The Universidade Católica Portuguesa, through its Centre for Interdisciplinary Health Research (CIIS), is a national partner in a European project that aims to implement and sustain a person-oriented intervention programme designed to improve comfort, communication and dignity at the end of life for people with advanced dementia living in nursing homes.
Funded by the Horizon Europe programme, the In-Touch – Improving Comfort and Dignity for People with Advanced Dementia in Long-Term Care project brings together research teams from seven European countries — Ireland, Portugal, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic — and also has associated partners in Canada and the United Kingdom. The project will run for five years, from January 2024 to December 2028.
For Paulo Alves, CIIS researcher and national coordinator of the project, “In-Touch represents a unique opportunity to promote more humane care practices based on scientific evidence, in a context where comfort and dignity must be absolute priorities.”
Carla Pais-Vieira, also a CIIS researcher and co-coordinator of the project, points out that “this initiative seeks not only to improve the well-being and quality of life of people with dementia, but also to support and empower the teams that care for them, strengthening a culture of ethical and person-oriented care.”
With international coordination by University College Cork (Ireland), In-Touch is part of the Portuguese Catholic University's mission to promote ethical, person-oriented care based on scientific evidence, contributing to a sustained transformation of care for advanced dementia in Portuguese and European nursing homes.
Funded by the European Union – Horizon Europe, Grant Agreement No. 101137270. The views and opinions expressed are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.
Further information about the In-Touch project (official website – University College Cork)
