Completed projects
The projects of the Careum School of Health are concerned with care for the elderly and long-term care in private households. The central and overarching theme is independent living for those with chronic conditions. The areas of focus are reconciling work with caring for relatives (“work & care”), children and adolescents as family carers (“Young Carers”), people living at home as they get older (“Ageing at home”) and patient involvement and health literacy.
All completed projects
Research programme “Young Carers”
Research programme “work & care”
Research programme “Ageing at home”
Cross-programme and joint projects
Further projects
Young Carers
Young carers – qualitative survey & practical tool for healthcare
Research programme “Young Carers”
- Brief description: The project comprised a qualitative survey of children, adolescents, young adults and professionals and the development of a specific tool for professionals in healthcare and social services.
- Duration: January 2015–August 2016
- External funding: Ebnet Foundation
work & care
Double-Duty Caregiving
Research programme “work & care”
- Brief description: The research programme sheds light on the dual role of health professionals in and around Zurich who also care for relatives who are ill, disabled or elderly.
- Duration: July 2015 - december 2017
- External funding: Swiss Nursing Sciences Foundation (Basel), City of Zurich Department of Health and Environment, Department for the Equality of Men and Women in the canton of Zurich
Organisational survey on working conditions and health issues in healthcare professions
Research programme “work & care” (collaborative project with UZH)
- Brief description: The collaborative project investigated the relationships between workload and health problems in the healthcare professions in Switzerland.
- Duration: 2014–2016
- Financial support: Suva
Self-managed life at home – arrangements by people with spinal paralysi
Research programme “work & care” / “Care Migration”
- Brief description: The project investigates the experiences and strategies of people with spinal paralysis regarding the issue of domestic care and support.
- Duration: November 2014–summer 2016
- Partner in practice: Swiss Paraplegic Foundation
work & care connect
Research programme “work & care”
- Brief description: A needs analysis showed whether alliances between organisations and care centres are possible in order to enable employees to use daytime and night-time services for their relatives requiring care in the same way that they use nurseries for the care of their children.
- Duration: Pilot project until May 2015, further activities
- External funding: Swiss Federal Office for Gender Equality (FOGE) as part of the financial support in accordance with the Equality Act
The aging demographic in central Switzerland
Research programme “work & care”
- Brief description: The project sheds light on the "work & care" situation in selected organisations in central Switzerland.
- Duration: December 2013–December 2015
work & care plus
Research programme “work & care”
- Brief description: The online platform www.workandcare.ch has been developed as part of the project.
- Duration: February 2013–August 2015
- External funding: Swiss Federal Office for Gender Equality (FOGE) as part of the financial support in accordance with the Equality Act
Support services and financial contributions for relatives
Research programme “work & care”
- Brief description: The study aimed to conduct a survey of the financial contributions and support services for relatives providing care and support.
- Duration: 2013–2014
- External funding: Swiss Federal Office of Public Health
Care Migration – transnational care arrangements in the private household
Research programme “work & care” / “Care Migration”
- Brief description: The study is concerned with the relevance of health policy and the extent of care migration, as well as its effects on the healthcare system in Switzerland.
- Duration: 2011–2013
- External funding: Federal Statistical Office, Swiss Health Observatory (Obsan)
work & care integra preliminary project
Research programme “work & care”
- Brief description: Careum Research investigated the terms within which Spitex can manage to employ relatives providing care.
- Duration: Preliminary project until December 2013
- External funding: CTI innovation grant
Swiss Cancer League
Research programme “work & care”
- Brief description: This project focused on the decision-making routes taken by people suffering with cancer and their relatives regarding the reconciliation of work and care.
- Duration: 2013
- External funding: Swiss Cancer League
work & care practical tools
Research programme “work & care”
- Brief description: Careum Research has developed three practical tools to facilitate the reconciliation of work and care.
- Duration: May 2010–October 2011
- External funding: Swiss Federal Office for Gender Equality (FOGE) as part of the financial support in accordance with the Equality Act
work & care 2
Research programme “work & care”
- Brief description: Careum Research investigated the interfaces between the professional and family care system.
- Duration: May 2010–February 2013
- External funding: Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF/DORE
Care migrants providing domestic care: Spitex assessment
Research programme “work & care” / “Care Migration”
- Brief description: The project focused on the challenges and opportunities of care migration from the perspective of Spitex.
- Duration: December 2011–April 2012
- External funding: Cooperation with the City of Zurich, Department for Equality
Case Management
Research programme “work & care”
- Brief description: The aim of the project was to develop a case management profile for relatives providing care who also work for a living.
- Duration: 2010
- External funding: Paul Schiller Foundation
work & care 1
Research programme “work & care”
- Brief description: The project aimed to ascertain and conceptualise individual and operational challenges in reconciling work and care.
- Duration: November 2007–October 2009
- External funding: Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF/DORE
Ageing at Home
First aid for mental health
Research programme “Ageing at home”
- Brief description: A new training course teaches lay persons how to support people with mental illnesses.
- Duration: January 2019–October 2019
- External funding: Pro Mente Sana
Evaluation «Recovery Wege entdecken» Riggisberg
Research programme “Ageing at home”
- Brief description: Careum Forschung evaluiert eine Weiterbildung, die psychisch erschütterten Menschen auf ihrem Genesungsprozess unterstützen und Selbstwirksamkeit fördern soll.
- Duration: November 2018–Oktober 2019
- External funding: Stiftung Pro Mente Sana
Evaluation “Experienced Involvement“ Pfäfers
Research programme “Ageing at home”
- Brief description: Careum Research evaluated an advanced training that enables people with psychiatric experience to play a participatory role in healthcare.
- Duration: February 2019–August 2019
- External funding: Psychiatrie-Dienste Süd
Evaluation of CareNet+
Research programme “Ageing at home”
- Brief description: Careum Research evaluated the CareNet+ care network for the elderly, which is intended to coordinate collaboration between existing service providers on a case-by-case basis and ensure a better fit.
- Duration: 2016–2018
- External funding: Pro Senectute canton of Zurich, Federal Social Insurance Office
Evaluation “Discovering recovery methods” Pfäfers
Research programme ”Ageing at home”
- Brief description: Careum Research evaluated an advanced training to support the recovery process of people who have suffered psychological trauma and promote self-efficacy.
- Duration: October 2018–December 2018
- External funding: Psychiatrie-Dienste Süd
Evaluation “Discovering recovery methods“
Research programme “Ageing at home”
- Brief description: Careum Research evaluated an advanced training to support the recovery process of people who have suffered psychological trauma and promote self-efficacy.
- Duration: 2017–2018
- External funding: Pro Mente Sana Foundation
Evaluation “Experienced Involvement“ (EX IN)
Research programme “Ageing at home”
- Brief description: Careum Research evaluated an advanced training that enables people with psychiatric experience to play a participatory role in healthcare.
- Duration: 2017–2018
- External funding: Luzerner Psychiatrie
Network Indepent Living
Research programme ”Ageing at home”
- Brief description: This “moderated” network brought together businesses and non-profit organisations which wanted to do something around the issue of independent living.
Duration: 2008–2016
Evaluation of the new care financing arrangement
Research programme “Ageing at home”
- Brief description: The study investigated the actual effects of the new care financing arrangement.
- Duration: April 2016–November 2017
- Crontracting authority: Swiss Federal Office of Public Health
Carpe diem: supporting the personal life projects of people aged 60+
Research programme “Ageing at home”
- Brief description: The aim of the project was to provide a postgraduate course that will help to support people aged 60+ in pursuing life projects in retirement.
- Duration: October 2015–September 2017
- External funding: Swiss Federal Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI)
Evaluation of the project “Zeitvorsorge St. Gallen”
Research programme “Ageing at home”
- Brief description: Careum Research evaluated the time provision project in the city of St. Gallen, where sprightly senior citizens support their peers in need of help to accumulate time credits for their own support in old age.
- Duration: May 2016–April 2017
- Contracting authority: Office for Social Affairs, St. Gallen
Evaluation of the “Recovery Fundamente” and “Peer Qualifikation” continuing education courses
Brief description: The project was responsible for the concurrent scientific evaluation of two continuing education courses aimed at people with experience of mental illness and recovery as well as psychiatric treatment.
Duration: 2015–2016
Evaluation of the project “Älter werden im Quartier” in the city of Frauenfeld
Research programme “Ageing at home”
- Brief description: Careum Research evaluated the model project “Getting older in an urban district” in Frauenfeld.
- Duration: 2014–2017
- External funding: Age Stiftung
Joint living arrangements in the second half of life
Research programme “Ageing at home”
- Brief description: The project undertook a survey of the variety of communal living concepts in the canton of Zurich.
- Duration: 2013–2016
- External funding: Heinrich and Erna Walder Foundation, Zurich
Long Independent Living Assistant (LILA)
Research programme “Ageing at home”
- Brief descritption: The project team has developed an Internet-based Ambient Assisted Living Assistant, which enables telemonitoring and individual teleconsultancy for elderly people in their own homes.
- Duration: 2013–2015
- External funding: Swiss Federal Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI)
Ageing in Munich
Research programme “Ageing at home”
- Brief description: The study sheds light on the various facets of ageing in a large city with reference to the baby boomer generation.
- Duration: 2013–2015
- External funding: Provincial capital of Munich and Supreme Building Authority of Bavaria
Co-production in the welfare mix of working with the elderly and family support
Research programme “Ageing at home”
- Brief description: Recommendations for the effective co-production of professionals, volunteers and families regarding the care of people with dementia are developed in the project.
- Duration: 2011–2014
- External funding: German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, SILQUA programme
Region-oriented generation management
Research programme “Ageing at home”
- Brief description: The project team has developed a tool that permits SMEs in regional areas to evaluate generation management autonomously and to derive measures from this evaluation.
- Duration: 2012–2014
- External funding: IBH – Internationale Bodensee Hochschule (a union of German, Austrian, Liechtensteinian and Swiss universities in the Lake Constance region)
InnoWo – living at home until the end of life
Research programme “Ageing at home”
- Brief description: The research team investigated how people needing care can, with intensive support management, stay at home until the end of their life.
- Duration: 2009–2012
- External funding: German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, SILQUA programme
Cross-programme and joint projects
Community service in home care
Research programmes “work & care”, “Ageing at home”
- Brief description: The project examines the use of community service workers in private households as a resource for carers and their relatives at home.
- Duration: February 2019–July 2019
- External funding: Bundesamt für Zivildienst ZIVI
Representative survey of the needs of family carers
Research programmes “Young Carers”, “work & care”, “Ageing at home”
- Brief description: The first nationwide and representative survey on the situation and needs of family carers during various stages of their life.
- Duration: July 2017–June 2019
- Funding: FOPH, support programme “relief offers for relatives providing care 2017–2020”
Distance Caregiving Santé
Research programme “work & care”, “Ageing at home”
- Brief description: Help and care: Swiss health professionals support their relatives from a distance.
- Duration: November 2018–October 2019
- External funding: Schwyzer Winiker Stiftung
Support for relatives providing care within entry and emergency situations
Research programmes “Ageing at home”, “work & care”
- Brief description: The project aims to determine to what extent caring relatives can be better supported within entry and emergency situations.
- Duration: October 2017—September 2019
- Funding: FOPH, support programme “relief offers for relatives providing care 2017—2020”
- Project Lead: ZHAW, Institut für Pflege (Lead), FHS St. Gallen, Institut für Angewandte Pflegewissenschaften
Distance Caregiving
Research programmes “work & care”, “Ageing at home”
- Brief description: The project investigates the possibility of help and care, even at a distance.
- Duration: 2016–2018
- External funding: German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, SILQUA programme
Project Details
Support for living at home
Research programmes “work & care”, “Ageing at home”
- Brief description: A new service offered by Sanitas health insurance seeks to improve support for living at home.
- Duration: January 2019–September 2019
- External funding: Sanitas health insurance
Further projects
Self-Check Health Literacy for Organisations
Research programme “Health Literacy Zurich”
Brief description: A self-evaluation tool for medical practices and Spitex organisations is being developed together with two practice partners.
Duration: April 2019–March 2021
External funding: Gesundheitsförderung Schweiz
Inpatient-outpatient transitions in the era of DRGs: the legal framework and current practice
Research programme UZH (cooperation with Prof. Dr. iur. Agnes Leu)
Brief description: At the interface between inpatient and outpatient care, the research team investigated the forms of care chosen by patient groups.
Duration: 2015–2018
External funding: Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF/DORE
COSS study – self-management support for women with breast cancer
Research programme “patient education”
Brief description: The study aimed to develop and test a self-management programme for women with breast cancer.
Duration: September 2016–November 2017 (end of project participation by Careum Research)
Financial support: Swiss Cancer Research, Lindenhof Foundation Bern
USECARE AAL – use cases for informal care
Research programme “patient education”
Brief description: The project team evaluated the benefits of the electronic self-management programme Senaca from the perspective of patients and relatives.
Duration: May 2015–March 2017
External funding: European Union – Active and Assisted Living Research and Development Programme; Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI)
Evivo course for providing access to vulnerable groups
Research programme “patient education”
Brief description: The project concerns the Evivo course programme, which aims to make self-management support more accessible to migrants with chronic conditions.
Duration: 2015–2017
External funding: Swiss Federal Office of Public Health
