Aims and objectives

The main aims and objectives of a dissemination year are to promote the benefits of Adapted Physical Activity (APA) for the elderly population and to make more people aware of them; to set the bases for future implementation of education programs in the area across Europe; to strengthen the links between educational and government and non-government institutions and authorities; to support a possible legislation on European level regarding the education of specialists in the filed.

The main target area is improving the quality of education in the field of APA for the elderly. The conclusion of the network, based on scientific evidence, is that educating and training only the APA specialists will not be enough to meet the demands of the future. It is necessary to implement the basic knowledge of APA for elderly in the curriculum of different academic domains, not only for physiotherapists but also for medical doctors, nurses, social workers, etc., in order to compensate for the current lack of information and resources in this specific domain and at the same time to help expand the concept of active lifestyle for the elderly. Throughout whole Europe we also aim for a lifelong learning process by raising the awareness that not only the adoption of positive health related behaviours but also their maintenance is crucial as the population is continuously ageing.  This dissemination year is needed to start the implementation of the curricula prepared by THENAPA II on bachelor and master level among the European universities and higher education institutions. 

Furthermore it is necessary to induce the collaboration among university departments, local authorities and educational departments, in order to implement different modules in already existing programmes and to start up the new ‘European Master in Adapted Physical Activity for Elderly’.
Another target area is the dissemination of the high quality products (DVD, CD-ROM, resource cards, website, THENAPA II recommendations) developed by THENAPA II network.

We want to disseminate across Europe, in order to familiarise more people (elderly, APA specialist, people working with elderly, governments, NGO’s, etc.) with the subject of APA for the elderly and with that we hope to promote a healthy life-style among the elderly thus improving their quality of life.

The objectives of the dissemination year are:

• Increasing life-long well-being and health promotion
• To promote independence, productivity, self-determination and community inclusion for the older adults
• To promote physical activity for elderly with or without a disability
• To create competencies in a variety of specialists in order to increase their employability
• To induce collaborative effort among University departments, local counties and government
• To contribute to lifelong learning process for APA specialists and people working with elderly with a disability
• To target the persons with  disabilities and their families, the service providers and the qualified personnel, the concerned authorities at all levels, the researchers and the politicians, in order to raise the awareness on the specific topic of the importance of APA for elderly
• To give an overview of the state of play (existing structures and education) in Europe on the topic of APA for elderly, to point the way forward and to exchange models of good practice with all involved parties