In for Care-projects continues to give value in Denmark
The In for Care project has been a success in Denmark. Three projects will continue, when In for Care ends.
The Danish partners at the education institution University College South Denmark (UC SYD), Vinie Levisen and Lone Oest, have emphasized the importance of cooperating with stakeholders – both in order to improve the projects and to ensure, that they will live on. They cooperated with a volunteer organization, the municipality of Esbjerg, the Region of Southern Denmark and students at UC SYD.
One of the participants is Britt Schak Hansen, general manager of the umbrella volunteer organization Vindrosen, which organizes all the volunteering organizations in Esbjerg.
“It has been interesting to participate. We gained new knowledge and new collaborators”, she says.
Volunteers gained new tools
Vindrosen helped develop a training program teaching volunteers and health professionals to target difficult subjects with informal caregivers. The training program has been executed three times and continues to be part of Vindrosen’s offer for volunteers.
“The volunteers who participate gain new tools and competences that help them help others”, Britt Schak Hansen explains.
Vindrosen also helped develop a volunteer exhibition at UC SYD. It helps the organizations reach out to students and showcase the many opportunities to volunteer.
Participants in the health communication training program
Students came up with great idea
Students from the education for occupational therapist at UC SYD has also participated. At an innovation day they developed the original idea that later formed the volunteer exhibition. Furthermore, students have solved different kind of tasks, Vinie Levisen explains.
“They helped us see the project from different angles. They pose a different kind of questions. It has been healthy to include participants who are not a part of the project”, she says.
Learned from the other partners
It has also been of great importance that In for Care is a transnational project. The cooperation with the partners in other countries has added other perspectives on the problems and importance of informal caregivers as well as the opportunity to see how things are in other countries.
“It has been rewarding to meet partners dedicated to the assignment on an international level. They are as concerned with the problem as we are. We have used each other to develop both the individual and the overall methods, processes and results. It has elevated the quality of the project”, says Lone Oest.
In for Care-projects in Denmark that continue
- Exhibition of volunteer organizations
At an innovation day early in the In for Care-project, students came up with the idea to make the possibilities of volunteering visible for students at UC SYD: A volunteer exhibition is now held once a year at UC SYD.
The exhibition supports the effort of making students at the university college aware of the many possibilities of volunteering.
The volunteer organization Vindrosen and UC SYD continues to arrange the exhibition. - E-learning
In cooperation with the Region of Southern Denmark and Steno Diabetescenter, In for Care has developed an e-learning course that teaches health professionals and volunteers to use a tool to improve health communication.
Both UC SYD, the Region of Southern Denmark, municipals and Steno Diabetescenter will continue to use the e-learning course. - Health communication training
In for Care has developed a course for health professionals and volunteers. The participants learn how to use a communication tool to improve health communication with informal caregivers. The training program has been held three times and is completed by 45 participants.
The evaluations show a wish for and a need amongst volunteers and health professionals to gain better competences to communicate with informal caregivers about their health and how to improve it. The course has given the participants these competences. Furthermore, they have a better understanding of how volunteers and health professionals can supplement each other on improving health among informal caregivers.
The course will continue under the auspices of the volunteer organization Vindrosen and the municipality of Esbjerg.