AQuiLa- Development of community-based approaches for inpatient long-term care facilities

AQuiLa 2

The AQUILA 2 project builds on a body of literature as well as on empirical surveys from the AQUILA 1 project. The findings on inpatient long-term care facilities and their connections within the community form the starting point for AQUILA 2.

The overall objective is to initiate and scientifically support future-oriented planning and care for the elderly in a participatory, open-ended process, which includes the involvement of citizens and other relevant actors in the neighbourhood.

The project is intended to support municipal government policy on ageing in the community and the continuation of the strategy, Quartier 2030, in Baden-Württemberg.

The project, funded by the Ministry of Social Affairs, Health and Integration, Baden-Württemberg, is divided into 3 work packages and pursues the following questions.

• How does the implementation of concrete community-based strategies for inpatient long-term care facilities take place?
• How can the process of practical implementation process be best supported?
• What consequences does implementation have in terms of cost and personnel structure?
• Which best practice strategies and models can be applied?

The project steps include in detail:

• Project preparation

The first step (1) is to select ten inpatient long-term care facilities in different communities and to implement measures to increase access to the communities around them. This will be implemented on the basis of a catalogue of specially prepared criteria.

• Project implementation

The second step (2) will involve the supervision of this implementation process beginning with future-oriented workshops, continuing with focus group,s and finally being supplemented by other formats such as networking conferences and feedback interviews.

Through the evaluation and integration of data, community and organisational profiles are to be created with the goal of demonstrating different options for action. Profiling will serve to enable transferability to other communities and will also be reflected in the recommendations for action and the launch of an excellence initiative.

• Project completion

Step three (3) deals, on the one hand, with the presentation of best practice projects and the derivation of concrete recommendations for action to optimise community-based strategies for inpatient long-term care facilities. On the other hand, this step focuses on the development and establishment of an excellence initiative through the integration of structurally similar projects.

Project Duration

October 2021 - February 2023

The aim of the project is the preparation of an expert report concerning future-oriented inclusive municipal geriatric planning in Baden-Württemberg with specific regard to community-based concepts involving in-patient care facilities. The project is part of the statewide strategy, "Quartier 2030 - Gemeinsam.Gestalten." (Neighbourhood 2030 – Together.Shaping) and is supported by the Ministry of Social Affairs, Health and Integration with funds from the state of Baden-Württemberg.

The following questions will be addressed in the project:

• Which community-based approaches exist for inpatient care facilities?
• What are the optimal and minimal framework conditions governing these facilities including the involvement of citizens in the (further) development of community-based approaches?
• What recommendations for action can be inferred?

The project, funded by the Ministry of Social Affairs, Health and Integration Baden-Württemberg, is divided into 3 work packages:

In a first step (1), a literature review will be conducted which demonstrates the relevant developments and findings related to the integration of inpatient care facilities into communities from a research perspective. Subsequently, a catalogue of criteria for assessing the potential for community-based approaches for inpatient long-term care facilities will be developed on the basis of research projects already carried out.

In step (2), a comparison of two inpatient long-term care facilities in Baden-Württemberg will be implemented to establish what their specific community-based approaches look like and how the actors in these municipalities contribute to successful implementation. The main aim is to determine which factors facilitate and/or inhibit the implementation of such community-based strategies, which options exist for sustainable implementation in the community and how such approaches can be transferred to other municipalities.

In the concluding third step (3), recommendations for action (success and risk factors) in terms of social planning and practice will be derived from the research findings and documented  in the form of a handbook.

Project Duration

October 2020 - December 2021