We're back at Hogar de Ayuda El Refugio!
Thanks to a grant from Fundación Ángel Ramos, Hogar de Ayuda El Refugio in Cataño is working with PR PASS Workshop to offer computer classes to the participants. The curriculum used was developed by James O'Malley, MSW, who combined a process of empowerment and personal development informed by social work with training in basic computer use and interaction skills and the services available on the internet. The course uses a pre- and post-test to measure technological skills and quality of life.
The quality of life measurement is based on the tool developed by the World Health Organization. This tool was developed in the 1990s by social scientists from various countries who shared a desire to have a shared definition and tool to measure quality of life. The tool has been translated and validated countless times in different countries for use with different populations, achieving concepts and collected data that can be used in comparative analyses. In 2019, James O'Malley joined the list of social scientists who collaborated with the instrument, contributing to its development with a web version that is adaptable for mobile device use and also used emoticons (faces that convey feelings). This adaptation made the form, usually handled in text and on paper, have its own digital transformation.
In the first offering of this course, participants learned how to create and operate email accounts, create documents, and even create spreadsheets with formulas useful for basic accounting. As part of this new initiative, some participants managed to connect with family members for the first time in years and receive words of support, but all of them equally emerged strengthened, empowered by their new technological skills. As we begin this second iteration of the curriculum, we anticipate that it will result in reconnection stories that also have a measurable effect on the quality of life of the participants.