is an initiative of Fundación Salud y Comunidad (FSC) that seeks to implement a blended training plan for family carers in homes, centres and residential care homes for older people. In other words, a training model based on combining face-to-face training methods (courses, workshops, etc.) with the use of online digital resources.

Its first phase, called “Cuidar al que Cuida 3.0” (2019), is supported by the Vicepresidencia y Conselleria de Igualdad y Políticas Inclusivas with funds from the 0.7% personal income tax (IRPF) allocation in the Valencian Community.

This first phase consists of validating the online training resources through an experimental pilot test at the Specialised Care Centre for Older People (CEAM) in Altea (Alicante), managed as a temporary joint venture (UTE) by FSC and Asociación Lagunduz.

To this end, the participants (non-professional carers) complete a perception questionnaire on caring for dependent people (pre and post) in order to explore specific issues in depth and identify improvements to the blended training plan.

The online digital training resources aim to help carers by giving them access to the main issues involved in supporting the daily tasks of caring for and accompanying older people who are dependent and/or have disabilities. They also seek to promote the capacity for self-care and reduce physical and emotional overload.

It should be noted that this initiative is based on a standard European training model for family carers developed by seven organisations from 4 European countries (France, Belgium, Italy and Spain), including FSC, with the support of the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme: the “Alternative” Project.

For this first phase, “CUIDAR AL QUE CUIDA 3.0”, a virtual space has been set up on the FSC website with the DIGITAL RESOURCES FOR THE CARE OF OLDER PEOPLE WHO ARE DEPENDENT AND/OR HAVE DISABILITIES in different formats: reference materials in digital format, videos, infographics, interactive animations, etc.