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The i2CAT Foundation presents in the eHealth Week the results of the project Caregivers on the Netwo

The i2CAT Foundation has presented at the eHealth Week 2010, which took place from 15 to 18 March 2010 in Barcelona, the project results Carers Network, a pilot scheme aimed at preventing progressive social exclusion faced by caregivers of dependents with the creation of a social network between psychologists and caregivers.

18 March 2010

According to Josep Maria Colome, head of the Health Cluster and Dependency of i2CAT "the greatest difficulty in this segment of population is the unfamiliarity with new technologies, hence our best effort in the project has been allocated to the usability of the technology, developing an efficient and simple to use system of multi video conferencing". The users of the project were mostly women, spouse or daughter of the dependent of 50 to 65 years of age.

Hence, a simple device (set-top box) that is closed has been connected to the TV of the caregiver, focused solely on the role of telecare, to simplify the task as much as possible. "The results were very satisfactory, since 100% of those who initiated the pilot project have finished it, no carer has abandoned it", Colome said. "Furthermore, the project has helped to reduce the digital divide, since 43% of participants have expressed interest in new technologies, and have signed up for IT courses for adults." "There is therefore, no a lack of interest in ICT in this segment of the population, but simply a lack of knowledge and encouragement", he adds.

According to the manager, the methodology used has been key to the project’s success: "We used a methodology LivingLab, with which the users themselves and psychologists of the Private Foundation for the Care of Dependents, participants in the project, guided us to develop the platform”. The project has enabled to increase via the multi video conference, the group appointments with caregivers and psychologists, from meetings once a month to two per week, excluding those made spontaneously amongst the caregivers themselves that were not moderated. In addition, the system had a news and events sections on topics related to dependence and training content on care for dependents. "We have managed, on the one hand, to minimize the social exclusion of carers, who made themselves up much more to be in front of the camera and could share experiences with people in their same situation and, secondly, to prevent or delay the surrender of carers, delaying hospitalization of the dependent and thereby reducing the cost that this entails for the health sector”, concludes Colome. The i2CAT Foundation will use these results to launching another project, Vidame, with the funding of the Plan Avanza, seeking to create a product that can reach a broad segment of the population of carers.

Moreover, under the title eHealth LivingLab and Future Internet, the i2CAT Foundation is organising tomorrow Friday 19 March, together with the LivingLab of Andalusia, the first European meeting of LivingLabs of e-Health, to be held at the Hospital de Sant Pau i la Santa Creu, Barcelona. The event aims to exchange experiences among the major European LivingLabs of the e-Health sector, and will feature speakers from Finland, Sweden and Belgium. In addition the experimental platform Future Internet Initiative will be added to the debate for developing new products and healthcare services of the future. Both physicians and representatives of the industry as well as researchers will take part in the debate, to offer their views on how to shape the platform.

i2CAT FOUNDATIONThe I2CAT Foundation is a research and innovation centre established in 2003. Its main aim is to achieve an Internet of the Future accessible to all, promoting an optimal connection from anywhere on the planet. To achieve this, the Foundation is putting Internet research and innovation within the reach of society through the collaboration between the public administration, business and research groups from universities and the educational world for developing innovative projects in the field of new network technologies.

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