Direct-care staff can contribute to greatly improve patients outcomes

The main goal of the iTRAIN project is to make evidence-based knowledge available also for low-skilled direct care workers involved in stroke care and rehabilitation in home care, hospital and nursing home settings.

The project aims to translate up-to-date evidence in accessible, engaging and innovative vocational training on stroke for direct care workers.

Our objective

Reaching this category of different professionals who are normally excluded from this knowledge. The iTRAIN project objective is to address this training gap by providing a set of mobile-based digital training contents, designed and developed together with patients, their family caregivers, direct care workers and clinical experts in the field.

The iTRAIN project will create a comprehensive vocational training package.

Training package

Publicly available and usable also by mobile devices, at disposal of direct care workers dealing with stroke survivors for free in six European languages (English, Greek, Swedish, Italian, Portuguese, Lithuanian).

The training package characteristics are expected to provide a motivating and enjoyable learning experience for a group of workers usually excluded by lifelong learning activities.

The use of an ICT- based gamification approach for delivering the training package will allow establishing both feedback loops to adapt VET provision to end-users needs and an objective tracking systems of learning outcomes.

Outputs

Methodological framework for implementation of an inclusive digital training

The Intellectual Output 1 will aim to develop methodological framework for implementation of an inclusive digital training package tailored to direct care workers dealing with stroke survivors in hospital, home and residential care settings. This target group is quite heterogeneous and may include workers with different profiles and tasks. The goal is to understand the main profiles, needs and technology (non-) use of this target group and to develop a methodological framework and recommendations on how to approach and offer vocational training via digital and mobile technologies to them.

Empowerment and health education methodology and handbook

The Intellectual Output 2 will aim to develop an easy-to-read and useful handbook for direct care workers dealing with stroke survivors. The manual is intended to provide evidence-based knowledge on stroke and translate it in accessible, engaging and innovative vocational training for direct care workers, reaching this category of different professionals who are normally excluded from this knowledge. The handbook will cover chapters for improving workers’ knowledge, skills, competences, attitudes and best practices for dealing with stroke survivors and their families in care and rehabilitation contexts.

Multimedial training videos of patients, caregivers, direct care workers and experts

The Intellectual Output 3 will aim to design and develop a series of multimedial training videos. They will show stroke patients and their families expressing their needs and expectations for improving their care and daily life conditions. The videos will be a unique opportunity to involve patients and family caregivers in the development of the training package, providing their view over the assistance they would like to receive and their preferences. A major issue, in fact, is that direct care workers are usually not fully aware of needs of people with stroke and their family members. Therefore, such videos will inform direct care workers on these issues and stimulate a clearer understanding of patients’ and families’ situations and needs. Furthermore, direct care workers themselves and other clinical experts working in stroke units will be video interviewed for providing advice, suggestions and information in a correct but accessible way. All these videos will form part of the overall training package to be included in the on-line MOOC.

Mobile-based serious game for learning and self-assessment

An innovative game for this project will be designed to work around the standard ineffectiveness of traditional learning approaches for direct care workers dealing with stroke survivors. iTRAIN foresees the required amount of usable data so the game runtime, complexity and intrusiveness will be modeled and designed from the ground-up around the requirements and needs indicated by direct care workers and experts in the field.

Massive Online Open Course (MOOC)

The MOOC will be an e-learning platform which will include a wide range of multimedia, interactive and textual training contents for direct care workers dealing with stroke survivors. The MOOC will be absolutely innovative for many reasons. First, there are no other multilingual online courses for vocational training for this target group in Europe. Second, it will include and develop contents, which will be correct, clear and accessible, based on recognized international good practices in the field. Third, the MOOC will be available primarily in mobile version, which will improve the engagement of users (even those with lower digital skills) to this training package.