The value of peer support and a strengths-based approach in a groupwork programme for fathers in a family support setting

This paper seeks to share and critically explore the learning gained through the genesis, realisation, and facilitation process of Just for Dads, a groupwork programme for fathers, run in a family support setting. It highlights the importance of and challenges involved in engaging men in practice, and in groupwork aimed at fathers in particular. It recounts the significance of using a strengths perspective as a framework for engaging fathers in groupwork and highlights its value as experienced by participants and facilitators. The dynamic of peer learning which developed as a key part of the groupwork process is discussed, both in relation to how it was experienced by participants and also the degree to which the facilitators were part of that dynamic. Overall the paper aims to document and air key issues arising in this relatively unexplored arena of groupwork and family support practice.

Scaling up strategies of the chronic respiratory disease programme of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (Action Plan B3: Area 5)

Action Plan B3 of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA) focuses on the integrated care of chronic diseases. Area 5 (Care Pathways) was initiated using chronic respiratory diseases as a model. The chronic respiratory disease action plan includes (1) AIRWAYS integrated care pathways (ICPs), (2) the joint initiative between the Reference site MACVIA-LR (Contre les MAladies Chroniques pour un VIeillissement Actif) and ARIA (Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma), (3) Commitments for Action to the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing and the AIRWAYS ICPs network. It is deployed in collaboration with the World Health Organization Global Alliance against Chronic Respiratory Diseases (GARD). The European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing has proposed a 5-step framework for developing an individual scaling up strategy: (1) what to scale up: (1-a) databases of good practices, (1-b) assessment of viability of the scaling up of good practices, (1-c) classification of good practices for local replication and (2) how to scale up: (2-a) facilitating partnerships for scaling up, (2-b) implementation of key success factors and lessons learnt, including emerging technologies for individualised and predictive medicine. This strategy has already been applied to the chronic respiratory disease action plan of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing.