Co-production in the welfare mix of work with the elderly

A research project at the Ernst Abbe University of Applied Sciences in Jena focussed on the complex cooperation between family members, professionals and volunteers in caring for people with dementia. The IZT took on a work package for this research and development project. The official title of the project, which was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, was: "Co-production in the welfare mix of work with the elderly and family support".

Co-production in the welfare mix of work with the elderly and family support is characterised by complex communication processes between all actors involved. The desired promotion and further development of co-production in certain fields of action (here: the support system for dementia) therefore requires an intensive exchange of knowledge between different scientific disciplines, actors in practice and political actors. For the development of sustainable utilisation concepts as part of the "Transfer" phase of the research project and the "Evaluation: impact assessment, sustainability assessment", this work package therefore examined and validated specific problems and solution approaches identified during the course of the project for sustainable co-production in the welfare mix of work with the elderly and family support under the specific aspect of "translation in knowledge transfer". Above all, fields of action geared towards local policy were placed at the centre with a view to identifying challenges and success factors for successful translation in knowledge transfer and policy advice. The following fields of action were focussed on as starting points:

• "Coming out" field of action: development of "dementia-friendly" municipalities
• "Companion model" field of action: possibilities at municipal level for the installation of a companion model
• Field of action "Municipalities as a place for co-production": Municipalities as experts for regional infrastructures and contacts for co-production processes.

Discourses on translation in knowledge transfer were used to address this task. The specification of the requirements for a successful transfer of sustainable utilisation models for sustainable co-production in the welfare mix of elderly care and family support, even under complex communication conditions, was supplemented by four selected guideline-based expert interviews with political actors.

The results of the support contribution were published in the final report of the research and development project "Co-production in the Welfare Mix of Elderly Work and Family Support (CoAlFa)" and made available in accordance with the specifications of the KoAlFa project team. On the other hand, the results were used in the planned book publication and various journal publications of the project.