Updating healthcare professionals VET for working with people with ASD
▶Summary
The prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has increased by 200% in 20 years, with one in 89 children in the European Union diagnosed with the condition. Healthcare professionals, particula...
▶Objectives
The project aims at providing healthcare professionals with a new, innovative and accessible learning opportunity on ASD. More specifically, the objectives of the project are to: - support innovation in professional training by offering a new specialisation in ASD, - improve the skills of healthcare professionals in ASD, - raise awareness among healthcare professionals on the importance of training in ASD, - respond to the growing need for healthcare professionals specialising in ASD. The HealthCare4ASD project provided professionals and training establishments with innovative teaching tools and elements, brought together stakeholders and local players to pool resources and improve the knowledge of professionals and carers/parents of people with ASD, and lastly raised awareness on the issue among the general population, to counter discrimination linked to this disorder.
▶Activities
The project implemented the following activities: - Desk research on ASD training - Field research with interviews with professionals and interviews with families (85 participants) - Gathering of data on the care of patients with ASD, needs and already existing educational resources on ASD - Development of educational materials and interactive training resources for trainers - Organisation of a short joint staff training with the participation of 8 people - Creation of a methodological framework for piloting for health professionals - Networking and identification of participants for the pilot training - Report on the pilot training - Collection of feedback and experiences and development of a step-by-step roadmap on how vocational training institutions can adopt the methodology and results of the project in their organisation.
▶Impact
The following outputs have been developed: - PR1: Training programme for healthcare professionals - PR2: Toolkit for professionals in vocational training establishments - LTTA: Joint staff training on how to deliver training sessions for health professionals - PR3: Training sessions for health professionals - PR4: Roadmap on how to implement ASD training in VET In addition to the above, the project has also produced dissemination outputs: - a dissemination strategy toolkit with an overview of the approach, public identity, target groups and project channels; - a project website; - a brochure translated into all the languages of the partnership; - publication and press release templates. Finally, at the end of the project, 8 dissemination events were organised in the countries of the consortium, with a total of 155 participants.