Technological solutions to make life easier for informal carers of people with Alzheimer’s 

21 September is World Alzheimer’s Day. In this context, we are focussing on the European Co-Care project, which is led in Catalonia. This project brings together informal carers of people with Alzheimer’s, universities, information and communication technology (ICT) professionals, and the health and social sector, to improve teaching and learning approaches and encourage entrepreneurship in these sectors. 

The aim is that with these new skills, everyone involved can work together to design technological solutions to make the everyday lives of informal carers of people with Alzheimer’s easier. This will improve the quality of care they provide, give them a chance to connect and help them stay healthy. 

Progress achieved by the project 

The project started in 2019 and will end on 31 December. Several developments have taken place during this time. On the one hand, two reports have been completed: 

• Learning framework: this document describes the learning framework for the training course and details its objectives, competencies, results and teaching methodologies. It also covers the toolkit for carers of people with Alzheimer’s or dementia. It is a document aimed at higher education institutions, ICT developers and providers, and informal carers. 
• Training course: this report explains why it is necessary to have a training course in university education systems that brings together future technologists, health and social professionals, and carers of people with Alzheimer’s or dementia, to learn how to propose, design, develop and evaluate tech solutions in a co-created way. The document explains the training course in detail, including aspects such as the framework, contents, structure and sustainability of the course and will be very useful for higher education institutions. 

On the other hand, a Toolkit has been created, which has been tested by 15 people from the different countries participating in the project. This Toolkit is an online resource for carers that will improve the autonomy and quality of life of family carers of people with Alzheimer’s. It has been tested by family carers in the UK, Spain and Portugal and the process is now being evaluated to complete the final version, which will be presented by the end of the year. 

Goals for the last phase of Co-Care 

In these last months of Co-Care, “We want to present the new training proposal on how to co-create technological solutions for carers of relatives with Alzheimer’s; publicly release the Toolkit; and complete and open the virtual practice community,” explains the project coordinator, Anna Ramon, from the University of Vic.  

The virtual practice community is the project’s latest development and will be a place where informal carers, ICT designers and providers, students, teachers and researchers from higher education institutions can interact with each other, share knowledge and work together. “With the creation of this community, we hope to promote connections and maintain the work already done by the Co-Care project in incorporating these groups so that they can create real technological solutions to aid informal care,” adds Ramon. This community will be open to everyone to learn and contribute.  

World Alzheimer’s Day 

21 September is World Alzheimer’s Day, created by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI). The aim of this commemoration is to raise awareness of the disease and its consequences for public health, and to call for support and solidarity from the population in general, institutions and official bodies. 

According to data published by the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2030, 75 million people around the world will be affected by diseases that cause dementia. The figure is set to reach 153 million people in 2050.