The project focused on training professionals, volunteers and elderly people to identify and provide assistance to elderly victims of abuse. Some research estimates that as much as 1/4 of older women experience neglect, physical, sexual, psychological, and/or financial abuse by someone close to them. Studies have found that older women who experienced abuse have greater psychiatric distress such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, panic attacks, anxiety, anger, feelings of powerlessness, fatigue and confusion. Older women face greater risks for abuse than men due to discriminatory social attitudes, but skills and expertise needed to identify elderly female victims of violence and improve their situation are not well-developed due to absence of specific awareness-raising educational programs. This project focused on improving the situation by achieving some objectives such as:- designing an interactive training program (training handbook/curriculum and online materials (MOOC) for active and innovative learning opportunities to educate key groups on a topic of violence against older people;- strengthening the capacity of those who work with the elderly, such as professionals from senior centers (and volunteers), to respond to the specific needs of older women victims through multiple trainings and online learning;- contributing to a better understanding of the experiences and needs of elderly (female) victims of domestic violence and empowered them to seek assistance to take other action to break the cycle of violence through trainings/interventions with elderly people and engaging them into focus groups and other project activities;- contributing to stakeholders’ implementation of elder abuse policy into practice, especially in relation to gender specific issues, through training them, providing comprehensive training materials and online course. To achieve these objectives, the project targeted all 3 subgroups (professionals, volunteers and elderly people) and involved them in the project activities on a continuous basis – in assessing the needs and gaps in the field and producing an analytical report, in production and piloting of the training curriculum and training programme, and in development of the online materials for MOOC. With this, different needs and abilities of these groups were identified, recognized and addressed with different learning approaches. It is estimated that 993 people from our key target audiences were directly affected by the end of the project. The participants were professionals or volunteers working in social care, eldercare facilities, senior houses, or in related fields such as healthcare or shelters. A solid part of participants were also elderly people themselves (including many persons with disabilities or health issues), mostly residents of senior houses or eldercare facilities or using the services of our associated partners. The project has undertaken a number of activities in order to develop the training materials and engage the target audiences. An analytical report was developed to summarize the experiences of abuse of older women in partner countries, including results of the focus groups with elderly and interviews with professionals. Based on the findings of this report, policy recommendations were drafted, and a training curriculum was developed with the aim to train professionals and volunteers to identify elderly abuse and to support victims, as well as to empower elderly people to stand up and act once facing violence or identifying abuse in their surroundings. This training curriculum was tested through multiple pilots and trainings with all key target groups, and has been finalized as a training handbook, which in turn was adapted into online format. A MOOC was produced based on the training materials, piloted three times and awarded for its outstanding quality.Concrete results and achievements of the project include producing an analytical report on Abuse of Older Women in Selected European Countries (IO1), developing a training handbook/curriculum in 5 languages (IO2), designing an evaluation plan and evaluation templates for all activities, producing guidelines on how to use TISOVA materials, MOOC available in 5 languages and launched 3 times in English, Estonian, and Russian (IO3), pilots and trainings which engaged significantly more people than envisioned, as well as multiplier events with big outreach and project website with all deliverables available in free access.Elderly victims of violence are mostly “invisible” and do not appear in statistics nor reports. In addition to materials produced, TISOVA project also raised the topic of elder abuse publicly through social media, articles in newspapers, with the dissemination events in partner countries and the final conference in Estonia. Awareness raising among the relevant stakeholders is the key component in identifying and recognizing the elderly victims of violence.

"The Re-ability project aims to improve the socio-relational and emotional skills of women / mothers victims of violence temporarily hosted in a residential community and / or taken in charge by anti-violence centers.To achieve this goal it is necessary to enhance the skills of the operators / educators of the communities and centers also in terms of learning new skills and provide them with innovative operational tools that allow women / mothers to achieve good levels of socio-relational skills and emotional.Alongside the path of psychological and emotional support, adults who have experienced a particular trauma and a difficult path, also in socio-relational terms, and who have a fundamental educational task (as parents) need to acquire and enhance personal skills compared the path of care / support they are experiencing. These are in particular EMOTIVE and socio-relational skills such as self-awareness, management of emotions, stress management, empathy, effective communication, effective relationships.Precisely for this reason, with a view to change in terms of modernization and internationalization of partner organizations, exchange and sharing of good practices, we intend to create a series of tools and results capable of creating an interconnection between formal, informal and non-formal learning formal and raise the quality of the ""education"" offered to women / mothers and their children guests in the community.Specifically the project aims to carry out three Intellectual Output:1. Parent Education Plan, a tool for the realization of an individualized project aimed at strengthening parenting skills, starting from the strengths and weaknesses of women / mothers victims of violence, but also and above all from their needs and desires2. Promote and develop the socio-relational and emotional skills of mothers: paths, tools, ideas and activities. It is a Toolkit of tools useful to the educator to achieve the objectives of the Parent Education Plan3. New educational needs: recommendations from mothers who are victims of violence. This is a publication in which the data and results of previous IOs will be collected accompanied by real political recommendations so that mothers will be given a voice in dialogue with political decision-makersQuattro Transnational Meetings are planned, which in addition to having the objective of organizing the project activities from a technical and scientific point of view and defining the financial and reporting aspects, are also used as a moment of exchange of practices and study visits in the centers of the organizations partner.Cinque Multiplier Events are planned as dissemination moments, one for each partner country. The idea is that these MEs, some of which are programmed to take place simultaneously, can have a strong impact and reach as many people as possible thanks to the use of new technologies.From the implementation of the activities, the following results are expected:As for the host mothers or women of the anti-violence centers:• Strengthen socio-relational skills• Strengthen emotional skills• Strengthen parenting skills• Increase awareness of one's own experiences• Promote appropriate and functional attachment styles• Promote greater social inclusionAs for educators:• Offer valid support tools to their work• Improve the ability to offer support• Activate tools for change that can be subject to evaluation and monitoring• Increase professional skills• Creation of a specific and professionalizing intervention model• Promote networkingand• outline a shared vision of the area of intervention to accompany vulnerable parenting, identifying the transversal objectives and the actions that allow to achieve these objectives;• provide common guidelines with respect to interventions aimed at families living in situations of vulnerability primarily at local level;• facilitate services in operating in a compliant manner;• to provide local authorities and services with an overall picture of the indications coming from the most recent Italian and international scientific research and from the knowledge produced through innovative national experiences;• start a renewal of inter-professional and inter-institutional practices through the construction of new balances and concrete forms of sharing responsibility between promotion, prevention, administrative protection and protection"

<< Background >>Health care professionals encounter numerous individuals in their practice, and given the high rates of intimate partner violence within the population, it is important that they are aware of how to identify and respond to domestic violence (DV). Poor adherence to treatment can have negative effects on outcomes and healthcare cost. Adherence with treatment is an important factor which can influence the outcome of that treatment (Hayden et al., 2005). Poor adherence to treatment has been identified across many healthcare disciplines including physiotherapy (Vasey, 1990, Friedrich et al., 1998, Campbell et al., 2001). According to various studies, depression, anxiety, feelings of helplessness and poor social support have all been found to be important factors blocking treatment adherence. (Jack et al 2010) Studies have found that all are common with victims of DV. Thus, it is quite safe to assume that being a victim of abuse can hinder progress in physiotherapy programmes. Thus, being able to identify such situations and properly address them would be a highly useful skill for physiotherapists to have in treating patients.Additionally, healthcare providers, such as physiotherapists, are in a unique position to identify and help victims of DV, “as victims often discuss their experience related to violence if inquired about it in a non-judgmental, empathic and direct way.” (Alshammari et al 2018) Despite this, multiple studies point towards the lack of IPV/DV enquiry in the majority of the outpatient settings (Clark, Lynette, & Mary, 2017 ; Ballan & Freyer, 2019 ). In addition to patient-related barriers, research has indicated that several staff-related barriers weaken healthcare systems’ ability to identify and support victims. One of the major barriers is lack of formal training (Alvarez et al, 2016 ). This includes education that starts in vocational schools and continues during their career, to ensure that best practices are used. In response to this, educational content on domestic violence has started to be developed for some healthcare providers such as nurses and midwifes. However almost no courses are being offered to physiotherapists in Europe and especially in our partner countries (Estonia, Greece, Spain, Cyprus). Health care professionals who work with their patients one-on-one, regularly, and have good rapport with them, such as physiotherapists, are well suited for noticing signs of DV in their patients. This becomes especially important as the average time a physician spends with their patient has decreased over the years (Wood, 2017) , narrowing the opportunity to discuss important things affecting patients’ health. This trend has not affected physiotherapists and similar health care professionals due to the nature of their work, making them well-suited for also addressing concerns about DV .Research has shown that in addition to a lack of skills of healthcare workers, their attitudes towards and beliefs concerning DV can hinder their ability to properly serve DV victims. Thus, we are targeting the gap in the skills of the physiotherapists so they can provide better service and improve the resultativeness of treatment the patients receive.<< Objectives >>OPEP-DV focuses on professional education and training of physiotherapy professionals working with women so that they can identify and provide assistance to victims of domestic violence (DV). The projects goal is to develop a standalone training course and an online education module on domestic violence for current and future physiotherapists and other healthcare workers (e.g. nurses, midwives and careworkers) working closely and on regular basis with female patients. The secondary goal is to improve and unify the physiotherapists’ education in EU countries on topics connected to identifying and supporting victims of IPV/DV. Indirect goal of the project is that more victims of domestic and interpersonal violence are identified and helped in the whole EU. We shall resolve the gap in health care workers’ education by following key goals:1. Understand the operating contexts and current attitudes of health care workers, especially physiotherapists in each partner country and propose solutions to address these gaps2. Understand the current content of physiotherapists’ education and how much IPV/DV related topics are currently integrated in the programmes.3. Using this information to create training curriculum for healthcare workers that differentiates between their different contexts, especially aimed for physiotherapists in diverse regional and cultural backgrounds4. Using these materials to create an accredited online course that can be used within continuing education programs for physiotherapists and other healthcare professionalsWe believe that by providing policy makers and VET training providers with practical and proven tools to improve the training of current and future physiotherapists will speed systemic adjustments needed in this field.<< Implementation >>OPEP-DV focuses on professional education and training of physiotherapy professionals working with women so that they can identify and provide assistance to victims of domestic violence (DV). We will propose a set of connected activities to achieve our main goals: 1. Study the training, operating contexts and current attitudes of health care workers, especially physiotherapists in each partner country and propose solutions to address these gaps2. Develop stand-alone training curriculum to address all key gaps in current physiotherapists’ training in relation to DV. It will be oriented to VET providers and would be implementable in different regional and cultural settings across EU. By the end of the project, it will be implemented at least in the training programs offered by M&M.3. Develop the curriculum into an attractive and real-life cases based MOOC to be used by current and future physiotherapy professionals and other similar health care specialists working closely and on regular basis with female patients. The MOOC would be accredited to prove the quality and it would be freely available by UTARTU after the project ends. It will also be incorporated into the physiotherapists’ curriculum by THCC.4. Promote the training curriculum and MOOC as well as the need to teach physiotherapists on the topic of DV among health care and education policy makers as well as among VET education providers in partner countries and EU. To support the implementation of these activities, set of transnational meetings, mutual training workshops and multiplier events has been planned. All the project results will be created in collaboration with associated partners in partner countries. This will enable us to increase the quality of our results and extend the reach of our activities beyond the partner organisations and their regions.<< Results >>The project will result in a training curriculum and respective MOOC addressing specifically the needs and context of our target groups – the physiotherapists and other health care specialists, and VET and professional training providers for physiotherapists and other health care providers. It is estimated that over 300 people from our key target audiences will be directly affected by the end of the project. As a result of our project activities, through training physiotherapists and other health care professionals more women who are victims of abuse will receive help and referrals to services they need to deal with DV. The participating professionals will benefit directly from the project results. They will attain new and improved knowledge on methods and tools related to identifying, referring (either externally or internally) and providing interventions to support people who experience domestic violence and abuse.By the end of the project, M&M will incorporate the training curriculum in their training programmes and THCC will add the MOOC to their physiotherapists’ curriculum. All project activities will feed into policy recommendations for healthcare policy makers, practitioners, and VET training providers (PR1) to improve the training of physiotherapy professionals, so that they can identify and provide high quality assistance to DV victims. The report and policy recommendations will make suggestions for better unification of physiotherapists’ training in the European countries. The project partners will launch project homepage, which will give access to all project outputs and related materials. The page will have interdisciplinary focus and it will bring together relevant physiotherapy, DV, and continuous professional healthcare education related information for our target groups. All the materials will be in English, Estonian, Greek, Spanish, Russian and Turkish. The overarching result of our project activities is that by training physiotherapists and other health care professionals more women who are victims of abuse will receive help and referrals to services they need to deal with DV.

In Europe, 80% of all chronically ill people are taken care of by informal carers – people who provide unpaid care outside of a professional or formal framework. While caring for a loved one can be a source of great personal satisfaction, it also creates challenges, like physical and mental health problems, a feeling of social exclusion, difficulty in balancing paid work with care responsibilities and other possible financial worries (Eurocarers).Although when a family member has a chronic illness or disability one of the relatives often acts as the “primary care provider”, in which roles are often reversed (i.e. a child taking care of their parent) which often affects all family members (Wright and Leahey, 2000). A functional relationship among caregivers and care recipient is the key for a successful change of roles and the adaptation of the family, therefore, supporting only the primary carer is not enough. Furthermore, people belonging to different age groups and with different kinships to the care-recipient (young/adult children, grandchildren, spouses) can have different experiences and perspective on the burden of care, so it is necessary to take all of them into account in order to be able to provide comprehensive and effective support. Research has also demonstrated that the caregiver stress that often arises in informal caregiving situations can lead to situations of abuse. Almost 10% of older people who are cared for by family caregivers are at risk of elder abuse (Ananias, Strydom, 2014).From a family-resilience perspective, families are regarded as a unit with intrinsic strengths and resources, and potential for growth (Black & Lobo 2008; Zauszniewski et al. 2010), with positive relational bonds and connections between family members being integral to maintaining their ability to weather adversity (Walsh 2006). However, it should be considered that resilient abilities are not innate, but can and should be learnt and cultivated through dedicated pedagogical methods, such as that of the therapeutic narrative.In order to respond to all these needs the partnership believes in the importance of developing and piloting a model of pedagogical interventions based on a family-focused approach able to identifying strengths as well as vulnerabilities of all family members, addressing the challenges that might arise from the disease and building individual and family resilience. The educational tools developed will be based on experiences carried out in Greece, by Alzheimer Hellas, and will be adapted and transferred to all other country contexts.The main practical results expected on the completion of the project are: (1) a tested narrative based workshop for informal caregivers, adapted to different EU-country contexts, and targeting households who are caring for older dependent family members with the goal of increasing their family-resilience; (2) guide for professionals to identify and address issues that emerge from workshops; (3) a MOOC, to transfer the results achieved and the lessons learnt to a wider audience of professionals; and (4) E-course and online educational platform for informal care givers and professional support providers.We therefore expect to make available a methodology that educators, social workers and carer support workers can use in their local contexts to engage with families with caring responsibilities in order to improve the resilience of the household and mitigate the negative impacts of caring in the households.The project is coordinated by NPO Women’s Support and Information Center (domestic violence org, Estonia) and developed by a diverse partnership of NGOs working with older persons and their carers or domestic violence victims in Portugual (CASO50+), Italy (Anziani e non solo), Slovenia (Spominčica, Slovenia) and Union of Women’s Association in Heraklion Prefecture (Greece, Creta). The expert partner, is the Greek Association of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders (Alzheimer Hellas). University of Tartu will be responsible for developing & managing the MOOC for the project due to its strong expertise on designing and developing e-learning courses.For professionals and stakeholders, we expect an increased consciousness of how providing care can impact on the whole family and the capacity to use this deeper understanding to improve and innovate their services, including through the introduction of narrative techniques. On local stakeholders and communities, we expect an increased awareness of the challenges of caring at societal level and on innovative experiences and practices carried out in other countries that could be of inspiration for new policies and services. We also expect increased openness towards other European countries and cultures, increased awareness of the importance to adopt a whole-family approach and an increased awareness about the contribution of the European Union activities towards the support to informal carers.

The project will address the topic of online violence against girls (CYBERVAG), which is a pressing problem that many school professionals are not equipped enough to address or tackle. For that reason, we have decided to bring the topic closer with several project activities in 4 EU countries: a survey of schools, development of MOOC and educational material and building and OER platform about online violence with the emphasis on online violence against girls.Technology and mobile phones are very present in schools around the world nowadays. The digital world can be a tool of empowerment for schoolchildren and bring new (also educational) possibilities, but at the same time it is has also became a tool for harassment and bullying. Online violence is a growing problem, its emergence brings about a new set of challenges and because online violence transcends the school environment, many school stakeholders have dilemmas, doubts and questions about whether and how it can be dealt with. Schools and school professionals are in need of new competences (educational resources, trainings) to recognize, address and prevent online violence and to act in a safe and adequate way when their students become involved as a victim, perpetrator or bystander. The main objective of the CYBERVAG MOOC project is to bring together the experts in the field of online violence and gender inequalities to develop educational material for educators/school staff/professionals working with young people (mainly in primary and lower secondary education (pupils and students 13 – 16 years old)). In the project the main focus will be on the following forms of online violence against girls: a) Non-consensual sharing of intimate images or/and videos, b) Exploitation, coercion and threats c) Unwanted sexualisation, and d) Sexualised bullying.The main objectives of the project are:-To conduct a representative school survey in 4 EU countries/regions about online violence in schools-To support teachers and other school professionals with the development of new innovative teaching approaches-To develop an e-learning course (MOOC) with curriculum on CYBERVAG-To build an OER platform with open source materials on CYBERVAG-To promote a cross-border and cross-institutional cooperation and exchange of knowledgeThe following activities will be conducted during the project life cycle: First step in the process leading to the first Intellectual Output will be a representative survey of schools (school principals) on CYBERVAG in four countries/regions. With the survey we will gather the missing information (e.g. how schools deal with online violence, do they recognise it, where is the emphasis needed etc.) which will be of help when developing a MOOC on online violence against girls for school professionals. Based on the existing knowledge, previous experience and the results of the survey the next steps will be taken. The second Intellectual Output will be the development of educational material and Curriculum for teachers. In a document the phenomenon of online violence against girls, its causes and consequences will be explained. Within the project also other educational material for teachers will be developed, such as scenarios, quizzes, games. The developed material will be used for the MOOC (third Intellectual Output), where different tools will be used - videos, presentations, guidelines, tests, quizzes. The MOOC will be developed in 4 languages (English, Slovenian, Estonian, Greek). All the material developed within the project will be published on the OER platform (fourth Intellectual Output) designed for the project. On the platform also other relevant (open source) material will be published and shared - for instance relevant articles, important information on the topic, links to other relevant projects, organisations and materials. The purpose of the Erasmus+ project is to use the knowledge gained and tools developed in the previously conducted projects related to online violence against girls to develop an e-learning course (MOOC) for the teachers and OER portal with additional in-depth information and interactive tools available. With this we will achieve several results: we will equip teachers with the knowledge and information about online violence against girls, at the same time we will also support the development of one component of digital competence according to the DIGCOMP framework (the area SAFETY), use modern learning tools to train teachers (e- learning) and introduce new innovative and interactive learning tools, which can be used by teachers in the classroom (serious game, decision trees, scenarios).