Objectives

The current project aims to assess the socioeconomic burden of road traffic injuries and identify factors that affect the rehabilitation process in three European countries. It further aims to identify policy gaps, set future priorities and introduce effective interventions based on evidence-based approaches in order to reduce the long term burden of RTCs on injured people. Among the project’s objectives are:

to assess the extent of the problem and its manifestations.
to identify the psychosocial and socioeconomic needs of the injured people.
to define the gaps in the care of the injured individuals.
to introduce alternative support systems with emphasis to informal care for injured people.
to identify the key priorities for intervention and introduce tools to minimize the burden of injuries.
to provide a baseline to monitor progress in the care of injured people in the future.
to introduce an integrated response to the needs of injured patients by addressing their needs through multidisciplinary actions and multisectoral collaboration.
to stimulate road safety strategies and plans of action at national level.
to support the development of national capacity and international cooperation.

To achieve the study objectives, the following actions have been anticipated within the project:

Collection of data on injury-related patterns
Collection of long term data on the burden of injuries, the direct and indirect socioeconomic costs
Design of interventions tailored to the needs of the injured people in order to facilitate the rehabilitation process (e.g. policy recommendations on the care of the severely injured, map of rehabilitation services, map of the care pathway following RTCs, etc.)
Dissemination of intervention material to a large network of actors related to this field
Delivery of policy recommendations, injury indicators and good practices to policy makers and relevant stakeholders and user groups at a European level.