Newsletter April 2021

Dear Readers,

Through the great collaboration of the consortium, in the last six months the INDEED project has achieved several important milestones we are happy to share with you. The online training platforms in Slovakian, Romanian and Bulgarian languages have been finalized and launched in December 2020 and January 2021. These have also been tested in 12 pilot workshops (i.e. four in each country) and the feedback received from all the participants has been overwhelmingly positive.

The current newsletter includes detailed descriptions of the events that supported the launching and testing of the online training platforms, as well as a list of upcoming activities. The results of the pilot workshops have been synthesized in a factsheet which you can find on the project website. We also include here a snapshot of the results and you can find more details by visiting the project’s social media pages.

Despite the challenges generated by the COVID-19 Pandemic, the INDEED project has continued to be disseminated at national and international events. Continue reading to learn about the different events, from different project countries, where the INDEED project was presented.

We also invite you to access the INDEED platform, either in English or in your own language, if you are residing in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia or Slovakia. We would be happy to receive your ideas and feedback!

Lea Pfaeffel, Alexander Kurz& Georgeta Popovici

PILOT WORKSHOPS

• IN ROMANIA

In January 2021, a series of online workshops having as scope the presentation and piloting of Romanian version of INDEED online training platform took place in Romania, in two different places, as follows:

CAMPUS and CONNECT - on January 19 (Bucharest) and January 21 (Cluj Napoca),

COACH - on January 20 (Bucharest) and January 22 (Cluj Napoca).

The workshops were organized by the project consortium and Romanian Alzheimer Society and were attended by around 15-25 participants in each workshop, with different background in the field of dementia – physicians (general practitioners, specialists in neurology and geriatrics), psychologists, nurses, physical therapist, social workers. Around 80% from the participants were from urban area and 20% from rural area.

The feedback received from the participants was very good, the scores given to almost all the questions being closed to maximum. It was highly appreciated the structure of the platform, the content, the level of details, the length of the workshops, the importance of inter-professional collaboration, the way of creating the business plan in small groups for the COACH module.

An important mention was that all the workshops met the participants’ expectations to a very large degree (rating 4.7-4.9 out of 5). 

Some important suggestions occurred, such as the promotion of the platform in order to be easily found through Google searching by word “Alzheimer”, the inclusion of a list of professionals into the platform.

Overall, the workshops were successful, very well received, with a very good feedback for all the aspects and important suggestions for the future.

• In Slovakia

In the last week of January 2021 took place in Slovakia a number of three online workshops having as scope the presentation and piloting of Slovakian version of INDEED online training platform. Two workshops were dedicated to CAMPUS and CONNECT part with a number of around 45 participants, and one workshop was dedicated to COACH part, with a number of around 20 participants.

Mr. Stanislav Sutovsky (neurologist) and Mrs. Adela Filarska (psychiatrist), social experts from the Ministry of Health were invited to join the sessions “Government Expert".

The workshops were very successful, the feedback received from the participants being very good. They were grateful for the online platform. The participants expressed the fact that it is great to have all the important information on dementia in one place. They also said that the design is “user friendly” and they considered the material important for family caregivers. Participants welcomed all educational materials and also the importance of multidisciplinary management. 

Regarding COACH part, it was underlined the importance of this module as a tool helping to emphasize the strengths and weaknesses of a business model/plan and it was evaluated as very helpful for all social services. Marketing activities are still something new and “unknown”. It was considered that COACH was designed to help and also stimulate the already existing services and processes.

This event ended the series of successful workshops dedicated to present the INDEED online training platforms launched in different languages of the partners in the project. This way an important milestone in the project was achieved!

• In BULGARIA

In the beginning of December 2020 two online workshops piloting the INDEED platform were organized in Bulgaria by the project consortium and the local partner – Bulgarian Society of Dementia (BSD). There were 20-35 active participants in each event coming from various professions in the field of dementia with high representation of physicians, psychologists, social workers, physical therapists, nurses, NGOs, representatives of local municipalities and students.  Sixty percent of participants came from cities and 40% came from rural regions.

Each workshop lasted for two days. During the first day the CAMPUS and CONNECT modules were presented with the help of an example case. Participants had to answer a couple of questions regarding the case, using the materials in the online platform. This part of the workshop was moderated by Assoc Prof. Margarita Raycheva and Dr Ivo Popivanov (BSD). The second day was devoted to the COACH module, led by Ivan Paspaldjiev – a Bulgarian business consultant, and participants had to create a brief business plan in small teams.

The workshops were very successful, as we received very positive feedback about the platform from the participants. They reported that the CAMPUS/CONNECT/COACH workshops met their expectations to a very large degree (rating about 4.8 out of 5). The participants also mentioned that they enjoyed the interactive parts of the workshop. Moreover, representatives of the Bulgarian Ministry of Social Labour were very interested in the INDEED project and its outcomes. Additionally, we were congratulated by Radan Kanev (Member of European Parliament).

ECHOES FROM THE PARTICIPANTS TO THE WORKSHOPS (FACTSHEET)

ONLINE TRAINING PLATFORM

VIRTUAL SUMMER SCHOOL FOR PILOTING THE ONLINE LEARNING PLATFORM

The English version of the INDEED online platform was successfully piloted in a virtual summer school of TUM-MED (Lead Partner of INDEED) and University of Skopje, North Macedonia.

The summer school continued the success story of the “Dementia Masterclasses” (2017-2019) and aimed at upskilling students and early-career students in interdisciplinary dementia care.

Funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the summer school was hosted in a virtual format from October 5 to October 9, 2020. Overall, 52 participants from seven South-Eastern European countries joined the programme, coming from various disciplines such as medicine, nursing and psychology.

The five-day summer school included keynote lectures from experts, Q&A sessions, group work exercises, occupational portraits, role plays and homework.

Key topics were neurobiology and dementia, diagnostic procedures in dementia, prevention, pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments as well as dementia-related facilities and services. An evaluation after the event showed that participants perceived the summer school as a useful complement to their training.

A preparatory exercise included a scavenger hunt across the INDEED online platform. Although the online platform was initially targeted towards professionals and their vocational training, students expressed that they liked the platform to a large degree:

88% stated that the design of the platform motivated them to engage with the content.
92% reported that they gained a better understanding for the importance of collaborative care in dementia through the platform.
Overall, 84% of students assigned the grade “A” (very good) the platform.

In conclusion, the summer school proved that the INDEED platform can be a useful tool for educating students and early-career dementia professionals.

BULGARIAN ONLINE TRAINING PLATFORM

ONLINE TRAINING PLATFORM - GERMAN VERSION

INDEED PROJECT PRESENTATION AT OTHER EVENTS

Our INDEED project was presented to the Conference of Family Medicine with International Participation, that took place in Romania in a virtual format in the period 24-27 March 2021.

The presentation was included into a special session dedicated to elderly people, and focused on the main aspects, starting with the project idea objectives and partners.

It was highlighted the online learning platform with its features, as well as the workshops where the platform was piloted. The theoretical aspects were followed by a study case where the participants (around 225 persons), mainly family doctors, had the opportunity to see a short video about a patient with dementia and to find out in the platform the answers to the questions from the study case, this way learning how to navigate in the platform to find the necessary information. They were also encouraged to use the platform for their daily clinical activity.

For more information regarding the programme please click here:

https://www.conferintemf.ro/informatii/program-stiintific/

romania - Alzheimer National Conference

The Alzheimer National Conference in Romania that took place on February 2021 had a special symposium dedicated to our INDEED project, moderated by Georgeta Popovici, with four presentations as follows:

• Overview on INDEED - Lea Pfäffel, Alexander Kurz, Munich, Germany
• Introduction to the INDEED Online Learning Platform – Sabine Gergely, Bratislava, Slovakia
• Results of the Evaluation – Tina Štukelj, Ljubljana, Slovenia
• Looking Ahead - Cătălina Tudose, Bucharest, Romania

The symposium was a very successful one, with very valuable presentations and great feedback from the participants. The online learning platform was highly appreciated, one of the received feedbacks being that the platform would be very useful to help as much patients and carers as possible. It was highlighted the importance of the partnership between countries as a path to evolution in the mental health disorders approach.

More details here: https://ralcom.eventsair.com/v-cnalz-2021/program-stiintific

INTERVIEWS

INTERVIEW ON BULGARIAN TV

In February 2021, our colleagues from Bulgarian Society of Dementia had a couple of interviews about INDEED project for Bulgarian TV, with participation of NGOs representatives.  

Prof. Margarita Raycheva presented in detail the project, the importance of the platform for the professionals, and explained how the platform can be reached and used.

For those who know Bulgarian and are interested to see the first interview, please find below the link:

https://nova.bg/news/view/2021/02/20/316433/%D0%BF%D1%83%D0%BB%D1%81-20022021/

GREECE - 12th PANHELLENIC CONFERENCE OF ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

On February 18th, our INDEED project was presented by Prof. Alexander Kurz at the 12th PANHELLENIC CONFERENCE OF ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE, a virtual event organized by the Panhellenic Federation of Alzheimer's Disease.

The presentation "An educational approach to interprofessional collaborative dementia care" had as subject the overall goal of INDEED and preliminary workshops results. The audience consisted on professionals from different occupations who work in dementia care. The presentation was very successful, two participants from Greece expressing their interest in using the INDEED materials in Greece.

We will continue the dialogue to elaborate future options for collaboration with stakeholders from Greece.

More information about the event is available here:

http://www.alzheimer-conference.gr/index.php/en/

SLOVAKIA - CONFERENCE OF ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL SERVICE PROVIDERS

On November 18th 2020 took place in Bratislava, Slovakia, the Conference of Association of Social Service Providers.

The INDEED project was presented by our colleague Alexandra Palkovic from the Memory Centre Bratislava and included information about main strategy, identified needs, mission, aim and multimedia platform as well as the complex “educational system” for professionals. The audience was represented by professionals from the social sector whom opinions are very useful for the future pilot actions and workshops within INDEED project. The participants showed a big interest, asking a lot of questions and making good remarks.

AUSTRIA - THE 2ND KREMS DEMENTIA CONFERENCE „DEALING WITH DEMENTIA: PREVENTION, TIMELY DETECTION AND AWARENESS”

In the period Nov 16th-18th took place, in the virtual place, the 2nd Krems Dementia Conference in Austria - „Dealing with Dementia: Prevention, Timely Detection and Awareness”, event that captured a variety of dementia related topics.

Similar to the first Krems conference last year, the focus was on Dementia in Southeastern Europe. A lot of other presentations had as focus best-practices to meet the challenge of COVID-19 in dementia care.

Our INDEED project was brought into attention by Lea Pfäffel and Alexander Kurz, Technical University of Munich - School of Medicine, Germany, through the presentation „Interprofessional educational intervention in the Danube Region”.

The presentation synthetized the main aspects of INDEED project, starting with its first steps, in 2017, when dementia experts from ten South Eastern European countries teamed up with policy makers and businesses to develop and pilot an educational intervention that addresses multiple professions from the health and social sectors. The goal was to provide a joint knowledge base on person-centered, holistic dementia care, and a platform for collaboration.

The project results were emphasized - the intervention is now available in a blended-learning format consisting of in-person workshops and an e-learning programme in five languages (English, Bulgarian, Slovenian, Slovakian, Romanian).

The INDEED presentation was very successful. The participants were interested about the previous workshops in Slovenia, asking questions related to them.

More details are available here:

https://www.donau-uni.ac.at/de/universitaet/fakultaeten/gesundheit-medizin/departments/klinische-neurowissenschaften-praeventionsmedizin/news-veranstaltungen/veranstaltungen/second-krems-dementia-conference/programme.html

9TH ANNUAL FORUM OF THE EU STRATEGY FOR THE DANUBE REGION (EUSDR), OCTOBER 21-22, 2020

On October 21-22, 2020, took place the 9th Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR).

The EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) is one of four EU macro-regional strategies. It has two existing framing documents - the Communication and its accompanying Action Plan of 2010, that have been designed by the European Commission according to the strategic inputs from, and in partnership with the Danube countries, respecting their initiative ownership.

The Action Plan includes actions which:

• address a commonly identified need for joint action;
• have an impact on the macro-region or a significant part of it, i.e. are transnational;
• are feasible for the actors in the Danube Region (practically, legally and financially);
• are mutually coherent and supportive.

Main activity under the Croatian presidency was to revise the EUSDR Action plan where demographic change and ageing societies are mentioned as particularly important developments in the Danube region.

More details about the Action plan can be found here:

https://danube-region.eu/2020/04/the-eusdr-new-action-plan-just-published/

The Forum emphasized the important achievements of the last months: the dialogue initiated with many stakeholders and the synergies created with macro-regional strategies. At the end of the forum, Croatia handed-over the EUSDR presidency to Slovakia. The Slovak Minister Mrs Remišová and the other Slovak speakers emphasized that effective collaboration and cooperation will be important elements for the Slovak presidency.

For more details regarding the programme please click here:

https://eusdr2020.hr/en/9th-annual-forum/programme/

30TH ALZHEIMER EUROPE CONFERENCE, OCTOBER 20-22, 2020

On 20-22 October 2020 took place on virtual place the 30th Alzheimer Europe Conference “Dementia in a changing world”.
Our INDEED project was represented by Prof. Alexander Kurz that was the keynote speaker for the plenary session on Thursday, October 22.

“An interprofessional intervention in dementia education”, authored by Prof. Alexander Kurz and Lea Pfaeffel was presented during this session. Prof. Kurz also joined the live Q&A session that took place at the end of the plenary session.

The feedback received from the participants was great. They encouraged the INDEED consortium to disseminate the project and the platform. They saw great value in the platform also for other parts of Europe and they considered that such a platform could be useful for people with dementia and their caregivers as well.

For more details please click on the following link:

https://www.alzheimer-europe.org/Conferences/30AEC-2020

See also:

https://twitter.com/AlzheimerEurope/status/

UPCOMING EVENTS

Meet INDEED at the following event:

Our INDEED project will be presented by Prof. Dr. Alexander Kurz and Lea Pfäffel at the Slovenian-Bavarian Scientific Forum 2021 that will take place in a virtual format on May 27-28, 2021.

The Slovenian-Bavarian Scientific Forum aims at initiating further academic cooperation, especially in research, and strengthening already existing partnerships. The program includes talks on a strategic level, three research workshops in promising fields, an introduction to the Slovenian and Bavarian system of higher education and research as well as information on funding possibilities. 

More details about the forum are available here: https://www.uni-regensburg.de/bayhost/aktuelles/