On January 22, the YoungCare project held its 3rd and final European roundtable with experts, bringing together 28 participants from various sectors including nursing, architecture, social work, social innovation, and medicine.
Participants represented diverse countries such as Portugal, Italy, Germany, Albania, Turkey, Romania, Belgium, Lithuania, Spain, Austria, Greece, the UK, and Serbia. This collaborative session aimed to address key challenges faced by informal caregivers and propose actionable recommendations for policymakers and professional caregivers.
The session began with a presentation by Carina Dantas, Co-Director of the SHAFE Foundation and CEO of SHINE, who introduced the SHAFE approach and shared key insights developed during the NET4Age-Friendly COST Action.
Following this, an overview of the YoungCare project was presented, including results from desk research and interviews that highlighted good practices from Lithuania, Italy, Portugal, Germany, and the Netherlands.
A key focus of the session was on discussing six critical challenges faced by informal caregivers, which were identified through prior research and during the last co-creation session: time constraints, information gaps and complexity, gender inequality, financial strains, psychological and emotional burden, infrastructure and accessibility issues.
Participants reflected on these challenges and contributed additional insights, good practices, and practical recommendations.
The outcomes from this and previous co-creation sessions will be analysed to finalise the recommendations for policy-makers and professional caregivers, ensuring alignment with the identified challenges and experts’ concerns. The final recommendations will serve as a key deliverable of the YoungCare project, aiming to promote improved support for informal caregivers across Europe.