A European project coordinated by UVic-UCC will study how to improve care for urinary incontinence in residential care homes for the elderly

Urinary incontinence affects more than 55 million people in Europe. More than 60-75% of residents in residential care homes suffer from it. It has traditionally been considered a syndrome that is experienced by geriatric patients, and it has an impact on people's physical, emotional and social quality of life. It is also costly in both financial terms (69 billion Euros in Europe in 2023) and environmental terms (due to the large quantities of absorbent material waste). In order to address this situation and to foster innovation and care for incontinence in residential care homes for senior citizens, the University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC) will be coordinating the project "Boosting innovation and training for PROmoting CONTinue in nursing homes (PROCON)", which is being funded jointly with the European Union. 

"PROCON" seeks primarily to foster innovation and entrepreneurship in the area of urinary continence in nursing homes, to promote training and skills for professionals, and to investigate new technological solutions. The academic and non-academic worlds will be exchanging knowledge in the project, which will involve interdisciplinary work between European and Canadian institutions in various fields (including care homes for the elderly, universities, vocational training centres, technological companies and research centres). 

"One of the innovative aspects of "PROCON" is its use of new technology to deal with urinary incontinence in care homes. For example, the signals from sensors that monitor the residents' movements, sleep and level of restlessness will be studied," explains Javier Jerez, the project's principal researcher and a member of the Methodology, Methods, Models and Outcomes of Health and Social Sciences (MɜO) research group at UVic-UCC. The project's other innovative features include its use of the co-creation method, in order to involve various agents (experts, students, health managers, etc.), "and its use of behavioural change techniques to encourage organisational changes among the staff at the care homes," says Jerez. 

A European project in phases 

The "PROCON" project's consortium is made up of thirteen members from Belgium, Finland, Italy, Spain and Canada. In addition to UVic-UCC, the other participants from Spain are the Institute for Research and Innovation in Life and Health Sciences in Central Catalonia (IRIS-CC), the Hospital Consortium of Vic and the Institute of Vic. The UVic-UCC team of researchers is made up of Javier Jerez-Roig (principal researcher), Andrea Fuente Vidal, Laura Coll Planas, Montse Romero Mas, Sergi Cazorla Calderon, Meltem Yildirim and Xavier Palomar Aumatell, who are members of the MɜO research group at UVic-UCC. 

The project will be take place in various phases. First, a consensus of recommendations will be co-created to foster innovation and entrepreneurship in residential care homes for senior citizens. Second, a new technological solution will be tested in order to improve the detection of involuntary urine loss. This may be useful for the development of preventive and therapeutic plans for urinary incontinence.  

Three courses with subsequent free access will also be co-created: one on innovation and entrepreneurship in the residential care sector, one to improve the health professionals' interdisciplinary competencies (resilience, leadership, teamwork, etc.), and another on caring for urinary incontinence in residential care homes. The effects of the latter two courses will be assessed in a study in Spain, Finland, Canada and Belgium.  

Virtual communities of practice will also be established for the recipients of the training, educational material on continence care will be created for the residents and their families, as well as policy recommendations for incontinence care in residential care homes. The project and its results are expected to reach more than 10,000 people. 

"PROCON" will last three years and has a budget of more than one million Euros, and is funded by the European Commission's Erasmus+ Alliances for Innovation Call programme. The initial meeting to launch the project will take place at UVic-UCC on 9, 10 and 11 December, and will be attended by representatives of all the institutions that are members of the consortium.