In 2022 we have continued with our firm commitment to get our activity programme back to normal in relation to prevention, awareness, dissemination and promotion of inclusive physical education.
Prevention and Social Awareness
Road awareness campaign in high schools and training centres: GAME OVER programme
The 3rd Sustainable Development Goal of the Global Compact, Good Health and Wellbeing, in which as a health organisation the Institut Guttmann plays a significant role, also includes the goal of halving the worldwide number of deaths and injuries caused by traffic accidents. In this sense, the Foundation has developed its Game Over prevention programme in collaboration with the Catalan Traffic Service.
GAME OVER aims to raise awareness in young people so that they develop responsible behaviours, adopt prudent attitudes and take the necessary safety measures when driving a motor vehicle and practising high-risk sports and leisure activities.
A total of 4,183 young people who attended talks during the 2021-2022 academic year have completed the survey to assess the results 3 months after the session. The results are given below.
– 84% of the students surveyed believe that the Game Over talks have a lot or quite a lot of influence by raising awareness and avoiding possible risky behaviours when driving a vehicle or in traffic in general.
– Three months after the talk, what students remember the most are the consequences of traffic accidents, followed by the testimony and the personal experience of the facilitator.
– 40% of students state that since they received the talk, they have changed a particular attitude or behaviour on the road, either as a driver of a vehicle, passenger or pedestrian.
The students have explained which behaviours they have modified since they received the Game Over talk. What is repeated the most among those surveyed is that they are now more aware of the dangers and of what they are doing, and they are more careful when they are out and about. Many of them give more importance to safety measures and say that they try to keep their helmets fastened, put on their seat belts and cross the street at a pedestrian crossing.
Many young people also say they are more attentive to how other people drive when they are a passenger, warning them if they are going too fast or if they pick up their mobile phones, and refusing to travel with a driver who has been drinking alcohol.
The Game Over programme was launched 30 years ago, in 1992, and has already reached 758,546 students between the ages of 15 and 18 and 7,604 high schools and training centres throughout Catalonia.
This 2022 the Municipal Police of Terrassa and the Local Police of Sant Boi have recognized the Game Over Program in two tribute events in which some of the monitors of the program have come to collect the award.
10th Road Safety Prevention Meeting for facilitators from Game Over and the Catalan police.
In 2022 we held our 10th Road Safety Prevention Meeting with the participation of the Minister of the Interior, the Hon. Mr. Joan Ignasi Elena, accompanied by the Director of the Catalan Traffic Service, Mr. Ramon Lamiel.
The event was held at Casa Seat in Barcelona. It was attended by facilitators from the Game Over accident prevention programme, all of them former patients of the Institut Guttmann and responsible for giving talks to raise awareness in high schools and training centres throughout Catalonia, and also by local police officers and mossos de esquadra road safety education facilitators in Catalonia.
The aim of these meetings is to bring together the different agents involved in road safety in Catalonia once a year to discuss the future challenges we face in relation to mobility and the prevention of traffic accidents, especially among young people.
Guttmann Talks
Within the framework of its social commitment, the Fundació Institut Guttmann offers a range of awareness sessions aimed at companies with a clear strategy linked to Corporate Social Responsibility.
Through the testimony of a person with functional diversity and the support of a member of the Institut Guttmann professional team, the aim of this initiative is to prevent reckless attitudes that may cause neurological impairment and, at the same time, to visualise and raise awareness about the rights of people with disabilities.
During 2022, 25 Guttmann Talks sessions were held with a total of 6 companies and organisations.
Information sessions
These sessions are aimed at people interested in learning about the activities of the Fundació Institut Guttmann and, specifically, the work carried out in the Neurorehabilitation Hospital. In this activity, representatives of the Institut Guttmann present aspects related to disability of neurological origin and the activities carried out in the care, teaching, research and social fields.
Regarding this programme, 17 face-to-face talks and 11 online sessions were held during 2022, with a total of 1,699 participants.
The outreach and awareness-raising training activities also had special relevance in 2022 at Guttmann Barcelona, with the organisation of webinars for the teaching staff, Coffee Brains for volunteers on the BBHI project, and the already traditional Ágoras.
Coffee Brains
In 2022, the Coffee Brains cycle was started up to offer information sessions that address various topics for prevention and treatment in the area of brain health, such as mental health, the role of physical activity and non-invasive brain stimulation, among others. This cycle is part of the programme of the Barcelona Brain Health Initiative (BBHI) research project.
6 Coffee Brains sessions were held in 2022, with a total of 870 participants.
“Neurodevelopment and School” webinars
Within Guttmann Barcelona’s sense of social commitment and from the Institute of Brain Health and Neurorehabilitation, a new initiative has been launched especially designed for professionals in the world of education, offering information on the process of children’s neurological development and how it influences learning at school. We have therefore inaugurated a new cycle of “Neurodevelopment and School” webinars with a total of 4 themed sessions and 1,750 participants. The following topics were addressed:
- Cognitive development and learning
- Dyslexia or difficulties in reading and writing
- Attention deficit in the classroom
- Giftedness
Ágora Guttmann Barcelona
We have continued the Ágora Guttmann Barcelona cycle of talks with the participation of 2,423 people, including both face-to-face and online modalities. Different social and care issues have been addressed, such as neurotechnologies applied to rehabilitation, attention deficit disorders in children with or without hyperactivity, changes in the regulations on legal capacity to support people with disabilities, the Vida Activa programme and behavioural disorders in people with a head injury, among others.
Awareness-raising
SiiDON, a service offering comprehensive information on disability that is neurological in origin.
SiiDON (a service offering comprehensive information on disability that is neurological in origin) is an initiative that the Institut Guttmann makes available to everybody interested in accessing proven and useful information and content related to the world of disability that is neurological in origin. Its aim is to help facilitate the functional autonomy, well-being and social inclusion of those affected and their families.
The portal continued to grow in 2022, bringing together documentation, information and specific resources on the different areas that are particularly affected by disability that is neurological in origin. Enter and find out everything it offers!
There were 114,272 information sessions on the SiiDON portal during 2022.
Magazine “SOBRE RUEDAS”
The Institut Guttmann has continued its editorial work with the publication of issues 108, 109 and 110 of the magazine Sobre Ruedas, tackling topics such as mental health, non-invasive brain stimulation, the refugee crisis and people with disabilities in vulnerable situations in relation to the war in Ukraine, and, to end the year, an issue devoted to childhood learning disorders.
Institut Guttmann Technical Synposia
On 26 October, coinciding with World Head Injury Awareness Day, we held our 34th Technical Symposia under the title “Estimulación cerebral no invasiva; la hora de la clínica” at Guttmann Barcelona. Under the scientific leadership of Professor Álvaro Pascual-Leone, this conference brought together professionals from very diverse fields who took part in theoretical sessions in the morning and in workshops on different non-invasive brain stimulation techniques in the afternoon.
At the Conference we shared the results of our experience over the last few years working on a translational neuromodulation programme, explaining the challenges and solutions we have found and the challenges still to be faced.
Promoting inclusive physical education and sport
Outings in the natural environment
We promote and organize several projects for Inclusive Physical Education for children, young people and adults with a disability of neurological origin. For this reason, sports outings in the natural environment are regularly organized so that patients come into contact with different sports and practice them in a different environment and in the open air, contributing to the his state of mind and health.
On the other hand, they are inclusive activities that can be shared with family and friends, so they facilitate the continuity of the practice in the future. Among others, the activities we promote are skiing, sailing, cycling, scuba diving, kayaking…
Dofins de Colors
Dofins de Colors is a project from the Institut Guttmann, designed for families, education professionals and instructors from sports centres. It aims to promote the inclusion and socialisation of children with disabilities through a cooperative pedagogical approach in physical education and sports.
Dofins de Colors promotes education in values with cooperative activities and methodologies through physical activity and play, offering inclusive activities so that children with different functional capacities can grow and have fun together while helping each other.
The portal Dofins de Colors, an inclusive sports online platform aimed at children under 16, offers more than 180 teaching cards.
Mou-te… i Veuràs!
This year, after years affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Fundació Institut Guttmann has once again been able to run its legendary ¡Muévete y Verás…! activity based on its social commitment, taking the form of inclusive days through cooperative physical activity between children and young people.
These days are run at the hospital by specialist professionals, and children with disabilities take part along with their classmates in a normalised way. The day was also aimed at training future physical education teachers in schools to offer inclusive and cooperative sports activities, with students from the Blanquerna University who are preparing to be physical education teachers.
The activity took place on 4 May with 2nd grade primary students from Badalona’s Jungfrau School, on 10 May with 6th grade students from Vic’s Cernícalo School, and on 11 May with Barcelona’s FEDAC School with 3rd grade primary school students.
