CQC – Caring for Those Who Care

Caring for Those Who Care (CQC in Portuguese) is an innovative project that promotes support strategies for informal caregivers of dependent people. With funding from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (FCG) and José de Mello Saúde, the project is being implemented by the Sanguedo Social Assistance Center for Children – CASTIIS and MAZE in partnership with Portugal Social Innovation, the Central Administration of the Health (ACSS) and CINTESIS.

The project Caring for Those Who Care (CQC) arose from the need for supportive responses that promote mental health and the quality of life of informal caregivers, as well as endowing them with the knowledge and skills necessary for optimal care.

The first phase of the project took place between 2009 and 2013, in the Entre Douro e Vouga region, and was aimed at informal caregivers of people with dementia and post-stroke. It was based on five central lines of intervention: constitution of psychoeducational and mutual aid intervention groups, constitution of a caregiver scholarship with complementary training, dynamization of local volunteer networks, diagnosis of rest services for caregivers, and creation of discussion forums.

The second phase took place between 2014 and 2016 and considered other municipalities in the Porto Metropolitan Area (AMP), specifically targeting informal caregivers of people with dementia; this phase the project included three actions – the implementation of the CQC’s psychoeducational program and mutual aid groups, the creation of partnership networks between various NGO’s in the region, and a socio-economic impact study.

The third phase of the project, which will take place between 2019 and 2022, aims to replicate the initiative in more municipalities in the north of the country, opening up the intervention to informal caregivers of dependent people without specific pathology.

The project is being implemented by the Sanguedo Social Assistance Center for Children – CASTIIS and MAZE, in partnership with Portugal Social Innovation, the Central Administration of the Health System (ACSS), and CINTESIS.

Caring for Those Who Care was recognized as an innovative project in January 2019, the date on which it received the Social Impact Title (TIS), one of the four financing instruments of the Portugal Social Innovation initiative, becoming the first TIS in Europe in the area of health.

O projeto tem como investidores sociais a Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (FCG) e a José de Mello Saúde, sendo cofinanciado pelo Programa Operacional Inclusão Social e Emprego (PO ISE), Portugal 2020 e Fundo Social Europeu.

239,660.00 €

12,500.00 €

POISE-03-4639-FSE-000384

01/04/2019 to 30/03/2022 (36 months)

Oscar Ribeiro, Daniela Brandão, Cátia L. Pires, Natália Duarte

https://cuidardequemcuida.com/