Lena Kristina von Koch

Lena Kristina von Koch

Professor, Senior
Telephone: +46852483555
Visiting address: Alfred Nobels Allé 23, 14152 Huddinge
Postal address: H1 Neurobiologi, vårdvetenskap och samhälle, H1 Allmänmedicin och primärvård Socialt arbete, 171 77 Stockholm
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About me

  • Professor in health services research. In my research I am focusing on the development and evaluation of interventions with the objective to support and improve health and everyday life for people living with long term disabilities and for their families. Thus the research entails studies e.g., randomized controlled trials of complex interventions in which both the effects of the interventions, processes and the experiences of the different stakeholders are studied i.e., those of the person with disabilities as well as those of the family, health services personnel and health service policy makers and administrators.

    By synthesising the results of the different studies new knowledge /evidence is gained regarding when, where, how and for whom the new interventions will work. An example of such a synthesis in which my research is represented with several contributions to the knowledge development is: Intermediate care: A realist review and conceptual framework, from the National Institute for Health Research Service Delivery and Organisation Programme, NHS, UK.

    I am interested in developing life style stroke secondary prevention and I am a member of the International Network for Stroke Secondary prevention INSsPIRE 

    Academic honours, awards and prizes
    2015 Verna Wright Prize from The Society of Rehabilitation Research
    2019 Karolinska Institutet silver medal

Research

  • I belong to the research group for social work at the Division of Family Medicine and Primary Care, but I also work closely with the research group HELD at the Division of Occupational Therapy, the Research Group for Neuroepidemiology and Health services Research at the Division of Physiotherapy, Researchers at the Center for Health Care Architecture of Chalmer’s Institute of Technology and University of Dalarna.

    Ongoing research projects:

    The Missing Link- development and evaluation of person-centred care transitions: a co-design project

    ReArch - On the Importance of the Built Environment in Person-Centred Rehabilitation at Home

    CoDeAc - To realise the unrealised potential – How people with disabilities can be included in and benefit from universally designed e-health services by participatory co-production in the design process

    The rehabilitation process after stroke, patients and significant others

    Evaluating design quality and its impact on quality of life and care for older persons living in nursing homes

    F @ ce 2.0 - Implementation and evaluation and of a new model for a person-centered, ICT-based and interdisciplinary rehabilitation intervention for people with stroke.

    Participation in everyday life after stroke in Uganda - A randomized controlled trial of a family-centered intervention using the mobile phone as support in rehabilitation

    Participation in society after an acquired brain injury - a participatory approach

    SELMA - Self-management in stroke rehabilitation

    Mobile health delivered physical activity after stroke or transient ischemic attack

Articles

All other publications

Grants

  • I understand you - development, implementation and evaluation of a training program for laypeople in communication with people with aphasia - communication partner training
    Promobilia Foundation
    1 January 2026 - 1 January 2029
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2024 - 31 December 2024
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 December 2023 - 30 November 2026
    This project aims to develop and evaluate the acceptability and effects of an eHealth service for promotion of physical activity (PA) in primary healthcare (PHC) for people with hypertension by developing the co-designed eHealth service ProMotion and evaluating patients and PHC staff acceptability of the eHealth service, and the effects on blood pressure and PA in a randomised controlled intervention.eHealth has potential to increase access to PHC. But the impact will depend on that the services fit the needs of the users, i.e. patients and staff in PHC. Studies show that people with chronic conditions and impairments find eHealth services inaccessible. People with impairment are less physically active compared to the general population, and metabolic risk factors and cardiovascular disease is common. PHC staff acknowledge the importance of promoting PA in patient consultations but lack time and competence in using methods for PA promotion.This translational research project will use frontline participatory methods to co-design the eHealth service in collaboration with patients and staff in PHC, digital designers and accessibility experts. The acceptability and effects of the service will be evaluated in a complex intervention to patients with hypertension in PHC in three healthcare regions.A well-designed eHealth service that patients and staff in PHC perceive accessible and usable will enhance patients’ participation in care and contribute to effective and sustainable PHC.
  • Health literacy support through person-centred communication
    Promobilia
    1 January 2023
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2023 - 31 December 2024
  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 January 2022 - 31 December 2026
    Support for physical activity is necessary to sustain health after stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA). Still, rehabilitation services are not available to many of those who potentially would benefit due to barriers related to accessibility. While telerehabilitation is a promising strategy to support physical activity, there is a gap of knowledge regarding the implementation of technology that meet the needs of people post stroke or TIA in order to foster adherence and engagement in physical activity.Purpose is to improve health and wellbeing after stroke or TIA by increasing the access to physical activity through telerehabilitation. This will be accomplished by building on a national collaboration within secondary stroke prevention and through testing of an existing telerehabilitation program (ENAbLE) developed in Australia.The ENAbLE program seeks to strengthen physical functioning and self-efficacy for exercise through home-based physical exercise and to equip the person with knowledge and confidence to sustain physical activity through behavior change techniques. The program will be accessible via a recent developed mobile application which will be used to reinforce autonomy and patient-therapist partnership.We will first evaluate if the ENAbLE program can be delivered as intended through a pilot RCT to determine the feasibility, processes, end-users experiences and preliminary effects of the program in urban and rural regions of Sweden. We will thereafter initiate a full-scale RCT to investigate the effects of the ENAbLE program on risk factors for recurrent stroke, well-being and its cost-effectiveness across Sweden.The project will draw on socio-technical theory, depicting technologies as part of a dynamic system in order to explore its potential use in rehabilitation. The ENAbLE program offers a sustainable strategy to support exercise and physical activity which could benefit a large group of people with stroke and TIA regardless of where they live.
  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 November 2021 - 31 October 2026
    In this project we will investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected participation in the digital society for people with impairments and disability rights organisations, if there are differences compared to the population without impairments and also to synthesise and propose measures for digital inclusion of people with impairments in future societal crises.To be prepared for societal crises similar to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to increase the knowledge of how crisis management should be provided to enable access to digital services and ensure digital inclusion of people with impairments.One of the main societal strategies to mitigate the effects of the pandemic and control virus transmission has been recommendations on social distancing by promoting digital solutions. Still, very little is known about how people with impairments have experienced the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and how they and their organisations managed to turn to online activities.There is a risk that population-based surveys on the effects of the pandemic will not be able disaggregate data on people with impairments leading to a disability-data-gap when evaluating the impact of the pandemic on people’s life.This project will undertake a nationwide survey to people with impairments and interviews with representatives for disability rights organisations, in order to study the disability perspective of the strategy to use digital solutions to mitigate the pandemic. We will investigate how digitalisation has facilitated or created barriers for people with impairments and disability rights organisations to manage during the pandemic. We will use participatory research methods for co-analysis together with people with impairments to present proposals for inclusive and accessible digital solutions for crises management.The results of this project will have impact on society’s future ability to implement and use accessible digital solutions in a pandemic or other global crises.
  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 November 2021 - 31 October 2024
  • Teach back to enhance self-management of prescribed medication - a feasibility study
    The Kamprad family Foundation for Entrepreneurship, Research & Charity
    1 September 2021 - 31 August 2023
  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 January 2021 - 31 December 2024
  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 July 2020 - 30 June 2023
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2020 - 31 December 2022
  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 January 2020 - 31 December 2022
  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 January 2020 - 31 December 2022
  • Person-centred care transitions for people with complex health conditions: a co-design project
    The Kamprad Family Foundation for Entrepreneurship, Research & Charity
    1 September 2019 - 31 August 2022
  • Swedish Research Council for Environment Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning
    1 January 2018 - 31 December 2020
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2014 - 31 December 2016
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2013 - 31 December 2016
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2011 - 31 December 2013

Employments

  • Professor, Senior, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, 2025-2026
  • Professor, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, 2023-2024
  • Professor, Senior, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, 2016-2022
  • Professor, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, 2011-2016

Degrees and Education

  • Docent, Karolinska Institutet, 2006
  • Doctor Of Philosophy, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, 2000

Distinction and awards

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