Dementia is currently one of the major causes of disability and dependency among older adults worldwide. Cognitive dysfunction, neuropsychiatric symptoms, somatic complaints, and functional impairment fundamentally affect not only a person living with dementia (PLwD), but also his/her informal caregiver(s), often resulting in a high caregiver burden. A number of variables, including the caregiver's sociodemographic characteristics, the clinical characteristics of PLwD, social support, and the caregiver's personal resources determine the caregiver's burden. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations of caregiver burden in informal caregivers of PLwD with perceived social support, positive caregiving experience, and applying therapeutic communication methods. The data were collected from September 2021 to February 2022 among 115 "PLwD-informal caregiver" dyads in the community settings in Slovakia. Measures included the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI-12), the Oslo Social Support Scale (OSSS-3), the Positive Aspects of Caregiving Scale (PACS), and two questions on applying therapeutic communication methods-reminiscence and validation according to Naomi Feil. The Short IQCODE was used for assessing cognitive decline in PLwD. Pearson's and Spearman's correlations, t-tests, Chi-square, ANOVA, and linear multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the data (IBM SPSS 27). The mean age of informal caregivers was 54 ± 12.4 years (81.7% of women) and the mean caregiving duration was 4.8 ± 4.8 years. The mean age of PLwD was 80.5 ± 8.3 years (73.0% of women) and their Short IQCODE mean score was 4.1 ± 1.0. Lower caregiving burden was significantly associated with higher perceived social support (β = 0.33, p < 0.01), with higher positive caregiving experience (β = 0.33, p < 0.01), and higher caregiving intensity (β = 0.24, p < 0.05) among informal caregivers of PLwD. The associations between caregiver burden and applying two therapeutic communication methods were not significant. Implementing psycho-social and educational public health interventions focused on strengthening social support and maintaining positive perceptions of caregiving can help reduce the increased risk of caregiver burden in informal caregivers of older adults with dementia.

Abstract Introduction Professionals caring for persons with dementia (PwD) have to meet demands from various sides. Considering today's high standards put on institutional care with respect to “person centred care” and the skills related to specific needs of PwD, caring for care staff is one of the major challenges. Objectives The aim of this study was to investigate the caregiver burden in professional dementia care and its work related differences. Methods The study was carried out from September 2021 to February 2022 among 105 professionals working in different settings for PwD in Slovakia including home care and day care centres. The Professional Care Team Burden scale (PCTB) and the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI-12) were chosen to measure caregiver burden. Length of work in the organisation (&amp;lt; 3, 3 to 6, &amp;gt; 6 years), job position (domiciliary and other care worker), and current dementia care intensity (≤ 8, 9 to 39, &amp;gt; 40 hours/week) were also measured. Independent samples T-tests and ANOVA were used to analyse the differences (IBM SPSS 27). Results 87.6% of professionals were women (mean age 48.6±9.8 years). 52.5% worked more than 6 years in the organisation, 53.3% were in the job position of domiciliary care workers, and for 52.1% the current dementia care intensity was 9 to 39 hours/week. Caregiver burden mean scores achieved were 26.7±4.0 (PCTB) and 9.7±6.2 (ZBI-12). The significant difference was found in the PCTB by job position with the higher burden in domiciliary care workers (mean score 26.0 + 4.2, p &amp;lt; 0.05). No significant differences were observed in the PCTB and the ZBI-12 by the length of work in the organisation and current dementia care intensity. Conclusions Specific scales for assessing professionals’ caregiver burden are useful to uncover areas for intervention. Structuring the interventions by taking the care staff subjective feelings of burden into account is important for future improvements in institutional care. (Grant support: VEGA no. 1/0372/20). Key messages

In the 20th Century a great effort has been made both to prove that yoga and acupuncture (i.e., Chinese medicine) can be used for health-related purposes and to discover the functional mechanisms of both systems.

Abstract Issue The Coalition of Partners (CoP) takes collective action to strengthen public health (PH) services and capacities across the WHO European Region. A review of the implementation of the European Action Plan for Strengthening PH Capacities and Services showed that, despite robust action, its potential remained largely unrealized. In 2017-2018 Slovakia has joined the WHO activities aimed to accelerate a progress in Europe and in individual Member States. One of the main problem of the Slovak PH system is a lack of experts and unbalanced infrastructure. Description of the problem The critical shortage of PH workforce in Slovakia is a result of increasing retirement of physicians, decreasing interest of young physicians and PH professionals to enter to PH practice, and limited opportunities for other professionals in the current PH system. Therefore, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Public Health Authority of the SR, the relevant academic institutions and non-governmental organisations agreed to deal with strengthening the PH workforce and took the responsibility for mobilizing the resources needed to implement the Agenda for Action. Results In September 2019, regional PH institutes, universities, professional associations, and other experts were invited to evaluate the PH workforce professionalization using a rapid assessment tool (Czabanowska, Slock, 2019). In October-December 2019, three national round tables were held with aim to formulate the areas for cooperation. In February 2020, the core team and three expertś teams were nominated by the State secretary of the MOH to continue on prioritising the future recommendations in the fields of: education and training, research and development, system and financing. Lessons The initiative supporting PH professionalization has a potential to form a national CoP on strengthening PH capacities and services. Its long-term vision is focused on effectively and efficiently governed PH system in Slovakia. Key messages In Slovakia, strengthening the public health workforce is essential. Started cooperation on supporting public health professionalization is an important step for future actions at national level.

BackgroundClinical trials remain key to the development of evidence‐based medical practice. However, they are becoming increasingly complex, mainly in a multinational setting. To address these challenges, the European Union (EU) adopted the Clinical Trial Regulation EU No. 536/2014 (CTR). Once in force, the CTR will lead to more consistent rules and simplification of procedures for conducting clinical trials throughout the EU. Existing harmonization initiatives and “research infrastructures” for clinical trials may facilitate this process. This publication offers a snapshot of the current level of harmonization activities in academic clinical research in Europe.MethodsA survey was performed among the member and observer countries of the European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network (ECRIN), using a standardized questionnaire. Three rounds of data collection were performed to maximize completeness and comparability of the received answers. The survey aimed to describe the harmonization of academic clinical research processes at national level, to facilitate the exchange of expertise and experience among countries, and to identify new fields of action.ResultsMost scientific partners already have in place various working groups and harmonization activities at national level. Furthermore, they are involved in and open to sharing their know‐how and documents. Since harmonization was mainly a bottom‐up approach up until now, the extent and topics dealt with are diverse and there is only little cross‐networking and cross‐country exchange so far.ConclusionsCurrently, the ECRIN member countries offer a very solid base and collaborative spirit for further aligning processes and exchanging best practices for clinical research in Europe. They can support a smooth implementation of the EU CTR and may act as single contact with consolidated expertise in a country.

By focusing on the natural gas sector and infrastructural policy in the Visegrad countries this article aims to reassess the EU's role in energy security governance. It argues that the EU can be conceptualised as a catalytic state rather than a regulatory state. It develops the notion of Catalytic Power Europe to highlight the specific type of power that the EU (as a catalytic state) can deploy to achieve its objectives. Catalytic Power Europe differs from existing conceptions of Regulatory and Market Power Europe. It relies on nodality and treasury rather than authority and on mechanism of connectivity and mobilisation rather than enforcement. It highlights the role of the European Commission as a facilitator and coalition builder rather than a regulator and market builder as in the regulatory state perspective. This role is illustrated by analysing the major gas interconnector projects and liquefied natural gas importing terminal that are under development in the V4 and that can affect their energy security. Catalytic Power Europe influences the V4 inter-group dynamics reducing the scope for uncoordinated and unilateral strategies. In this way, it also affects the prospect of EU-Russia energy relations undermining Moscow's divide et impera strategies in the region.

Abstract Issue/problem In Slovak Republic (SR) old-age dependency will rise rapidly in the near future and will more than double in the next 15 years. This profound demographic changes will require restructuring of health and social care systems with more people working in the long-term care (LTC) sector and most likely a higher level of public spending to cover the growing LTC needs. Description of the problem Providing LTC in Slovakia has many problem areas. It is governed by several acts and regulations, which are not always linked and sometimes do not cover the situation entirely. There is not coordinated and integrated LTC model implemented and the distribution of the roles between the health and social care systems is lacking. Results Since 2017 a policy dialog between the key stakeholders - the Ministry of Health of the SR; the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the SR; and civic societies led by the Association for the Patients’ Rights Protection has been in place with aim to improve the current LTC Strategy Proposal. Online survey was carried out in May - June 2018, which brought deeper insights into the needs regarding demand and supply, and uncovered the main limitations of the current LTC system, e.g. insufficient capacity of LTC beds or a malfunctioning information system. This was followed by six workshops for professional and lay public, organised between February and March 2019 with aim to collect further evidence on regional level. Lessons The LTC Strategy Proposal development is one of 12 pilot projects within the national project - Promoting partnership and dialogue on participatory public policy making in SR. The initiative takes into account the needs and demands of LTC target groups and will serve as a starting point for further action in this area. [Grant Support: APVV-15-0719]. Key messages In Slovakia, a complex solution of long-term care issues is essential. Developing the LTC Strategy Proposal through participatory approach is an important starting point for future action.

The development of the ICT sector within Slovakia will follow the trends that exist in the EU and worldwide. In 2018, the Slovak ICT sector exceeded the level of 3 billion EUR at a growth of approximately 7%. From this perspective, it is clear that the ICT industry is significantly affected by new technologies (such as cloud, artificial intelligence, IoT, 5G networks, big data and analytics) that enable the digitalization of the economy and society and growth based on innovations that has never been here before. What has changed is a shift from a relatively stable to a rapidly changing sector. On this basis, we would like to claim that there is significant growth potential. However, this will be closely linked to the availability of a skilled labor force for the ICT sector. Inability to train such labor force will result in a loss of competitiveness in the global economy and will lead to serious economic and social problems. At the moment, the ICT industry is the most desirable sector in terms of employment, not merely in the Kosice region.

Self-rated health is a valid and reliable subjective indicator of general health. We aimed to assess the associations between self-rated health, mental health problems, physical activity, sedentary behaviour and BMI among Slovak urban adolescents. Data were collected within the EU-FP7: EURO-URHIS 2 (The European Health Indicator System Part 2) project in two largest Slovak cities: Bratislava and Kosice. Sample included 1111 adolescents (response rate 73.7%, mean age 14.32 ± 0.48 years, 52.8% boys). Self-rated health was measured with the first item from the Short Form Health Survey 36 questionnaire, mental health problems were assessed by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and for physical activity and sedentary behaviour questions from the WHO HBSC questionnaire were used. Logistic regression was performed to determine the associations between self-rated health and the independent variables. Self-rated health was found to be significantly associated with mental health problems, sedentary behaviour and BMI. However, the strongest association was found with engagement in physical activity every day (OR 8.0; 95% CI 1.6-39.9). Previous research revealed that self-rated health was associated with various mental health problems. Our findings add to these results by showing that physical activity and sedentary behaviour are also very important additional factors related to self-rated health. Better understanding of these associations can help in developing more effective public health intervention programmes for adolescents.