LIACC @ U. Fernando Pessoa

EMBRACE: From Vulnerability to Empowerment

Active project

Older adults and health professionals smiling together, from the EMBRACE project website

Universidade Fernando Pessoa (UFP) leads EMBRACE — From Vulnerability to Empowerment, a research project that implements and evaluates a multicomponent programme to prevent and compensate for age-related decline. The project is led by Prof. Carina Fernandes; from our group, Prof. Christophe Soares is responsible for the informatics component.

What EMBRACE is

EMBRACE responds to the growing challenges of ageing: the risk of cognitive decline and dementia, and the vulnerability of older people to financial fraud and digital exclusion, all of which can compromise autonomy, well-being and quality of life.

The project proposes a non-pharmacological intervention that combines several components, in line with the World Health Organization’s recommendations for reducing the risk of dementia:

  • cognitive training;
  • language stimulation;
  • guidance on physical exercise;
  • nutrition and oral health counselling;
  • financial and digital literacy.

Including financial and digital education is one of the project’s innovations: it gives participants tools to protect themselves against fraud and to take part in an increasingly digital daily life.

Objectives

  • Evaluate how effective the programme is at maintaining the quality of life, general well-being and functioning of older adults, and at improving their financial and digital literacy.
  • Investigate how far a multidomain intervention can prevent or delay cognitive decline in older adults at increased risk.
  • Study the feasibility of implementing the programme in the Portuguese population over 12 months.

How it works

Study typeBlinded randomised controlled trial (RCT)
Participants120 people aged 60 to 80
AssessmentThree moments: start, after 12 months, and follow-up at 18 months
Duration36 months
Intervention teamPsychologists, neuropsychologists, physiotherapists, speech therapists, nutritionists and dentists

Team

EMBRACE brings together a multidisciplinary team from UFP and the Escola Superior de Saúde Fernando Pessoa, in psychology, speech therapy, physiotherapy, nutrition, dental medicine, clinical analysis and informatics. The principal investigator is Prof. Carina Fernandes. The full team is listed on the project website.

From LIACC @ UFP, the member of the research team is:

  • Prof. Christophe Soares (informatics)

Funding

EMBRACE is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through COMPETE 2030 (reference COMPETE2030-FEDER-00892100) and by its proposing institution, Fundação Fernando Pessoa.

Project website: embrace.ufp.edu.pt (in Portuguese).