In order to better explore the theme of distance learning, this month we are hosting an interview with Valeria Gatti, coordinator of the Healthy project of the ISTUD Foundation.
How was the Healthy project born?
The Healthy project is a European project funded by Erasmus plus involving 6 partners in 5 countries: Fondazione ISTUD in Italy, BOSEV and COMU in Turkey, CPIP in Romania, BULGARIAN TRAINING in Bulgaria and DEFOIN in Spain.
The project was born with the aim of raising awareness and changing the lifestyle of people with eating disorders such as overweight or obesity, through the proposal of practical and / or playful activities collected and disseminated through a toolkit. The materials produced by the respective countries will be collected in a paper toolkit and on an online platform. The choice to create the paper has been made to reach even those who do not use the PC and the Internet. The digital platform, on the other hand, will make it possible to expand the distribution, make it easier to use the contents and enrich the materials with video contents.
The platform will be mainly an organized repository of materials produced to make it easy to navigate by themes.
What does the training kit consist of?
The toolkit can be useful not only to the person himself but also to teachers or professionals who follow and take care of these people.
Hopefully people will also be included from an early age, such as children, to help them learn how to think healthier from an early age.
It is organised into 6 macro-themes: emotional intelligence; diet, movement and other activities: a new lifestyle for children; diet, movement and other activities: a new lifestyle for adults; in addition to food for family gatherings: beyond food to overcome trauma; the perception of one’s own body: towards faster self-awareness.
How important is digital in such a project?
Surely it is important in the preparation phase of the contents, the Romanian partner has in fact provided a platform for remote collaboration to be able to send messages, documents and to keep the timing of the project.
As far as the result is concerned, the digital system certainly has the advantage of making the dissemination easier and the material easier to use; on the contrary, the paper material is made up of a large file of more than 100 pages, resulting particularly expensive to print, disseminate and use for the work team and for potential users.
What will be the future developments of the project?
On October 19, 2018 a focus group will be held at the Milan office of Fondazione ISTUD during which representatives of patient associations and professionals involved in the care of people suffering from obesity will be able to view and test the paper toolkit. This day of testing will be repeated in the coming weeks in the other partner countries involved in the project. Based on the feedback received, the toolkit will be modified, expanded, improved and digitally reproduced on a dedicated platform.
Finally, a document will be drawn up summarizing the main steps and outcomes of the project that will end next July 2019.
In case of someone interested, where can be found the useful information to participate in the project?
For those interested, participation in the focus group is open and free of charge. You can book your participation in the meeting to be held at the Milan office of Fondazione ISTUD, and then have the opportunity to try the tollkit preview during the event, simply by registering through the portal of the project “healthy”,
We look forward to see many of you.
Silvia Napolitano and Matteo Nunner