ICOPE Training Programme

Field testing version

In 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) published the Integrated Care for Older People (ICOPE) guideline, a set of evidence-based recommendations to improve the health, functioning, and well-being of older persons by preventing, slowing, or reversing the decline in physical and mental capacities. The ICOPE approach also aims to sustain progress towards Universal Health Coverage and promote access to the full spectrum of essential health services, from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care services across the life course. Under this novel approach, the objective of care must shift from “curing diseases” to preventing intrinsic capacity loss and managing functional ability. Thus, it is necessary to re-orient health and social care services to make them more responsive to these increasingly complex and challenging care needs.

The proposed re-orientation of care systems can happen only through specific training of the health workforce. Therefore, it is urgent to build capacities in supporting the ICOPE approach, starting from the primary care setting, a recognised cornerstone of sustainable health systems for achieving Universal Health Coverage and Sustainable Development Goals.

Objectives

This training programme is aimed at building the individual’s knowledge and attitude of the health workforce in the provision of care to older persons. Participants will obtain the critical foundations to integrate their care activities across settings, promote person-centred assessment, and personalise care interventions in agreement with the older person’s needs, priorities, and values.

Target audience

The primary audience of this training programme is health and care workers (including but not limited to general practitioners, nurses, community health workers, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, nutritionists, psychologists, pharmacists, and social workers) providing care to older persons in the community and primary care setting.

Learning outcomes

After the ICOPE training programme, participants are expected to:

Understand the global context to promote the re-orientation and integration of care services for older persons,
Describe the different aspects of the ICOPE approach (e.g., rationale, care pathways, delivery of person-centred interventions) in primary health care,
Integrate and apply the ICOPE instruments and recommendations into primary health care practice,
Possess the foundations to adapt the ICOPE approach to the local context of primary health care,
Have a core of information on how to serve as trainers in the ICOPE approach for the care workforce.

The ICOPE training programme specifically focuses on supporting the implementation of the ICOPE approach at the primary health care level. One of the significant issues faced in implementing the ICOPE approach is represented by the different care systems and their readiness to shift towards more integrated approaches. For this reason, this online material should be completed by in-person discussions focused on the possible adaptations of the ICOPE approach to the local context (i.e., priorities, needs and values of older persons, and characteristics of the available services and systems).

This material also includes a specific module to support the training of trainers in the ICOPE approach (Module 19), to facilitate its dissemination.

This material is published online in a “draft for in-field testing” version. To provide your feedback and suggestions, you can write at icopetraining@who.int

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Module 1

The UN Decade of Health Ageing (2021 - 2030)