ICOPE Training Programme

In 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) published the Integrated Care for Older People (ICOPE) guideline, a normative product providing evidence-based recommendations to prevent, slow, or manage declines in the physical and mental capacities of older people. The guideline supports countries in improving health, functioning, and well-being in older age through interventions that address priority conditions affecting intrinsic capacity.

Building on these recommendations, WHO developed the ICOPE approach, an operational framework to support their implementation in routine practice. The ICOPE approach promotes person-centred, coordinated care by focusing on the optimization of intrinsic capacity and functional ability and by strengthening links across health and social care services. As such, ICOPE contributes to the broader goal of integrated care, while representing one practical approach for addressing the needs of older people.

The ICOPE training programme supports implementation of the ICOPE approach at the primary health care level and contributes to Universal Health Coverage by promoting integrated, person-centred care across the continuum of health and social services. Because care systems vary in their readiness to adopt integrated approaches, the online training should be complemented by in-person discussions to adapt ICOPE to local contexts, while supporting a shift from disease-focused care to the preservation of functional ability and outcomes that matter to older people.

Implementing this transformation requires health and care workers to acquire new knowledge and competencies. Strengthening workforce capacity is therefore essential to support the delivery of integrated, person-centred care for older people, particularly in primary care and community settings, which remain fundamental platforms for achieving Universal Health Coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Objectives

This training programme is aimed at building the individual’s knowledge and attitude of the health workforce in the provision of care to older persons. Participants will obtain the critical foundations to integrate their care activities across settings, promote person-centred assessment, and personalise care interventions in agreement with the older person’s needs, priorities, and values.

Target audience

The primary audience of this training programme is health and care workers (including but not limited to general practitioners, nurses, community health workers, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, nutritionists, psychologists, pharmacists, and social workers) providing care to older persons in the community and primary care setting.

After the ICOPE training programme, participants are expected to:

1. understand the global context to promote the re-orientation and integration of care services for older persons;
2. describe the different aspects of the ICOPE approach (e.g., rationale, care pathways, delivery of person-centred interventions) in primary health care;
3. integrate and apply the ICOPE instruments and recommendations into primary health care practice; 
4. possess the foundations to adapt the ICOPE approach to the local context of primary health care; and
5. have a core of information on how to serve as trainers in the ICOPE approach for the care workforce.  
   

This material also includes a specific module to support the training of trainers in the ICOPE approach (Module 19), to facilitate its dissemination.

This material incorporates lessons learned and feedback gathered through the in-field testing of the WHO ICOPE Training Programme. WHO welcomes comments and suggestions to support future updates and improvements at: icopetraining@who.int.