eCapacit8 Strengthening occupational health professionals’ capacities to improve the health of the ageing workforces Website: http://www.e-capacit8.eu Runtime: 01.02.2013 – 30.1.2015 Supported / co-funded by: Health Programme EU Partners: Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine (Lodz), PL; National Institute of Public Health (Prague), CZ; AGH University of Science and Technology (Krakow), PL; Croatian National Institute of Public Health (Zagreb), HR; Kooperationsstelle Hamburg IFE GmbH (Hamburg), DE; Institute of Preventive Medicine, Environmental and Occupational Health (Athens), EL; University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Iuliu Hatieganu“ (Cluj Napoca), RO Project representative to be contacted for further info: Agnieszka Chrząszcz (agniech@agh.edu.pl) The ageing of European societies has already become a fact. The share of ‘ageing part’ of EU population will increase significantly over the coming years. This, in turn, will influence not only healthcare and social security systems but also the national economies. One of the intersections at which employees’ ageing exerts its most profound effects is that of employment and health. Demographic changes and the resulting prolongations of retirement ages yield inherent challenges, in as much for the employers as for the workers themselves. On the one hand, it should be in the job- givers’ interest to foster the motivations and competencies of their staff and thus achieve the desired productivity levels. On the other hand, it should be an ultimate concern of the employees to remain healthy, both mentally and physically, and thus upkeep their abilities to work. Health and safety management can play into the benefits of both parties, provided that the sides know either how to work out the ‘right’ approaches themselves, or where to seek assistance from. In that regard, the capacities and experiences of occupational health professionals (OHPs) – as of the medical specialists that the individuals most frequently encounter whilst being employed – seem of particular relevance. The arising question however, is not only whether the OHPs are ready to meet the increased numbers of older workers, but also solve their age-related health problems. In order to prepare the OHPs for the upcoming challenge, it is necessary to use a systematic approach. One, that will consider the equal importance of such factors as: changing the attitudes towards ageing in general, the increase of manager’s knowledge about age-related health issues, workplace health promotion, achievement of work-life balance and the capacities of health systems, and OH sub-systems in particular, to respond to the increasing needs of older employees. Therefore, the ultimate aim of the project is to ‘‘e-CAPACIT8’’ European occupational health professionals (OHPs) by providing them with country-specific, online educational materials. With them at hand, the OHPs will be given the opportunity to improve their knowledge about the health problems experienced by ageing workforce in their country. Additionally skilled OHPs, should in turn, be better able to meet the needs of older workers, bearing in mind their health status, and thus provide an age tailored service. It is anticipated that, in the longer term, the actions undertaken within the project will prompt the OHPs to more actively engage in solving the problems of the ageing workforce, for example through the provision of support and promotion of workability. The general objective of the ‘e-CAPACIT8’ project is to strengthen the capacities of European occupational health professionals (OHPs), so that they can facilitate the process of workers’ ageing. The primary objective is built on four specific objectives namely: • to analyze and review the state of the art of the European OHPs’ training curricula; • to identify and continuously enroll the biggest possible number of stakeholders in the project, throughout its duration; • to develop training material for use through the platform; • to launch the functional version of the e-learning platform and actively enroll active users.
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