The European Commission has earmarked more than 5.7 million euro, including 541,875 euro awarded to the Jagiellonian University Medical College, for the purpose of carrying out the international research project EU NAVIGATE within the framework of Horizon Europe. It aim is to assess the NavCare-EU programme, designed to support elderly people suffering from cancer and their families.
The project Wdrażanie i ocena interwencji polegającej na nawigacji osób starszych z chorobą nowotworową oraz ich opiekunów: międzynarodowe badanie RCT [Implementing and assessing intervention based on the navigation of elderly people with cancer and their carers: international RCT research] will be realised over the next five years in the JU MC Centre for Research on Aging Society by a consortium of 11 institutions from 7 countries: Belgium, Ireland, Poland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Canada and Italy.
The aim of the project is to carry out and international research project on the effectiveness of the NavCare-EU programme – interventions based on collaboration between oncological coordinators and navigators (carers, social workers and volunteers) in order to provide general (not only strictly medical) support for the elderly suffering from cancer and their families. The effectiveness of these interventions in terms of economic assistance and quality of life will be assessed through RCT research on a group of 600 patients of more than 70 years of age in five European countries. This will result in designing educational materials, evaluating the effectiveness of the intervention-based care model, and preparing a set of recommendations for care over elderly cancer patients.
The Jagiellonian University Medical College will also prepare an individual report on coordination and navigation of cancer patients in the EU.
The project will be coordinated by Prof. Lieve van den Block from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. The Polish part of the research team will be led by Prof. Katarzyna Szczerbińska.
