Vocational Training in illicit drug addiction: Equipping Health Care Practitioners with Addiction Treatment competences and techniques
▶Summary
The project's primary aim was to equip healthcare practitioners with essential addiction treatment competencies and techniques, effectively addressing current training needs and gaps among profess...
▶Objectives
The project's primary aim was to equip healthcare practitioners with essential addiction treatment competencies and techniques, effectively addressing current training needs and gaps among professionals to ultimately contribute to a reduction in illicit drug use. This involved specifically identifying and bridging disparities between available and required addiction training by thoroughly exploring existing programs, assessing the precise training needs of both professional and non-professional healthcare providers, and highlighting crucial components for more effective curricula. Furthermore, the project aimed to provide actionable recommendations for comprehensive training program development, strengthen the professional identity of illicit drug addiction counselors through an innovative Vocational Education and Training (VET) curriculum, and offer an accessible e-learning platform as an open educational resource to advance addiction counseling skills.
▶Activities
The project implemented a comprehensive set of activities structured across 5 work packages. In Project Management (WP1) core activities included holding meetings, alongside coordination, communication and robust quality management to ensure smooth operation.WP2, focusing on Review and Analysis, involved conducting an EU-wide systematic review of addiction training opportunities, developing national reports on needs and gaps from both healthcare professional and patient perspectives, and ultimately publishing the CARE4SUD transnational report. For Curricula Design and Development (WP3) key efforts centred on defining the learning outcomes and units, developing the content for the online platform and producing associated materials.Under Online Platform Development and Training Deployment (WP4) activities encompassed the technical development of the online platform, pilot testing and assessment system, and uploading all materials.Finally, Communication, Dissemination, and Exploitation (WP5) involved creating a communication plan and visual identity, developing the multilingual project website and social media pages, issuing press releases, engaging in stakeholder networking, organizing events to disseminate project results widely
▶Impact
Transnational Report: This comprehensive report, incorporating an EU-wide systematic review (identifying 43 addiction training courses) and summarizing needs from 120 healthcare professionals and 27 interviewed patients across six countries, provided crucial conclusions on existing gaps. Its findings were fundamental, directly leading to the development of the learning outcomes and units for the new curriculum: https://www.care4sud.eu/transnational-report/ CARE4SUD Learning Outcomes and Units Report: Directly stemming from the Transnational Report's conclusions, this document formally defines the learning outcomes and outlines the modular structure of the new curriculum, addressing identified needs. CARE4SUD Online Platform with Content: A fully designed and developed innovative, user-friendly, and open-access online platform that hosts all the Vocational Education and Training (VET) content and learning materials: https://care4sud.314tester.eu/ Multilingual Project Website: The official website for the CARE4SUD project, providing information and resources: https://www.care4sud.eu/ Social Media Pages: Dedicated social media presence to disseminate project information and engage with stakeholders.