EU – WELL CARE

On January 1, 2024, the new EU Horizon research project Well Care was launched at the GAT Institute, with Prof. Hoff as sub-project manager. WELL CARE is a Europe-wide research project funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation program. WELL CARE is being run under the project management of Prof. Elisabeth Hanson, Linnaeus University, Sweden, over a period of four years (January 1, 2024, to December 31, 2027) and is being carried out in five European countries (Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Slovenia). One research institution (HSZG, INRCA Italian Institute on Aging in Ancona, Vrije University Amsterdam, Linnaeus University, University of Ljubljana, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and one national nursing interest group from each participating country are involved, as well as three European nursing associations.

The aim of WELL CARE is to identify, evaluate, and promote best practices for promoting the resilience and mental health of family caregivers and professional caregivers. This involves both established practices that have been successful over a long period of time and the development of innovative prototypes and their possible transfer to other national/cultural contexts. This is achieved through the participatory/co-creative methodology of so-called ‘Blended Learning Networks’ (BLN), which meet every two months. A BLN is based on the idea of a ‘community of practice’ involving the various actors in the respective care landscapes.

WELL CARE is also aligned with the European care strategy adopted in 2022. The topics covered in WELL CARE are also the focus of the part-time MA program in Social Gerontology at the Faculty of Social Sciences.