INDEED Innovation for Dementia in the Danube Region

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As a consequence of demographic change, dementia is a growing societal challenge in the Danube region. However, the quality of dementia care lags behind European standards in terms of knowledge, skills and cooperation of healthcare professionals, availability of specific services, and use of assistive technology. The Danube region also suffers from emigration of healthcare workers.

The main objective of INDEED is to improve dementia care in the Danube region and contribute to the implementation of national dementia strategies with the scope of enhancing the quality of life of people with dementia and their carers. In a collaborative effort of partners from 10 countries INDEED creates an information and skill-building intervention for institutions involved in dementia care and their members or employees, including health and social services, professional associations, governmental authorities, public administrations and private enterprises.

The INDEED project has created an educational and skill-building intervention for multiple occupational groups involved in dementia care. Through enhancing the capacity of professionals for optimally dealing with the medical, psychological, interpersonal and organisational challenges associated with dementia the project aims to improve the quality of life of people living with dementia and their informal (family) carers. The three components of the intervention (education, integration, innovation) respond to three major gaps that exist in dementia care in many countries of south-eastern Europe:

• lack of dementia-specific knowledge and skills among professionals involved in dementia care,
• poor interprofessional collaboration and coordination,
• absence of key services such as day care, home helpers or carer support.

The intervention is available in a traditional format (workshop materials) and as an online training platform.The online training platform comprises 3 modules: an interdisciplinary training (CAMPUS), a networking tool (CONNECT), and a business consulting service (COACH). Through the existing multilingual educational programme, its modular structure and the convenient multimedia online format, the INDEED project is ideally suited to provide professionals with suggestions and solutions how to maintain the quality of life of people with dementia, how to intensify interaction and collaboration and how to adapt and innovate service delivery in times of social distancing and lockdown.

The project has also a 6 months extension that will be ended by December 31, 2021.

The ambitious aim of the project extension is to complement, within 6 months, the existing INDEED educational intervention by a chapter on the management of dementia during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in times of social distancing and lockdown abd is in line with the “EU response to COVID-19” (2020) which emphasises the need for supporting “experts training” (https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_604).

The extension chapter will focus on: the specific needs of people with dementia brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and how to meet them; the specific needs of family carers; the requirement of more intensive interprofessional communication, collaboration and coordination; the creation of alternative ways of service delivery in times of restricted face-to-face contact and consultation including good-practice examples.