Over the past years, demographic changes and ageing populations have led to changes in policy paradigms, including privatization of health sectors, strengthening of home support and increasing use of information and communication technologies. The current scenario points to an increase in the use of educational platforms directed at the population’s health education. The Internet is considered a privileged means of information and communication used to interact with the population, providing access to information and a way to guarantee the reliability of that information. Populations are strongly encouraged to engage and be accountable for the health care process.

Intent-Care is aligned with EIP and AHA (European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing), C2 Action Plan. A quasi-experimental study has already been developed in Portugal. The project will comprise 3 stages: Diagnostic assessment (identifying and prioritizing needs); Design of an interactive tool (design and development of the interactive tool); Implementation and assessment of the interactive tool (assess the impact/contribution of the interactive tool on knowledge and self-efficacy of family caregivers in the process of caring for dependent patients).

The project ‘Interactive educational technologies: contribution to the development of knowledge and skills of family caregivers’ aims to develop and validate an interactive tool that allows specific information to be provided to family caregivers of dependent people complementary to their orientation and promoting patient’s autonomy. An interactive, reliable and user-friendly website has been developed. The main innovative element is the interactive design of the platform allowing a quick response to the user’s needs, aiding in the decision-making process and the selection of the most relevant information. The content was developed focusing on the basic needs of daily life, allowing to overcome the difficulties regardless of the clinical diagnosis of the clients. This platform is supported by videos demonstrating procedures and audio documents. Some of the videos include family caregivers currently providing care to dependent persons.

Graphic design of the tool was supported by ESEP communication office.

Professora Teresa Martins

Professora Maria José Lumini

 

 

Scientific publication:
Construção e avaliação de tecnologia educacional interativa para familiares cuidadores sobre cuidar de pessoas dependentes. (2017)
Authors: Maria José Lumini, Heloísa Peres & Teresa Martins
In: Rev. Eletr. Enf. 19, 19: 1-13

Nurses’ perception on the difficulties and information needs of family members caring for a dependent person (2016)
Authors: Maria José Lumini, Teresa Martins & Heloísa Peres
In: Texto & Contexto Enfermagem 25, 1: 1-9

Evaluation of the educational technology “Caring for dependent people” by family caregivers in changes and transfers of patients and tube feeding (2016)
Authors: Maria José Lumini, Heloísa Peres & Teresa Martins
In: Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem, 24: 2774

Educational technology in care management: technological profile of nurses in Portuguese hospitals (2015)
Authors: Maria José Lumini, Rosa Freire, Manuela Martins, Teresa Martins & Heloísa Peres
In: Revista Esc. Enferm USP, 49 :150-155

Avaliação de necessidades informacionais dos cuidadores na prestação de cuidados domiciliares à pessoa dependente (2015)
Authors: Maria José Lumini, Heloísa Peres & Teresa Martins
In: Revista de Enfermagem da UFSM, 5(3):486-498

Book chapters:

Caregiving and Home Care (2018)
Book: The Role of  Educational Technology in Caregiving
Authors: Maria José Lumini, Fátima Araujo & Teresa Martins

The Contribution of Technologies to the Adherence to Medication by Older People: A Systematic Approach (2017)
Book: Adherence to Medical Plans for Active and Healthy Ageing
Authors: Maria José Lumini, Teresa Martins & Maria Rui Sousa

As novas tecnologias no processo de cuidar (2016)
Book: A pessoa dependente e os familiares cuidadores
Authors: Maria José Lumini & Rosa Freire

Conferences: book abstracts:

The value of educational technology in the nursing care. Benefits in clinical practice (2017)
Book: Ebook 28th International Nursing Research Congress
Authors: Maria José Lumini, Heloísa Peres & Teresa Martins

Avaliação e validação da temática do autocuidado alimentar-se na ferramenta tecnológica interativa ‘Cuidar de Pessoas Dependentes’ (INTENT-CARE) (2017)
Book: Ebook Congresso International de Investigação, Inovação & Desenvolvimento em Enfermagem
Authors: Mafalda Fontão, Teresa Martins &Maria José Lumini

Tecnologias de Informação no apoio aos familiares cuidadores- PROJETO INTENT-CARE (2017)
Book: Ebook Congresso International de Investigação, Inovação & Desenvolvimento em Enfermagem
Authors: Maria José Lumini &Teresa Martins

Contribution of an interactive educational technology aimed at dependent patient` family caregivers (2016)
Book: Ebook  Sixth Pan-Pacific Nursing Conference
Authors: Maria José Lumini, Heloísa Peres & Teresa Martins

Use of interactive educational technology ‘Caring for Dependents’: Evaluation of family caregivers´satisfaction (2016)
Book: Ebook Sixth Pan-Pacific Nursing Conference
Authors: Teresa Martins, Maria José Lumini, & Heloísa Peres

The interactive educational technologies for family carers: knowledge and skills development (2016)
Book: Ebook 3rd World Congress of Health Research, In Atención Primaria
Authors: Maria José Lumini, Heloísa Peres & Teresa Martins

Educational tool to Improve Caregiver Rol (2014)
Book: Ebook 25th International Nursing Research Congress
Authors: Maria José Lumini, Heloísa Peres & Teresa Martins

Design and development of an interactive educacional tool-contributions for family caregivers (2013)
Book: Ebook 24th International Nursing Research Congress
Authors: Maria José Lumini, Heloísa Peres & Teresa Martins

Revisão sistemática das metodologias qualitativas de dados utilizados nos estudos sobre a prestação de cuidados informais (2012)
In: Psicologia, Saúde & Doenças
Authors: Maria José Lumini, Maria de Fátima Araújo, Maria José Peixoto, Maria Rui Sousa, Paulo Machado, Rosa Freire & Teresa Martins

Situational transition- promotion of a therapeutic plan (2012)
Book: Ebook XVI Encuentro International de investigacion en Cuidados
Authors: Maria José Lumini & Rosa Freire

Main Needs and Difficulties of Caregivers to Care of Dependent Patients (2011)
Book: Ebook 22nd International Nursing Research
Authors: Maria José Lumini, Heloísa Peres & Teresa Martins

Modelos teóricos subjacentes ao desenvolvimento de cursos à distância no âmbito de enfermagem: uma revisão sistemática da literatura (2011)
In: Referência – Revista Científica da Unidade de Investigação em Ciências da Saúde
Authors: Maria José Lumini & Rosa Freire

Awards:
INTENT CARE solution was selected to be part of the online listing of AHA innovative solutions which will be uploaded on the EIP on AHA portal of the European Commission (2016).

Expected outcomes:
Once the results of this study have been validated in Portugal, the educational platform is ready to be translated and adopted by other European countries. Through the reliable information provided by this platform, adapted to the needs of family caregivers, this technological tool will be an important facilitating resource for improving the care provided to dependent people. The current socio-professional context advocates the adoption of multiple resources and health policies that promote the training of family caregivers, allied to the sustainability of the national health service. This research suggests new educational strategies aimed at family caregivers, using information and communication technologies. We believe we have contributed to the development and integration of interactive educational technologies into clinical settings, providing health professionals with a complementary technological resource in the preparation of family caregivers, thus contributing to the improvement of health quality. This PhD work focuses on the design and evaluation of an interactive educational platform, which aims to support family caregivers of dependent people. The results revealed a significant statistical improvement in the knowledge of family using educational technology. Thus, the results of the experimental group allowed us to show a gain in knowledge in all the assessed domains. In the control group, the knowledge did not vary in the two assessment moments. The difference in the results obtained in the experimental group allows us to state that the use of educational technology contributes to increasing the knowledge of family caregivers in the field of self-care domains under study. Knowledge has proved to be positively related to the level of education before and after the intervention.