Acute Team in Youth Psychiatric Services Targeted to the Residential Child Care (ACUCARE)

P4 Skilled and socially inclusive region

4.2. More aligned vocational education and training (VET) programmes in the Central Baltic region

Central Baltic

01.03.2016 - 28.02.2018

187.901 EUR

148.139 EUR ERDF

Many children living in vulnerable living environments in families and/or in residential child care settings are often in need of psychiatric treatment as well as child protection services. The demand for a closer collaboration between child protection services and mental health services is high, but the frameworks available at the moment are not sufficient to guarantee suitable outcomes for vulnerable children.

The problem is that professionals act in separate sectors and thus effective inter-professional networking is difficult to establish. Moreover, each care profession has a different working culture, values and behaviors.
A promising method to help children and adolescents is the acute team work model. The approach is fairly new in youth psychiatric services in Finland and not existing in Estonia.
ACUCARE´s objective is to develop vocational e-course trainings for nursing-, social work and social educator students to create more aligned joint VET programs among partner countries.

The e-course is meant for inter-professional psychiatric acute team work and is divided into two parts: family work in open care (5 ECTS) and residential child care in foster care (5 ECTS).
The project aims at developing new professional skills and innovative ways of working. The e-course increases collaboration between students and practitioners working on different systems and in different countries. 

Lead Partner

Turun ammattikorkeakoulu Oy

Country: FI

www.turkuamk.fi

Partner budget: 115.765 EUR

Amount of ERDF funding: 86.824 EUR ERDF

Project Partners

Tartu Ülikool

Country: EE

www.ut.ee

Partner budget: 50.494 EUR

Amount of ERDF funding: 42.920 EUR ERDF

Tervishoiu Kõrgkool

Country: EE

http://www.nooruse.ee/est/esileht/

Partner budget: 21.642 EUR

Amount of ERDF funding: 18.396 EUR ERDF

Associated Partners

Merikratos Oy

Country: FI

Tartu Linnavalitsuse sotsiaalabi osakond

Country: EE

Tartu Ülikooli Kliinikum

Country: EE

Varsinais-Suomen sairaanhoitopiiri

Country: FI

Expected results

Achieved results

Project result in category -
Aligned vocational education and training programme

Acute teamwork model in child care strengthens professional collaboration - ACUCARE

 
Many children in vulnerable living environments need psychiatric treatment as well as child protection services. The demand for a closer collaboration between different services is high, but professionals act in separate sectors and thus effective inter-professional networking is difficult to establish.
 
The ACUCARE partnership considered it beneficial for specialists to learn from each other by using the acute teamwork model to help children and adolescents. The project developed vocational e-course trainings for nursing-, social work and social educator students - a new model of interprofessional psychiatric acute teamwork. 
 
The project mapped and reported the needs for interprofessional training and created the e-learning platforms.  The training modules were developed in English and translated into Finnish and Estonian. The project’s main result was the new 10 (5+5) ECTS interprofessional vocational training e-course, including e-learning materials and an e-curriculum manual for the use of different vocational education training organisations.
The e-course consists of two themes:

  1. family work in ‘open care’ (5 ECTS) - focus in working within families to promote educational partnership between parents and professionals; to bring together regional family services, such as maternity and child health clinics, early childhood education and care services, school and local family and early support services to help families
  2. residential childcare in foster care (5 ECTS) - focus in enhanceing the skills for an integrated care approach; to incorporate the interprofessional expertise and advance the existing child protection and mental health services better 

A literature review about mental health care interventions in child welfare was submitted for wider international readership. Three scientific articles were planned, but the target was too ambitious. One article was published.
 
National implementing the project results was well done by all partners. It was somewhat challenging in Estonia to find relevant training programmes where the developed modules can be integrated, as the childcare responsibilities are divided differently between organisations in Estonia and Finland. The project accomplished a certain familiarity and understanding of different child protection systems and professional cultures in the partner countries.
 
Another objective was to increase mobility and job satisfaction of social and health care workforce and integration of Central Baltic labour market. The possibilities were discussed, and there are lots of similarities, but also differences in professionals’ attitudes to family and its rights and the concept of ‘family’ in Estonia and Finland. It is beneficial for specialists to share experiences and for students to learn about other profession´s competencies.
 
The project used modern information and communication technologies for its work and produced e-learning materials. Project successfully communicated its achievements via presentations in international conferences and by organising seminars for the stakeholders.

ACUCARE Project’s final seminar 2.11.2017 focused on promising interprofessional collaboration practices in psychiatric and child protection sectors in Finland and Estonia.

One course in Estonian can be find here.
 

Project page in database
At a glance
  • Three partners in Finland and Estonia
  • New 10 (5+5) ECTS interprofessional vocational training e-course for nursing-, social work and social educator students: 1) family work in ‘open care’ (5 ECTS) and 2) residential childcare in foster care (5 ECTS)
  • Manual for ACUCARE in three languages
  • Literature review about mental health care interventions in child welfare produced
  • Video from final event seminar here
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Project videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXOeHLXIURo&t=10s