Janne Agerholm

I am employed as an Assistant senior lecturer at the Aging Research Center (ARC) at Karolinska Institutet. I am part of the research group “Social Gerontology” at the Aging Research Center and the research group “Equity and Health Policy” at the department of Global Public Health.

My research is within the area of health services research and social gerontology, often with an equity perspective. 

I am the team leader of the research team Health Literacy and Integrated Care at the Aging Research Center (ARC). My research focuses on how health and social care systems can be organised to meet the needs of an ageing population. I am particularly interested in the coordination and integration of health and social care services, equity in health and healthcare, and health literacy from both individual and organisational perspectives.

I am currently the principal investigator (PI) of a Forte-funded research project on Coordinated Individual Plans (CIPs) for older adults with complex health and social care needs following hospital discharge. The project investigates how CIPs are implemented and used in practice, which factors facilitate or hinder coordination between regional healthcare and municipal care services, and whether access to CIPs is equitable. We also examine associations between receiving a CIP and healthcare outcomes, including hospital readmissions, emergency department visits, and health and social care costs. The project combines qualitative research methods with analyses of large-scale linked register data.

I am also involved in an intervention study in Norrtälje focusing on integrated care for older adults with complex care needs. Norrtälje's integrated health and social care system provides a valuable setting for investigating how organisational structures and care practices can improve coordination, continuity, and person-centred care.

In addition, I am Work Package Leader for WP3 within TraCeDem, focusing on person-centred and integrated health and social care for people living with dementia. Our research aims to improve understanding of how health and social care services can be organised and coordinated to better meet the needs of people with dementia and their families, with particular attention to continuity of care, participation, and equity in access to services.

Another central area of my research is health literacy among older adults. In a mixed-methods project, we investigate health literacy levels in the older Swedish population, as well as older people's experiences of communicating with healthcare professionals, accessing and understanding health information, and participating in decisions about their health and care.

My previous research includes register-based studies evaluating integrated care and healthcare utilisation among older adults, comparative studies of healthcare systems and care transitions in Nordic countries, and research on how the organisation and quality of health and social care for older people with complex needs can be improved. I have also been involved in studies examining how the organisation of health and social care influenced the experiences and outcomes of older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A recurring theme throughout my research is how the organisation of health and social care affects different groups of older people, and how care systems can be designed to provide more coordinated, equitable, and person-centred services.

I have been involved in several different courses both as a lecturer, course designer, and course leader in both Sweden and Denmark. I have primarily been teaching students in Public Health Science, Nursing and Medicine. Currently I am involved as a course director in a doctoral course (Public Health Research- concepts and theories) and a master course (Introduction to Public Health Sciences) at the Department of Public Health.