”The aim of the DIGIHALL project is fostering older’s people’s independent living, improving their mental and physical health and increasing their quality of life, thanks to the use of digital health technologies. In order to achieve this goal, the project partners will develop new and innovative material for caregivers and volunteers, who will support people in third age on their way of digital health literacy. ”
The DIGIHALL project’s partners, from Germany (Wohlfahrtswerk für Baden-Württemberg, Hochschule Esslingen), Italy (COOSS) and Greece (Frontidazois, Hellenic Open University), finally met in Esslingen at the end of July. To have the chance to get to know each other better and to overcome the barriers imposed by the Covid-19 emergency are not secondary issues. The meeting, perfectly organized by Reinhold Wolke and Alice Dorison from Hochschule Esslingen, provided the opportunity to open a new phase of the project for what concerns the human aspect.
An icebreaker activity enabled all the participants to understand the attitudes, the passions and the emotions of the others and then, the meeting formally started with a discussion about the achieved results, such as the baseline study (an essential stage of the project in which the partners conducted a study on Digital Health Literacy and interviews involving people in third age, caregivers and experts and in which they created archetypes as basis of the following case studies). The efficacious presentation of Julian Marx, Ruth Dankbar and Milena Kalla underlined all the tasks the partners will have to consider in the next few months. Wohlfahrtswerk für Baden-Württemberg, the project leader, is preparing the report of this initial phase of the project (PR1).
The project’s goals, the sustainability, the communication plan, the guidelines, the e-learning platform and the age of users were reviewed in the presentation.
Then, Monica Boari from COOSS presented an exploration of the concept of DHL (Digital Health Literacy): in fact, during all the phases of the project it is essential to refer to a common understanding of DHL, which was developed by the partners thanks to an important literature review.
After having discussed what had been finalized in the first months of DIGIHALL, the participants shifted the attention to a future full of tasks. The analysis of them was carried out by Giorgos Koumanakos (from Frontida Zois), who focused on the second phase of the project (PR2 – Interactive E-Training Course, whose leader is Frontida Zois): during this part, the partners will create interactive training material for the e-learning platform (content design and content development) and a guide for the caregivers (which will be translated in their respective languages).
COOSS and Frontida Zois had also the opportunity to present the features of the archetypes created to effectively develop the case studies of the PR1, which contribute to design training materials ad hoc.
Once the daily activities were completed, all the participants visited the town of Esslingen and got to know each other better.
The second day of the meeting opened with another game: «This is how we work!», a game activity proposed by Filippo Triccoli from COOSS Marche.
The Italian partners also introduced the communication and sustainability plan of the project and the necessary strategies to promote its activities, while Chrisopher Karachristos (from the Hellenic Open University) presented the structure and the features of the DIGIHALL website.
What’s better than a moment of sincere conviviality as the best conclusion to these intense days of work? The meeting ended with a pleasant lunch in a typical restaurant in Esslingen before the final greetings.
The next event will take place in November, in Italy. In fact, Jesi will host the second transnational project meeting.