Peer Support Workers as an Innovative Force in Advocacy in Dementia Care: A Transnational Project Delivered in Norway, Greece, Italy, and Romania

Abstract

Marianna Tsatali,1– 3 Atena Gaspar De Almeida Santos,4 Marina Makri,1,5 Roger Tarandath Santokhie,6 Licia Boccaletti,7 Ioana Caciula,8 Rodica Caciula,8 Giusy Trogu,7 Magda Tsolaki,1,9 Karl Johan Johansen6 1Greek Alzheimer Association and Related Disorders, Thessaloniki, Greece; 2Network Aging Research, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany; 3Department of Psychology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Western Macedonia, Kozani, Greece; 4Association AFECT from Iasi, Iasi, Romania; 5Department of Neurology, Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece; 6Kompetansesenter for brukererfaring og tjenesteutvikling, KBT, Trondheim, Norway; 7Anziani e non solo soc. coop. soc., Carpi, Italy; 8Asociatia Habilitas - Centru de Resurse si Formare Profesionala, Bucharest, Romania; 9Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation, Laboratory of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Aristotle, University of Thessaloniki (CIRI-Auth), Thessaloniki, GreeceCorrespondence: Marianna Tsatali, Email [email protected]: Peer Support Workers (PSW) as an Innovative Force in Advocacy in Dementia Care (PIA) project aimed to create sustainable and competency-enhancing services for people with dementia by finding new ways to involve former as well as current caregivers in dementia services and, therefore, provide their valuable perspective in dementia care and daily practice.Participants and Methods: In order to achieve the aforementioned goals, the first step consisted in mapping the situation existing in the partners’ countries, respectively, Norway, Greece, Italy, and Romania. Subsequently, specific and well-structured training material was created with the purpose of recruiting and engaging PSW, in order to contribute to dementia services. The training material was then transferred to a digital platform addressed to PSW, people living with dementia (PwD), caregivers, and health professionals.Results: The PIA project proposed the introduction of PSW in dementia care, establishing a close collaboration across the contributing countries, and trained a total of fifty potential PSW. Each country identified a specific role and function of PSW in dementia practice, according to their national particulars. The training seminars and videos proposed by the PIA project are presented in the current study and therefore helped to the distribution of significant information about the contribution of (potential) PSW in dementia care. All the results were uploaded on the platform designed to increase communication and collaboration across health professionals as well as caregivers.Conclusion: The PIA project developed and designed training materials and methodologies for establishing PSW in dementia care in Norway, Greece, Italy, and Romania. PIA aims at introducing PSW in the healthcare system of the aforementioned countries, whereas future studies will elaborate on novel ways to measure the efficacy of being a PSW, as well as the benefits to stakeholders.Keywords: dementia care, dementia caregivers, peer support workers, training material

Keywords

• dementia care
• dementia caregivers
• peer support workers
• training material