Abstract

Research acknowledges the relevance of social support and coping strategies to manage the pressure of care experienced by informal carers, where new ICT enabled services can provide more effective and efficient support to individuals compared with traditional interventions. In fact, EU has launched the EIP on healthy and active ageing in order to identify and deployed technologies for long – term care, and the digital agenda to the empowerment and inclusion of informal carers.

For this purpose, the CARICT study, co-financed by DGINFSO and IPTS –JRC of the European Commission, and run throughout 2011, was developed specifically to provide support to policy interested to contribute and support the development and scalability of ICT-enabled domiciliary care services in the European Union (EU). This question was addressed through the systematically elaboration of a mapping of the most relevant ICT-based initiatives existing in Europe to support informal carers of older people living in the community and an in-depth analysis of 12 selected good practices in European countries in order to better understand the impact and the success factors of such services.

The research evidences that the articulation of a multi-level policy framework based mainly on policy leadership, combination of funding programmes, and support of intermediaries (in particular the third sector) are key issues for the success of the development, implementation and transfer of ICT-enabled care services for informal care. These policy recommendations are especially relevant to help Member States to reach their commitments towards the provision of accessible, high-quality and sustainable health and long-term care, through the Open Method of Coordination.

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