In today’s multicultural society, providing effective, efficient, high-quality and accessible care services that are person-centred and sensitive to diversity is the cardinal aim of social and health care system. In particular, an indispensable element of the care system is considering all users – especially the most vulnerable ones, such as the elderly with a migrant background and their families – as persons, respecting their socio-cultural perspectives and origins. Although the increasing ethno-cultural diversity of our society can be considered a resource, it could also become a reason for discrimination and inequalities. This occurs when accessing and using social and health services and is sometimes caused by language and cultural barriers. As several research projects have pointed out, including the one conducted in Sweden1, there is a need to strengthen in several EU countries health and social health care personnel skills, which are currently considered insufficient to properly support older people with a migrant background and their families.
Therefore, the implementation of social and health services within the framework today’s interculturality is indispensable for any social and health policy aspiring to provide personalised, inclusive, quality care and sensitive to the diversity of users and their informal carers.
Based on this, the Erasmus Plus DI.S.C.O.P.M.B. project aims to develop over its 36-month duration a number of resources settled on making current and future social and health care practitioners more aware of and competent in providing inclusive care practices, especially those aspiring to involve elderly people with a migrant background and their informal caregivers.
Coordinated by the Linnaeus University in Vaxjo (Sweden), the DI.S.C.O.P.M.B. Consortium consists of four other organisations active in supporting innovation in care services and social inclusion: European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research (Austria), Jade Yhteisö (Finland), Hogeschool Gent (Belgium) and Anziani e non solo (Italy).
In the course of the project, the Consortium intends to fill the European-wide gap highlighted in Higher Education on diversity and ageing by developing the following innovative outputs willing to improve quality of care for older persons with migrant backgrounds and their families/informal carers:
- A multi-language training program on person-centred, diversity-sensitive care;
- An open online educational resource (OER) regarding care;
- Policy recommendations to raise the optimal standard of person centred, diversity-sensitive healthcare.
In view of the first transnational partner meeting which will take place from 13th to 15thDecember, the DI.S.C.O.P.M.B. partnership is pleased to announce the launch of the project website which will be constantly updated about the phases and results achieved.
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