Kwido brings care into the home in Turin with group sessions

Kwido has been running a project in Turin for several months now, which will run for at least 2023 and 2024, to bring new technologies to the elderly at home and in day centres.

Kwido, together with the Italian organisations Gruppo Arco and ISRAA, has designed a project to carry out a double intervention:

• In Gruppo Arco’s day centres, through cognitive stimulation on tablets, laptops and touch screens that allow psychologists to define personalised training plans and work with users in face-to-face group sessions.

• At home using tablets with Internet connection, where they remain in contact with the centre for online cognitive stimulation therapies but also for video-call sessions with managers, family members, etc.
  
  These video calls are also made in group sessions, where a facilitator manages the entire meeting and even shares a screen with the people connected in order to work as a team.

The project is being developed with 50 people in their homes.

Several phases have been carried out to ensure the success of the overall project:

• The scope of the project was defined in a co-creation session at Gruppo Arco’s premises in Turin.

• Kwido was prepared and all the necessary material was translated for testing during the summer of 2022.

• A support consultancy was also carried out to choose the right devices and support software to successfully complete the project.

• Finally, user manuals adapted to all project profiles were generated and online training was provided to the whole team.

Since then, the system is running with weekly group sessions where video call connections are currently exceeding 30,000 minutes.

Gruppo Arco is a non-profit Social Cooperative Society that pursues the general interest of the community and promotes the social integration of citizens.

Since 1993, the social co-operative Gruppo Arco has been involved in its region in Turin to counteract social difficulties by activating residential structures and local services.

It manages services and projects for people with addictions, families in social and housing difficulties, adults at risk of social exclusion, people with disabilities, minors, the elderly, foreign students, etc.

For its part ISRAA, through its business unit Faber-Fabbrica Europa, has the experience of European designers with training and professional experience in the field of ageing policies and a network of more than 200 European contacts, made up of assistance providers, public bodies and authorities, universities and companies operating in technological innovation applied to society.