Empowering active aging with limited autonomy: a training proposal to enhance the skills of home caregivers for frail older people

Current demographic changes highlight the urgent need for active, collective strategies that span the entire lifespan. These strategies aim to encourage the participation of older individuals in social life and foster a culture of solidarity, recognizing them as valuable resources within an ageintegrated society. Maintaining quality of life at home has become a crucial generational issue across EU countries, particularly during the pandemic. Many countries should develop recognized accreditation programs to train caregivers and service professionals, aiming to improve the quality of life and home care for frail older adults, especially those with dementia. Given the current situation and future prospects, it is essential to reassess the needs of home care services and reconsider the training and skills of professionals providing them. This requires action on three levels: fostering a personalized and proactive approach to aging at the micro level; enhancing training for home care professionals with a focus on resilience and life skills at the meso level; and ensuring welfare system sustainability at the macro level. This contribution presents the “Qavad Project”—an Erasmus Plus initiative aimed at enhancing support for maintaining autonomy and assisting professionals in home care. Grounded in a theoretical framework that incorporates key pedagogical and psychosocial perspectives on older adult care, the transnational partnership developed a training model to innovate and support the training of home care professionals. The model consists of 8 modules, adaptable to the target audience. The outcomes of the piloting phase of the training modules will be discussed.