Susanne Assander
Affiliated to Research
E-mail: susanne.assander@ki.se
Visiting address: Alfred Nobels Allé 23, 14183 Huddinge
Postal address: H1 Neurobiologi, vårdvetenskap och samhälle, H1 Arbetsterapi HELD, 171 77 Stockholm
About me
- I'm a PhD student in the Doctoral School in Health Care and Science, and are
working at the Occupational Therapy division (at NVS) in Flemingsberg.
I'm an Occupational Therapist (OT) since 2009 and have worked in hospitals,
care homes, and for home health care providers in Sweden. I conducted my
master education via the European Master of Science in OT (2015-2017) while
living in Austria and working for the OT department in Graz as a teacher and
research assistants.
2018 I begun my PhD journey her at KI and belong to the HELD team
(https://ki.se/en/nvs/the-held-research-group) and the Future Care team
(https://ki.se/en/nvs/research-programme-future-care-for-older-adults-in-home-care-and-care-home-nvs).
I´m also chair of the NVS Doctoral Student Council (Welcome to the NVS
Doctoral Student Council webpage | Karolinska Institutet (ki.se) [1].
*Prizes*
EIT Health PhD Translational Fellowships, Oxford, 2019.
The prize included a training camp at Oxford University that focused on
obtaining transferable skills for entrepreneurship training, which included
professional pitch training by a highly-skilled pitch coach and further
supported by the technology transfer and intellectual property offices of the
universities involved for the duration of their fellowship.
PhD education, KI, 2018-2023
European Master of Science in Occupational Therapy, Amsterdam University,
2015-2017
Bachelor of Medicine Science in Occupational Therapy, Linköping University,
2006-2009
[1] https://ki.se/en/nvs/welcome-to-the-nvs-doctoral-student-council-webpage
Research
- My project aims to develop new knowledge regarding how reablement can be
applied and implemented in Swedish home care settings by developing,
assessing and evaluating a new reablement program called ASSIST. ASSIST aims
to empower older adults to conduct wanted and needed activities in everyday
life and thereby increase their self-efficacy, perceived health, and
well-being. The program consisted of i) the provision of reablement by home
care staff ii) setting activity-oriented goals with the Canadian Occupational
Performance Measure, iii) providing coaching by an Occupational Therapist to
home care staff, and iiii) testing QR-codes to facilitate and streamline the
program.
In combination with the ASSIST program, I´m also exploring how home care
staff perceives their level of job strain and psychosocial work environment
as well as exploring the usability of the QR-codes within the context of home
care.
You´ll find more information about the ASSIST project here:
ASSIST- a reablement program with ICT support | Karolinska Institutet (ki.se)
[1]
[1] https://ki.se/en/nvs/assist-a-reablement-program-with-ict-support
Articles
- Article: BMC HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH. 2022;22(1):1418
- Article: BMC GERIATRICS. 2022;22(1):618
- Article: AGING & MENTAL HEALTH. 2020;24(8):1295-1305
All other publications
- Corrigendum: BMC HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH. 2022;22(1):1592
Employments
- Affiliated to Research, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, 2025-2026
- Phd Student, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, 2018-2023
Degrees and Education
- Degree Of Doctor Of Philosophy, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, 2023