Caring in Community Care

Our vision is to promote and sustain health and well-being in everyday life of families to persons in need of support. Our mission is to: i) support families (caregivers) to promote and sustain family health and well-being, and ii) generate knowledge and evidence for policy making and practice regarding family caregiving and family health. Core values of the group include having a Global-local (Glocal) perspective, inter-professionalism, cross-disciplinary with special attention to sustainability and equity with a futuristic outlook.

Some of the research topics addressed by the group are family caregiving, quality care (god vård), family centered care, dignity, empathy/compassion, social inclusion, family participation in patient care, e-health solutions, ageing in the community, health promotion.

Research focus

The group’s research encompasses community care in the context of ageing, e-Health and mental health from a caring science and public health perspective. Social support including care by informal or family caregivers is a crucial and integral component of care of older persons in a society. The focus of the research group is to address multidimensional challenges of ageing globally, including support to family caregivers, their health and e-nursing. Use of m-Health in community settings, e.g., health and social care services for older persons in municipalities is a primary research focus of the group. The group is also involved in research in Bangladesh on physical and mental health consequences of COVID19 after recovery and experiences of the pandemic.

Ageing and family caregiving: Global population is ageing as never before. Human ageing is complex with multidimensional health challenges of older persons. Organisation of primary health care is set up at different levels in Sweden, such as the Region and municipality level, to meet the needs of older persons in the community.  Social support including care by informal or family caregivers is a crucial and integral component of care of older persons in a society. The focus of the research group is to address multidimensional challenges of ageing including support to family caregivers, their health and e-nursing.

e-Health in community care: Given the rapidly increasing digital literacy in Sweden and globally, e-Health offers a practical platform for health care professionals, by using electronic processes and communication, in providing timely support to populations across the life span including adolescents, youth, young and older adults and as well as family caregivers. Use of e-Health in community settings in both urban and rural areas, e.g. care services for older persons at municipalities, schools, youth clinics, and particularly from the perspective of health promotion and disease prevention is an evolving research focus of the group.

This research group closely collaborates with the project groups “Nursing Care of Older People” (https://ki.se/en/nvs/nursing-care-of-older-people) and “Primary Care - throughout the life” (https://ki.se/en/nvs/primary-care-throughout-the-life) at the Division of Nursing, Dept of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society (NVS), Karolinska Institute .

The research group Caring in Community Care consists of researchers in various stages of their career. It is a multi-disciplinary group representing, geriatric nursing, public health, gerontology, family nursing, psychology and palliative care.

Ongoing projects

Stress Alleviating Mobile Application for Caregivers (SAMAC): A Feasibility Study

[PI: Zarina N Kabir]:

The study aims to assess feasibility of providing professional support via a mobile application, Stress Alleviating Mobile Application for Caregivers (SAMAC), by collecting views of caregivers of persons with dementia on its use to alleviate stress. Specific objectives of the study include: Explore caregivers’ views on stress alleviation through a mobile application; explore caregivers’ preference of the features of the SAMAC; test the feasibility of the use of the SAMAC for 8 weeks; test usability of health assessment measures in the SAMAC by caregivers. This project is the result of collaboration with the Faculty of Nursing at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

SAMAC in Denmark

[PI: Hanne Konradsen]:

The aim of this study is to explore caregivers’ and dementia coordinators’ experiences of using technology in dementia care in everyday life. The study will furthermore be used to evaluate the possibility of conducting a study in Denmark, testing the same mobile app SAMAC. This project is the result of collaboration with the University of Copenhagen.

Care of Family Caregivers of Persons with Dementia (CAFCA): Mobile Application to Alleviate Stress and Improve Quality of Life

[PI: Zarina N Kabir]:

The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of providing professional support through a mobile application (app) in reducing stress depressive symptoms, and loneliness thus improving quality of life of family caregivers of persons with dementia living at home in Sweden. Financed by the Kamprad Foundation and Strategic Research Program in Health Care Sciences (SFO-V), this intervention study is conducted in urban and rural parts of Sweden in collaboration with Umeå University and Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm.

Families in Nursing Care

[PI: Hanne Konradsen]:

The study aims to explore nurses' attitudes towards involving families in nursing care. Data have been collected in Sweden, Canada and China using social media as a tool to recruit sample of nurses across the countries. This study is conducted in collaboration with Hong Kong University of Technology and University of Toronto. Furthermore, a study exploring changes in nurses’ attitudes in a Swedish context from 2011 to 2019 are being analysed in collaboration with Linnaeus University.

In Conversation with a Frontline Worker of a Care Home in Sweden

[PI: Zarina N Kabir]

As the world heard the historic declaration of the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic in March 2020, countries had to act rapidly with no previous experience to draw upon. Unlike many countries, Sweden did not impose a lockdown but advised its citizens on precautionary measures, including forbidding visits to care homes. To explore how the pandemic was experienced in the first few months by the frontline workers who found themselves in the midst of the storm, we engaged in a dialogue with one such nurse. This project documents personal experience of a nurse working at a care home in Stockholm during the pandemic.

Rapid Response Research on COVID19 in Bangladesh

[PI at KI: Zarina N Kabir]

The study is conducted in Bangladesh and aims to investigate i) the socio-demographic factors associated with COVID19 infections; ii) post-recovery consequence of COVID19 on mental and physical health of patients; iii) knowledge, attitude and practice in relation to Coronavirus and COVID19 among family members of COVID19 patients and frontline health workers in Bangladesh. The project is result of a collaboration with a humanitarian organisation in Bangladesh, Sajida Foundation.

Future care for older adults in home care and care home – associations between home care staff perceived job strain and older persons’ experiences of the quality of home care services.

[PI Home Help component: Anne-Marie Boström]

This project investigates the associations between perceived job strain of home care staff including work environment and older persons’ experiences of the quality of home care services provided by staff. A survey was conducted regarding job strain and work environment among home care staff in 5 municipalities. From these five municipalities data is complemented from the Brukarundersökning – the User survey conducted annually by the National Board of Health and Social Welfare in Sweden.

External funding

Kamprad Foundation

Karolinska Institutet Engagement Grant

Karolinska Institutet Verify Impact Grant

Karolinska Institutet and Hong Kong Polytechnic University Collaborative Grant

Division of Nursing Strategic Grant

Strategic Research Area-Health Care Science, Karolinska Institutet

Research group leader

Group members

Collaboration