BIG DATA

• Participate in the development of the European project UnderstAID, also integrated by institutions in Denmark and Poland. 

• A mobile and PC application will inform and provide personalized support and training for informal caregivers.

• Training and support received will facilitate the resolution of challenges and ease the burden of caregivers of people with dementia.

Form a support platform for informal caregivers (usually close relatives) to understand and care for family members with dementia, and to improve the quality of life of these people is the aim of the European research project UnderstAID, in which the Galician company Balidea, the Association of Pensioners and Retired Employees of Coruña and the Galicia Supercomputing Center (CESGA) are the initial Galician representatives, which joined together in July with the support of the Association of Relatives of Alzheimer's and other dementias (afal) of Ferrol.

The project will run until 2016, and the entities are involved in the field of health care technology and integrated by institutions in Denmark and Poland. The platform, based on e-learning methodology, will serve to give caregivers information and easy access to customized training and support to meet the challenges they are presented as well as a social environment to improve communication between specialists, gerontologists and families.

This information received may improve the quality of care they provide and increase their safety and confidence while also improving the relationship with the people cared for and reduce the risk of physical and psychological harm of both groups.

The project aims to develop a mobile application and a PC platform which allows family members to be in touch and have answers when they need them, in a personalized manner through their phones.

The project kick-off meeting took place on April 15 and 16 in Coruña. In September, it will begin the selection of families that will provide useful information for the initiative, made available through devices such as smartphones or laptops.

These data support materials will be developed for people to use in the future and will demand a web platform to help to solve the day to day problems they encounter, as the care of older patients develops mainly in homes and by family members.