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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health

Sec. Aging and Public Health

Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1628714

This article is part of the Research TopicThe Formal and Informal Workforce for a Global Aging PopulationView all 18 articles

Building elder care training for migrants and refugees employed in informal care: suggestions from the SWOT analysis of the educational programme "HERO"

Provisionally accepted
MATTEO  FINCOMATTEO FINCO1,2,3Sara  SantiniSara Santini3*SOTIRIA  MOZASOTIRIA MOZA4ELENA  KYPRIANOUELENA KYPRIANOU4CHRISTINA  YEROUCHRISTINA YEROU5Theologia  TsitsiTheologia Tsitsi5Maria Victoria  SouléMaria Victoria Soulé5Andreas  CharalambousAndreas Charalambous5Panos  KassidakisPanos Kassidakis6Julian  UleciaJulian Ulecia7Stavros  PitoglouStavros Pitoglou8Flavia  GalassiFlavia Galassi3
  • 1National Institute of Science and Health for Aging (IRCCS), Ancona, Italy
  • 2inrca, Ancona, Italy
  • 3IRCSS-INRCA, Ancona, Italy
  • 4Materia Group, Nicosia, Cyprus
  • 5Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus
  • 6Aktions, Athens, Cyprus
  • 7SPSI, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 8Computer Solutions SA, Athens, Greece

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Abstract Background The increased demand for care by older population with multimorbidity and the shortage of staff in the care sector are challenging healthcare systems across Europe. Migrants currently represent a valuable resource to bridge the gap between demand and supply of care in both the formal and informal elder care sector. Their specific educational and social needs have to be addressed by tailored training courses, which would allow them to provide quality care for older people at fair working conditions. Methods The study analysed the perspective of 83 migrants and refugees participating in an elder care course implemented in 2021 in Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Portugal and 35 experts in adult education and elder care, who were involved in semi-structured interviews and focus groups respectively. The textual content were analysed thematically, to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the training. Results Three main themes were identified that may characterise a successful and effective elder care training for migrants: useful educational content, lessons time flexibility and a meaningful relationship with the trainers. Results suggest the improvement of some educational aspects and the design of social investment policies that can recognise the acquired certification at the EU level, help trainees enter the labour market and older people have a good quality assistance. Discussion Proper elder care can prevent the onset of very common risks for the health of older people with long-term care needs and then decrease the hospital accesses and the general pressure on the Health System. Policy recommendations are given framed in the social investment policy framework to consider and monitor all stages of the elder care supply chain, from education up to employment of migrant care workers.

Keywords: Elder care, long-term care (LTC), migrants, Refugees, Health Policy, training

Received: 14 May 2025; Accepted: 04 Sep 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 FINCO, Santini, MOZA, KYPRIANOU, YEROU, Tsitsi, Soulé, Charalambous, Kassidakis, Ulecia, Pitoglou and Galassi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Sara Santini, IRCSS-INRCA, Ancona, Italy

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