The WOMEN-UP project launches a MOOC on eHealth applied to female urinary incontinence
The Female Urinary Incontinence and eHealth MOOC is a free online course on urinary incontinence in women and on the techniques and technologies available to enhance the effectiveness of medical treatments (eHealth). It will be available online from 14 January to 15 March.
Jan 28, 2019
The WOMEN-UP project, coordinated by the Research Centre for Biomedical Engineering (CREB) of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech (UPC) and financed by the European Commission, has produced a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) that offers training on female urinary incontinence. Developed by a multidisciplinary team of health workers, university professors and biomedical engineers, the course includes basic knowledge on female urinary incontinence and eHealth technologies that can improve the effectiveness of current treatments, in addition to the most common techniques.
Free open course
The course is free and especially oriented to health professionals, caregivers and medicine, biomedical engineering and physiotherapy students, as well as those interested in improving the effectiveness of treatments for urinary incontinence in women.
It consists of several video lessons in English with Spanish subtitles. Those who successfully complete the tests and assessment questionnaires will be issued a certificate of participation. Registration will remain open while the MOOC is available online, since it does not require much dedication and can be completed at any time.
Pelvic floor training
The WOMEN-UP project aims to improve the quality of life of women with urinary incontinence, in addition to reducing long-term care costs and lost productivity. Funded by the European Commission within the Horizon 2020 programme, the WOMEN-UP project has developed an integrated eHealth system for pelvic floor muscle training and lifestyle modifications that allow women to follow the treatment at home with remote supervision.
Pelvic floor muscle training is carried out with serious games in a mobile app that is connected to biofeedback devices and to a web platform in which therapists monitor and programme exercises or reminders. The WOMEN-UP system is being clinically validated by three European hospitals with 300 patients.
The project is backed by an interdisciplinary consortium comprised of eight partners from six EU countries: the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona (through the Fundació Clínic per a la Recerca Biomèdica) in Spain, Bittium and the Kuopio University Hospital (KUH) in Finland, the Amsterdam Academic Medical Centre (AMC), the European Urogynaecological Association (EUGA), the Babes-Bolyai University (BBU) in Romania and Swiss company RehaStim.
Project coordination
The WOMEN-UP project is coordinated by Miguel Ángel Mañanas, a researcher of the CREB, a research centre which forms part of the Innovation and Technology Centre (CIT UPC). Miguel Ángel Mañanas is also a professor at the UPC's Barcelona School of Industrial Engineering (ETSEIB) and the Barcelona East School of Engineering (EEBE).
Dr Monserrat Espuña is responsible for the clinical coordination of the project. She is a senior consultant and head of the Pelvic Floor Unit of the Clínic Institute of Gynaecology, Obstetrics and Neonatology (ICGON) of the Hospital Clínic and a professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Barcelona.
