Suchergebnisse

eHealth tools in integrated care programmes addressing multimorbidity can support people with chronic diseases, especially older people living in the community. In last decades, different types of eHealth solutions for people with multimorbidity have been fostered and tested in Europe, also with the support of international initiatives, but a wide overview of their potential was missing. Our study aimed at exploring which eHealth tools are implemented in integrated care programmes for older people with multimorbidity across Europe and to develop policy recommendations for further improvement. Within the framework of the ICARE4EU project, co-funded by the Public Health Programme of the European Union, 101 programmes of integrated care were mapped in 31 European countries. Out of them, 85 included at least one eHealth solution, in most cases concerning electronic health records (EHRs) and tools for digital communication between care providers. In-depth analysis by means of 5 case studies of promising programmes suggested that eHealth solutions for people with multimorbidity could differ widely but can have various outcome benefits in terms of: widening access to healthcare services; enhancing care coordination and integration; enabling patients' self-management; and improving proactive and prevention strategies. Despite this potential, policy interventions in Europe lacked a comprehensive action for successful implementation so far, due to inadequate technical and financial support, lacks in legislative frameworks and in training users and health professionals. A set of policy recommendations was developed for fostering different types of eHealth solutions for multimorbidity care.

This presentation discusses how new technologies support family carers of older people with reference to the Eurocarers' hub 'InformCare', the web-platform of support services for carers of older people co-funded by the European Union within the INNOVAGE project. After highlighting the status of technology-based services for carers in Europe, the main features of InformCare will be demonstrated. Tested in three European countries (Germany, Italy and Sweden), this tool provides a standardised, integrated, multilingual and culturally adapted set of on-line information and interactive services addressing carers' needs and preferences which are available for the first time in 27 Member States. The implementation followed a pilot test with 117 carers, showing improvements in carers' self-awareness and empowerment over a 3 month period. However, to ensure optimal benefit from InformCare, appropriate training and promotion campaigns are needed in order to overcome low digital literacy skills and lack of self-recognition characterising many carers.

Background: The availability of family caregivers of older people is decreasing in Italy as the number of migrant care workers (MCWs) hired by families increases. There is little evidence on the influence of socioeconomic factors in the employment of MCWs. Method: We analyzed baseline data from 438 older people with moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD), and their family caregivers enrolled in the Up-Tech trial. We used bivariate analysis and multilevel regressions to investigate the association between independent variables - education, social class, and the availability of a care allowance - and three outcomes - employment of a MCW, hours of care provided by the primary family caregiver, and by the family network (primary and other family caregivers). Results: The availability of a care allowance and the educational level were independently associated with employing MCWs. A significant interaction between education and care allowance was found, suggesting that more educated families are more likely to spend the care allowance to hire a MCW. Discussion: Socioeconomic inequalities negatively influenced access both to private care and to care allowance, leading disadvantaged families to directly provide more assistance to AD patients. Care allowance entitlement needs to be reformed in Italy and in countries with similar long-term care and migration systems. � 2015 The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved.