Skills for Meaningful Encounters in Nursing Homes

The Skills for Meaningful Encounters in Nursing Homes project aims to enhance the expertise related to working with people with dementia, with a particular focus on interactions with individuals affected by memory disorders.

The project seeks to strengthen nursing home staff’s understanding of these facilities as the last homes for older individuals. It provides tools and new capabilities for staff to engage with residents who have memory impairments, recognizing them as unique individuals who have lived long lives. Additionally, the project emphasizes interactions with residents’ family members and other social aspects of care home life. This approach acknowledges the significance of volunteers and the relatives of people with dementia as part of comprehensive care.

The main goal of the project is to enhance encounter-related expertise through individual development within each care home and shared activities. To ensure that the initiatives align with the daily needs of nursing homes, specific areas for improvement are identified collaboratively with partners (such as the Pirkanmaa Welfare Area and individual nursing homes). To identifying areas for improvement, work methods are customized in collaboration with our partners. The project’s experts possess solid knowledge in education, facilitation, and creative methods. These three distinct approaches form the project’s toolbox. The choice of tools depends on the nature of the development task, partner preferences, available resources, and the desired outcome. Within the project, we conduct expert training tailored to the needs of nursing homes, engage in group discussions, and organize functional workshops.

We ensure that the results and developed best practices benefit Finnish care service providers. The encounter expertise generated during the project will be refined into the “Encounter tool box,” accessible to everyone through the Pirkanmaa Muistiyhdistys ry’s website. Additionally,
we are also create the “KOHO-Passport” (KOHO-passi).

Co-funded by the European Union