Last year, Alzheimer Bulgaria started the project "DementiaCare", funded by the Erasmus+ programme in partnership with Turkey, Italy, Slovenia, the UK, Spain, and Portugal. The project duration is two years and DementiaCare focuses on the adoption of non-pharmacological intervention strategies, in particular on the use of art therapy, recognised as a technique capable of reducing the depressive and behavioural symptoms of the clinical picture and of improving the overall quality of life of a person with dementia. DementiaCare proposes an innovative model, as it involves leading experts in the field of neurodegenerative diseases, in creating a highly specific curriculum based on the use of art therapy in the early stages of the disease. The project combines innovation with the satisfaction of an existing and neglected health need.
The project encourages the exchange of good practices, new methods of elaboration, delivery, and evaluation of programmes, and new multidisciplinary training approaches able to promote high levels of teaching and skills development among different institutions and universities. So far, the partners have collected good practices and have defined the target groups and the participants. In each country, there was also a survey conducted for professionals working with people with dementia for state-of-the-art desktop analysis of the current use of “Art Therapy”. The partners are currently working on the methodology development and the curriculum content such as determining modules and developing shape of modules and lecture notes for Learning, Teaching and Training Activities. During the two upcoming Learning, Teaching and Training Activities in 2023 (in Ankara, Turkey and Florence, Italy), the first version and final versions of the designed modules and curriculum will be tested. Read more about the project and its launch: https://alzheimer-bg.org/en/launch-of-the-erasmus-project-dementiacare/