nEUROcare – a European initiative for capacity building to meet the challenges of caring for people with neurodegenerative disorders in Sri Lanka
There is a clear and present need to establish training for healthcare professionals about neurodegenerative diseases (NDD). As mentioned previously, current research shows that in Sri Lanka, NDD is rapidly increasing due to an increasing elderly population and the impact on the current society in Sri Lanka is profound. Not only has the Sri Lankan universities that are involved in the application establish that there is an urgent need to develop an adequate training program. This need evaluation is also supported by the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medicine of Sri Lanka, including Deputy Director-General, Health Services and Director Nursing, Medical Services supports this initiative since it would increase the skilled workforce in the very much needed area. Furthermore, several teaching hospitals in Sri Lanka have signed up to support the project, because of the transparent need of providing adequate provision of care for patients with NDD and their families. The immediate beneficiaries would be the teaching staff at each Sri Lankan participating University since they would be a part of developing the curriculum. At least five to ten teaching staff from each university (so a total of 20 – 40 teaching staff) will be actively involved in the development and trained in the curriculum.
Role: Partner
Duration: 2020-2022
Funding Body: Erasmus+. Project Code: 2020-EAC-A02-2019-CBHE
EUROTEQ – clinical measurement literacy for EUROpean Transparency and EQuality in health”. Erasmus+. Project Code: 2020-1-SE01-KA202-077806.
Professionals, patient organisations, and other relevant stakeholders, enabling them to facilitate person-centered care and support the inclusion of patient and public involvement, especially those from a socially disadvantaged group, in health research. A further objective is to produce a functional training programme, reflective of the sociocultural diversity across Europe.
Role: Partner
Duration: 2020-2022
Funding Body: Erasmus+. Project Code: 2020-1-SE01-KA202-077806.
Act Now – A training program development for healthcare professionals to use the principles of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to facilitate patient adjustment to the challenges of living with a visible difference
The objectives of this project are to (i) develop, (ii) test (iii) implement and (iv) disseminate the training package for HP, enabling them to use ACT principles to facilitate patient adjustment to a disfiguring condition. A further objective is to produce a functional training programme, reflective of the sociocultural diversity across Europe. A needs analysis of each partners’ healthcare setting will therefore be carried out. The project aims to make the training material accessible to a broad range of HP and will do so through multi-mode delivery. The project will result in raising a European awareness of these aspects, which adheres to the established priorities of the European Commission (European Commission Communication ‘European Disability Strategy 2010-2020: A Renewed Commitment to a Barrier-Free Europe’, November 2010; European Commission Communication ‘The European Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion’, December 2010).
Role: Partner
Duration: 2018-2020
Funding Body: Erasmus+. Project Code: 2018-1-EL01-KA202-047907
COST European Action CA16234 – European Cleft and Craniofacial Initiative for Equality in Care.
The main aim of the Action is to ensure that children born with orofacial clefts and other craniofacial conditions receive optimum multidisciplinary care enabling them to grow up like any other child and attain equal status within their societies. Estimates indicate that there are over 1,000 000 individuals with clefts in Europe – a significant figure, especially when one considers that not only the patients but also their families are affected in terms of psychosocial adjustment and having to endure the burden of a long treatment pathway.
The Action, in particular, will work with COST Inclusiveness Target Countries where limited or no national protocols exist in cleft and craniofacial care and will, via healthcare research, develop health-integrated networks which will manage and oversee the development of cleft and craniofacial services. Europe currently lacks a harmonised approach to evaluate the current provision of care, the impacts on key areas of the affected families and society at large.
This Action will co-ordinate and increase research across Europe and will forge crucial links between researchers, practitioners and policy-makers, offering the potential for significant benefits to the families affected by orofacial clefts and other craniofacial conditions in Europe.
Role: Partner
Duration: 2018-2022
COST European Action IS1210 – Appearance matters: Tackling the physical and psychosocial consequences of dissatisfaction with appearance
Until recently, societal interest in “looks” has been considered largely benign, however, debilitating levels of appearance dissatisfaction are now normative in resource-rich nations, with extensive and damaging impacts on physical and psychological health. Although there are examples of research and activism in the field in Europe, many researchers work in isolation, diluting the potential impact of their work. Europe currently lacks a harmonized approach to establishing levels of appearance-related distress, the impacts on key areas of living, and to the systematic evaluation of interventions currently being implemented within and beyond Europe. This Action will coordinate and increase research across Europe, offer support to the high proportion of female and early career researchers in this field, and will forge crucial links between researchers, practitioners, and policymakers, offering the potential for significant benefits to the millions of Europeans adversely affected by these issues.
Role: Partner
Duration: 2013-2017