Enabling accessible
participation – with vitero CASE STUDY: VITERO IN USE AT THE ZNS AKADEMIE
Every year, about 270,000 people in Germany suffer a traumatic brain injury due to an accident. Half of them is below the age of 25. ZNS Hannelore Kohl Stiftung is a foundation that offers assistance to people with brain injuries and their families by providing counselling, information and follow-up advice. The foundation’s support programme was expanded when the ZNS Akademie was founded in 2017. This academy offers training and further education for those affected, their families, and therapists and caregivers. People with a traumatic brain injury have access to a learning programme that is suitable for their capabilities, so they can manage their lives as independently as possible. vitero is now adding an additional aspect: an accessible way to meet with others online.
get back to living their lives again.
A very special target group
Video conferences have become commonplace in the professional world, and everyone knows the routine of logging in, discussing, logging out. However, these types of meetings pose a huge challenge for people with traumatic brain injuries. After their accident, these individuals often have motor and/or cognitive defi cits or vision impairments. Their social background, level of education and experiences also have to be taken into consideration. ‘The fact that the group is so heterogeneous makes it a challenge to do justice to all of them,’ explains Nicole Lattes Zuñiga, head of the academy.
External influences pose an additional obstacle
The coronavirus pandemic has only increased the isolation of those affected and their families. In-person seminars couldn’t be held any more, loneliness and excessive demands increased for all involved and personal interactions disappeared from one day to the next. As a result, affected individuals faced huge setbacks on their way to an independent life on their own terms. ‘Without the pandemic, we wouldn’t have pushed for the introduction of video conferences so much,’ recalls Lattes Zuñiga.
Thanks to the easily accessible solution from vitero, patients can find their way around the platform even without any special technical expertise.
Goals on different levels
The ZNS Akademie pursues goals on the health, emotional, social and knowledge levels. This includes, for example, strengthening psychosocial health resources, boosting independence, supporting inclusion, promoting rehabilitation and enabling an exchange of views and networking. Family members also require support – the focus for them is emotional relief, self-care and coping with everyday life. In addition, the seminars enhance the level of information they have regarding traumatic brain injuries.
Specificgoals for those affected
These needs led the ZNS Akademie to defi ne a number of goals for action: Training in using video tools and sharing information and imparting knowledge on relevant topics – such as relaxation techniques. There is also a need for one-on-one video counselling. Affected individuals who are or would like to be active in self-help groups need training on establishing, financing and implementing them.
Online meetings and online seminars
The focus now was fi nding an especially clear, easy to understand and intuitive solution with a high level of acceptance. So the ZNS Akademie and vitero teamed up to launch a project for accessible online meetings and seminars. When it comes to the online meetings, the first step is clarifying technical matters. This is followed by the warm-up – for example using dot voting: How are you today? Where are you from? Then the participants collect topics using cards and engage in discussions. At the end, there is a feedback round and a discussion of what’s ahead.
Successful implementation
Less than a year after the project’s start, there had already been 100 ZNS online meetings with a total of 600 persons. The groups are small, consisting of f i ve to ten people on average. The 16 trainers – some of them from outside the foundation – include, for example, a psychologist, a social worker and occupational therapist, a systemic coach, three neuropsychologists and an attorney.
Feedback and look ahead
Nicole Lattes Zuñiga is pleased at the wide range of positive feedback. ‘If you consider how diffi cult the initial situation was and how many fears and reservations those affected and their families had, I am very pleased with the result.’ Given this, the project is set to be continued – even once in-person events are possible again – and accessible video conferences will remain an important part of the programme.
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