RPM-android: a tablet application to cooperate with vulnerable families

One of the main questions professionals raise in meetings and training is to have new tools useful to connect theories and practice and to facilitate and support their complex work with families. Within P.I.P.P.I. (Intervention Program for Prevention of Institutionalization), particular focus is placed on tools supporting intervention process within a participatory and transformative evaluation perspective where linking assessment, planning, intervention and evaluation is key. PIPPIapp is an Android tablet application developed in collaboration with DEI (Department of Information Engineering) that aims at providing professionals with a tool that is user-friendly for them and their relational work with children and parents, and that facilitates the simultaneous use of the main functions of the web-tool RPM developed in collaboration with the CSIA (Information Technology Center) of the University. PIPPIapp is based on the Italian adaptation of the triangular model of the British Common Assessment Framework and it is designed to: • access to “the triangle” of each child through a safe log in; • foster the “story telling” process of children and parents within a resilience based approach; • support and facilitate the work with families in assessment, planning and evaluation; • easily document practice (microplanning, evaluating results and recording the journal of meetings with family); • record data off line in the tablet memory and upload data on RPMdatabase when online; • collect Eco-maps of children and parents through the function “mAPPamondo”; • share data with the family members and other professionals working with them; • use data for research and to improve practice by reflective meetings. After showing the app, how it works and its use with children and families, the presentation will focus on the data and feedback about the experimentation of its first implementation (sep. 2013 – apr. 2014) within the PIPPI program with a group of 10 professionals working with 10 families.