Seeing the potential, social needs and meaning needs of older people receiving care

Europe's population is ageing. As the percentage of older people grows, care needs are expected to increase. Currently, care is mainly focused on medical and physical aspects; however, old age is also an essential part of human life, with the social, cultural and spiritual changes that it brings. For this reason, there is a need for an innovative paradigm shift towards a positive approach to ageing. It is necessary to change the perspective in which the social needs, the need for meaning and the potential of older people are addressed.

The aim of the SeeMe project is to improve the quality of care provided to older people by increasing the knowledge about their needs and expanding the capacities or competences of the various groups of caregivers to respond to these needs.

In particular, the focus is on ensuring that the competences of caregivers are not only related to physical or medical care. In other words, it is about SEEing the person behind the patient, SEEing the social needs and the need for meaning, SEEing the talents and dreams of older people, rather than only paying attention to their - physical or medical - needs. In this way, the SeeMe project contributes to the social inclusion of older people.

In this report we have briefly collected a comprehensive literature review, an empirical study and six SeeMe "good practices".