Person-centred care in focus at European Gerontology Congress
23-25 May GPCC participated in the international gerontology congress IAGG-ER 2019. GPCC researchers spoke at a pre-congress meeting, at the congress itself, as well as met delegates face-to-face at the Centre’s exhibition stand.
GPCC had been invited to participate in the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics European Region Congress (IAGG-ER) 2019, by the local organisers, amongst others the University of Gothenburg multi-disciplinary research centre for Ageing and Health, AgeCap. GPCC and AgeCap have many researchers and issues in common.
The Congress theme was ‘Towards Capability in Ageing – from cell to society‘, which amongst other things aim to see the resources and capabilities of older persons in all levels of society and especially in health and elderly care. As a result person-centred care was high on the agenda for the congress, and Irish Professor Brendan McCormack, who is one of the foremost international experts in this area, was one of the Key Note speakers.
Sharpened their arguments in the exhibition stand
GPCC had a stand in the exhibition, which was manned by GPCC researchers Emmelie Barenfeld, Post doc at GPCC Helle Wijk, Professor and P.I. at GPCC and Hilda Svensson, Dr and Post doc. They were able to meet many interested delegates who posed questions about person-centred care and GPCC.
- It is obvious that many people are thinking along similar lines, says Hilda Svensson. It is great to be able to discuss and compare as well as inform people about GPCCs take on person-centred care and the research we do. It is also very interesting for me as a researcher to respond to questions in this setting. You really get to practice sharpening your arguments, and to have a think about aspects which you may not have thought of before.
Apart from presenting their own projects, Helle Wijk and Emmelie Barenfeld spoke about their experiences of and results from studies of implementation of person-centred care at a lunchtime seminar. At the seminar they spoke about the effects of their research in elderly care homes and experiences of person-centred e-health. One of the things they highlighted was that person-centred care is not just a working model, but a culture and mind change.
Fully booked pre-congress meeting at The Sahlgrenska Academy
GPCCs Inger Ekman was one of the speakers at a pre-congress meeting at the Sahlgrenska Academy he greater part of the day before the Congress started. The theme of the meeting was person-centeredness from personal, family, organizational and environmental perspectives with the aim of developing mechanisms for collaboration and defining a shared set of research goals. Other world-renowned speakers at this meeting were Professor Afaf Meleis from The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, and Professor Marit Kirkevold from The University of Oslo.
Links to more info:
About IAGG-ER2019
About the Pre Congress Meeting