Description of the For the Record project
The Erasmus+ For the Record project (2019-2022) aims at developing the health and social care professionals’ skills to collect life stories of the elderly and/or people with mental disabilities. Also known as anamnesis, this is already a common practice at La Vie Active’s nursing homes, especially during the new resident’s intake. For the Record allows us to explore and train our care staff to use an ‘autobiographical’ method developed by our Italian partner. This method will enable them to collect the life stories a better structured way and strengthen their ability to valorise them through new artistic activities.
For the Record, is gathering European medical and social establishments, autobiographical method’ promotors and professionals from the artistic and performing arts sector (writers, storytellers, musicians, actors, video makers, etc.) to better exploit the potential of collective and individual memory: better sharing it with new artistic and cultural activities, outreaching a wider community and reinforcing their educational values.
Review of the main activities led by La Vie Active
- Needs analysis
The first step of this project is to analyse the expectations and needs of our target group (i.e. professionals of the medical and social care sector) and beneficiaries (i.e. the elderly and/or people with mental disabilities) in the five EU member States involved in this project: France, the United Kingdom, Poland, Italy, and Spain. A common framework was defined and a total of 50 interviews have been collected to assess the skills and define the professionals’ expectations and needs to:
- Know how to approach the beneficiaries and create an environment promoting dialogue and collection of life stories
- Collect, organize and file these life stories
- Know how to promote these life stories to the general public (e.g. to their families, pupils from local schools and leisure centres, etc.) through cultural and artistic community activities
- Training professionals to the autobiographical method and promote it to the wider community
From the data collected in the five national contexts, our Italian project partners develops a training programme target the professionals from the health and social care sector according the following framework: two 3-days training sessions (one focusing on the autobiographical method to be implemented in Tuscany if the pandemic allows us, and the other on about the evaluation of these new activities, planned in Andalusia). A total of 16 professionals, including 4 La Vie Active care staff members of the nursing home of Coquelles, Isbergues and Nanterre will participate in these training events. This new training programme that will be tested during the project will be accessible and transferable to other European health and social care professionals through the development of an Open Educational Resources (OER) Platform this will include a guide to apply the autobiographical method and to evaluate the impact of these activities on the physical and psychological well-being of participants, e-learning sessions, a collection of reflective practices with illustrated examples of activities carried out by the professionals trained during the project, and links to other remarkable initiatives related to this theme.
The expected results
For the professionals of the medical and social car sectors, For the Record represents the opportunity to access to a learning mobility programme, which enables them to develop their skills, renew and diversify the activity programme that they propose in their nursing home.
For the elderly and/or people with disabilities: the project partners noticed that these people always a keen desire to learn and participate in activities. Therefore, these people will explore new means of expression to share their past through their memories and make their present matter. Thus, this project will have and positive psychosocial impact at different levels: the person him/herself, his/her relatives, young and older people though intergenerational activities, etc.
The project partners
(UK, Lead Partner) is a non-profit organisation/ private association gathering folk music musicians, working together since several years using songs and instruments as tools to tell life stories. They work with all kinds of audience, especially the elderly and people with mental disabilities.
(Spain) is a non-profit organisation/ private association gathering several health and social care establishments mainly based in Andalusia. It aims at supporting and promoting social and professional integration of people with disabilities (physical, mental disabilities and sensory disorders).
La Vie Active was established in 1964 and it was recognized public-interest organisation in 2002. Since its creation, this key actor of the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) keeps developing itself to better support its members/users facing difficulties in their daily lives.
EURIDEA (Italy) is a company developing training programmes for adult learners, especially the professionals from the health and social care sector. They have a lot experience in developing and implementing national and international project in the Vocational Education and Training sector, including the development of e-learning platforms.
Poleski Ośrodek Sztuki is the cultural centre of the city Łódź (Poland). Inaugurated in 1995, it organizes artistic workshops and activities for all kind of audience, including the elderly, for e.g.: a theatre festival gathering therapists, psychologists, educators and facilitator, etc.
Libera Università dell’Autobiografia is a non-profit organisation/ private association defined as ‘Free University’ under the scientific patronage of the University of Milan-Bicocca. It aims at developing the research about autobiographical methods and to promote collective and individual memory transmission.
Servicio Madrileño de Salud is the health service of the Madrid urban community (Spain).
Main features of the For the Record project:
Project duration: 36 months (from 01/09/2019 to 30/08/2022)
Overall budget forecast (7 project partners): 258 399,00 €
Overall budget forecast of La Vie Active: 41 368,00 €
A project co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.