| Sumario: | Purpose Technological advancements in recent years contributed to an increase of new technologies for assistive purposes in the social and health care sector. However, these are still being implemented hesitantly in Europe because there is a lack of knowledge about their benefits and access. Funding sources are often unclear or the applications cannot be adapted to the users' needs (Taylor et al., 2020; Zigante, 2020). Training is extremely important as it is a key factor for acceptance and subsequent use of digital technologies. Trained professionals can communicate new solutions to different target groups. However, it is still not widespread (WIPO, 2019). This was also apparent in a survey with professionals from different groups in health and social care (Fondazione Santa Lucia, 2020) in six of the participating countries of the Erasmus+ project "DDSkillls - Cutting-Edge Digital Skills for Professional Caregivers of Persons with Disabilities and Mental Health Problems". The European project aims to promote the qualification of professionals in the health and social care sector in order to help them shape decision-making processes, support their clients in the self-determined use of technologies and formulate needs with regard to the development of new adapted applications. Method A consortium of twelve European partners from seven countries with professional and application-oriented expertise in various technologies is developing a certification course in cooperation with different target groups of social work and rehabilitation as well as certification partners in a three-year period. This course can be conducted asynchronously as a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) or synchronously as a face-to-face course. It includes the four topics (1) new technologies, with the subtopics: assistive technologies and aids, smart home, robotics, green ICT, virtual and augmented reality and brain-computer interface (2) self-determination and technology acceptance (3) development of social networks and (4) therapeutic role play for the use of new technologies in practice. Results and Discussion A manual, presentation slides for course delivery, and learning videos demonstrating individual technologies and presenting application topics were developed. These are made available on an online platform in an open-access format in five languages (English, German, Greek, Italian, Lithuanian). In addition, a toolkit has been developed for demonstrating three applications: a virtual reality application for social skills training, an augmented reality application promoting self-advocacy through role playing, and a smart home application for a telepresence robot. After passing an exam, course participants will receive a certificate with ECVET (European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training) points. This qualification measure is intended to promote the digital transformation in the health and social care sector for the benefit of beneficiaries and employees.
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