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Field of study · Gerontological care

APAM — Personal Assistant to Older Adults

Complete foundational training for the professional companion of older adults: role and ethics, daily care, home safety, emergencies, teamwork, and the legal frame of the trade — taught in plain, rigorous Spanish.

Enrolling · First cohorts September 2026

Overview

The APAM programme trains personal assistants to older adults (Asistentes Personales del Adulto Mayor) to a documented professional standard. It is built for students entering the care workforce as well as family caregivers who want formal grounding — no prior qualification is required. Teaching combines guided online study with supervised practice, and every competence is assessed against observable criteria: what the assistant does, what the assistant never does, and when the assistant must escalate.

Cohorts run on a rolling basis: the first two open in the first and second weeks of September 2026, and a new cohort begins as each one concludes — continuous enrolment, no academic-year wait.

Curriculum — nine modules

  • M0
    First things: your role, your ethics, your limitsWhat the companion does and never does · confidentiality · dignity
  • M1
    Understanding ageingMyths · normal changes · signs to recognise and report
  • M2
    Communication and accompanimentSpeaking and listening · dementia · the end of life
  • M3
    Day-to-day care and safety at homeBed bathing · dressing · transfers · falls · the safe home
  • M4
    Wellbeing, stimulation and basic nutritionRoutine · exercising mind and body · eating and drinking well
  • M5
    Emergencies and first response*Protect – Alert – Assist · stroke signs · the unresponsive person
  • M6
    Working in a care team*The daily report · shift handover · working in rotating cells
  • M7
    Professional, legal and platform frameworkThe profession's legal frame · reporting channels · the platform
  • M8
    The professional logbook*Documenting the work · reflection · professional growth

The textbook

El oficio de acompañar · Vol. 1

Every student works from El oficio de acompañar (Paz y Tierra Ediciones, Colección Buena Longevidad) — the programme's own manual: nine modules, five annexes of photocopiable working sheets, an emergency card, and a consolidated professional thesaurus. Written in plain language for people who study while they work.

Each module links to a curated online video library maintained by the Institute.

Certification

Graduates receive a Foundational Microcredential Certificate, EQF-referenced at level 3, issued under Italian law, stating the 140 hours completed and the competences assessed. The certificate is the entry step of the Institute's gerontological pathway and gives access to its advanced programmes.

Who should enrol

People beginning a professional path in elder care; working caregivers seeking formal certification of what they already do; and family members who accompany an older adult and want to do it safely and well. The programme is taught in Spanish with Honduras as its normative legal reference, and is applicable across Latin America and to Spanish-speaking caregivers in Europe and the United States.

* Module titles marked with an asterisk are pending final confirmation against manual v5. All programmes are subject to minimum enrolment. Certificates are professional qualifications, not academic degrees and not healthcare licences: the APAM accompanies, reminds and reports — the APAM does not diagnose, dose or administer medication.