Inspire Us...
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Project Description |
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Target Audience |
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Evaluation |
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Profile |
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| Project Description |
Inspire aims to assist stroke victims in accessing retraining leading to new work opportunities using computer mediated conferencing facilities. Clients will study either from their own homes or from their rehabilitation centres. Facilities will include access to on-line mentors, careers officers and employment service advisers. An on-line library and disability resource centre will provide information to both patients and client and this will be linked to an interactive support service web-site. An accredited mentoring programme will be produced and offered, free of charge, to carers in order to professionalise their invaluable work.
Modularised on-line packages will be produced and delivered to people recovering from strokes. They will include advice and guidance modules specifically related to retraining, job search, and career pathways. Emphasis will be placed upon ensuring confidence building for clients who may be suffering w self esteem following their illness. Links to web-site advisers will ensure a speedy response from providers and assistance from disability support organisations and employment service. It modules will range from basic IT component to web design and European Computer Driving Licence training and qualifications. On-line support from tutors, mentors and the disability resource centres at Moor Green and the stroke Association will ensure that targets and career pathways are clear & attainable.
Participants will also be encouraged to study and qualify as mentors and, where possible, virtual tutors. This will ensure that skills, competences and experiences owned prior to the onset of their illness will not be lost but will be expanded in a teaching environment.
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Retraining using ICT of 60 stroke patients
75% to obtain accredited qualifications
25% to obtain employment
At present there is no specialised service to support stroke victims into employment even though they constitute the largest group of people suffering severe disability in the UK. Hospitals, rehabilitation units and voluntary organisations such as the Stroke Association, provide excellent care pathways to ensure that clients are able to lead as independent a life as possible. During rehabilitation, physiotherapists and occupational therapists work with the social services department to provide support and physical aids to daily living. However many stroke victims are unable to undertake the same type of work they did prior to their illness and require guidance and retraining to assist their reintegration into the labour market. They will then require a solid foundation of support structures to ensure job retention and this will be provided by New Deal for the Disabled and the provision of a mentor.
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The target group is growing daily. 110,000 people in England & Wales suffer their first stroke every year. Anyone can have a stroke and 10,000 a year occur in people under the age of 55 years. Stroke is the single most common cause of severe disability and in England alone 300,000 are currently living with disabilities caused by strokes.
Stroke can affect a person’s cognitive functions involving learning, understanding and remembering and it is likely that a sufferer will have to consider new career directions if they are to re-access employment (figures Stroke Association Publication 1999)
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Evaluation will be both qualitative and quantitative.
1. Qualitative
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Target recruitment, enrolment onto programme, completion and progression
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All participants to be trained in the use of ICT and tele-matics
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New Working Partnership established between further education employment services and voluntary sector
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Produce of modularised, on-line training packages for pre-vocational and vocational training
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Production of an interactive web-site for used stroke victims, carers and support organisations
2. Quantitative
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Participants will be able to access training remotely from home or rehabilitation centres
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Participants will study as part of a group with a tutor, via computer mediated conferencing, which will ensure peer support and acquisition of new friendships
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Growth of self-esteem in stroke victims who will be assisted to identify skills and competences and find new ways of using them to obtain employment
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The web-site will provide an on-line support centre for carers who will be able to meet and relax in a “chat room” over a virtual coffee/glass of wine and share experiences
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Access to professionals and support organisations in separate on line rooms and opportunities for real-time discussion and question time events.
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Strokes change the lives of victims and their families, At a ‘stroke’ people lose independence and their role and status in society. Rehabilitation centres have long waiting lists of clients wishing to access services growing faster than the physical resources to deal with them. Young people of working age are left at home without the facilities and opportunities to progress their lives. Medical focus is upon reducing the effects of temporary or permanent disabilities and once an individual optimum rehabilitation is reached the sufferer is left alone. The Stroke Association is a voluntary organisation that offers support and advice to clients and their families and the Moor Green Centre offers rehab programmes but has a waiting list of 8 months. Even then, clients can only access for a few hours a week.
The Inspire partnership offers readily accessible, supported programmes to clients in their homes or local access centres. Participants can begin immediately and become part of a virtual college system that they can access on a daily basis. Studying in classrooms, chatting in cafes, reading in libraries and obtaining advice in resource centres. Carers have their own facilities to meet virtually with others in similar positions.
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The Project will be an established link to Bournville’s Virtual College environment. Modularised programmes will be designed, taken to panel and accredited in order to ensure future Learning Skills Council programme funding. Clients will then be able to access their training and obtain qualifications free of charge which is necessary to people receiving state benefits. The Partnership will formalise its relationship in order to establish itself as an entity working as agents of change to assist the reintegration of stroke victims into employment. The diverse natures of partners, incorporating F.E., government departments and voluntary organisations will ensure that the needs of the client group are foremost in all partnership strategies and client representation will be invited into the partnership.
Copyright © 2004 Inspire Partnership
