Project SI4CARE addresses distance caregiving for elderly

Ljubljana – The SI4CARE European Social Innovation Project, initiated by researchers from Slovenia, aims to improve the process of providing long-distance caregiving for older people. They note that it is important to identify the services and technologies that are available and the demand for them.

It is particularly important to connect and enable solutions through policy and governance bodies – information and communication technologies (ICT), digitisation, new procedures and protocols, they wrote after a meeting of project partners, which was held on 15 and 16 July.

In order to assess the current state of health and social systems and to understand the needs and challenges in the field of healthy ageing, the SI4CARE partnership has carried out in-depth research.

A total of 31 interviews with policy makers, 216 interviews with operational partners and more than 600 interviews with senior citizens were carried out in six countries of the Adriatic-Ionian region (Adrion).

Challenges identified in the region so far include the fragmentation of the decision-making chain in terms of responsibility, and the insufficient use of existing ICT tools and smart devices that are available.

They also identified the need to improve long-term distance caregiving to ensure better accessibility, especially in rural and remote areas.

They also want to explore which tools and digital solutions could help. In this way, only information needs to be moved, not people, the project partners stressed.

The SI4CARE social innovation project, valued at EUR 2.37 million, focuses on integrated care for the ageing population in the region. It is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the Adriatic-Ionian Transnational Programme and is scheduled to end in May 2023.

The project Social Innovations for Integrated Care of the Ageing Population in the Adrion Region with the acronym SI4CARE was initiated by a consortium of researchers from three faculties in Ljubljana, namely the Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering, the School of Economics and Business and the Faculty of Social Work.

The project partners also include the Jožef Stefan Institute and associated partners from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro and Serbia. The project is led by Vlado Dimovski, professor at the Ljubljana School of Economics and Business and former labour minister.

The post Project SI4CARE addresses distance caregiving for elderly appeared first on Slovenia Times.