Rehabilitation, collaboration and aging – Elisabeth Rydwik's research group

In this group, the research focus is on pre- and rehabilitation for frail older person in their home environment, how collaboration within the health and social care organizations work and how care transitions affect different outcomes. A consistent theme is a multi-professional approach and/or component in all projects.

Part of the:

Research focus

The focus of our research is on pre- and rehabilitation for frail older persons in their home environment, how collaboration within the health and social care organizations work and how care transitions affect different outcomes. A consistent theme is a multi-professional approach and/or component in all projects.

Read more about our ongoing projects under the Projects tab.

Publications

Selected publications

All publications from group members

Funding

Grants

  • PoPEx: Evaluation of a digital tool for preoperative exercise before abdominal cancer surgery and exploring prerequisites for implementation
    Karolinska Institutet, SFO-V
    9 September 2023 - 31 August 2025
  • CANOPTIPHYS/mHealth: OPTimizing preoperative PHYSical function in older persons undergoing abdominal C ANcer surgery
    Karolinska Institutet, Research school in health science
    1 September 2023 - 31 August 2024
  • CANOPTIPHYS/mHealth - OPTImizing PHYSical function before CANcer surgery: development and evaluation of mHealth support for older people
    Karolinska Institutet, SFO-V
    1 December 2021 - 31 December 2023
  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 November 2021 - 31 October 2025
    Home rehabilitation for older people is widely implemented, but research on the content and the effectiveness of the rehabilitation interventions used in practice are scarce and we lack of knowledge of how home-rehabilitation units collaborate with social- and health care services. The aim is to evaluate the state of home rehabilitation in relation to scientific evidence and the effectiveness on older persons’ well-being, participation and ability in daily activities as well as the older persons satisfaction with the interventions, the collaboration between social service- and health care providers, and level of service utilization. The design is based on the realist evaluation method, where a defined program theory is used as a base for the evaluation. The main characteristic is to identify context, mechanism and outcomes of the target process. The project will be conducted in Jönköping, Luleå and Stockholm which reflects different parts of the country in relation to size and care organisations. During phase 1, a program theory is established through systematic searches of scientific and grey literature
    extracting data, analyzes and synthesizing will be conducted and discussed during four workshops. During phase 2, the context and mechanisms of impact is explored at home-rehabilitation units at the three sites, through observations of interaction between staff and patients, patient record auditing, and focus groups and interviews. During phase 3, the effectiveness of home rehabilitation will be evaluated by patient record auditing, register data, questionnaires and interviews and will be analyzed in relation to the described program theory. An overarching analysis of what, for whom and under which circumstances that home rehabilitation leads to change will be conducted with data from all three phases using mixed methods. The results of identified mechanisms and relevant context factors will be related to the outcomes of effectiveness to identify outcome patterns.
  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 November 2021 - 31 October 2025
    Older adults make up approximately 20% of the Swedish population. The ongoing demographic development, with an ageing population and a continuously larger proportion of older adults, leads to continuously increasing demand for appropriate and efficient geriatric care. One particularly critical moment in the continuum of care for older adults is the transition between different responsible authorities, between regional and municipal care.The project consists of four phases and the aims are (I) to map and assess the situation in terms of health, care activities and resource use after discharge, (II) analyse associations with care-transition outcomes, (III) based on phase I-II, generate viable ideas for addressing and improving the situation, and (IV) implement new and improved ways of working as well as perform a post-implementation evaluation of effects (IV). The design of the study is closed cohorts based on registry data (phases I-II) together with an experience-based co-design (phase III), implementation and evaluation (phase IV).The data set leveraged in phases I-II consists of patient records from geriatric care, health care utilization data for six months after discharge extracted from the Stockholm Regional Healthcare Data Warehouse, socioeconomic data from Statistics Sweden, and data from the National Board of Health and Welfare on social services and death cause. In phase III, an experience-based co-design approach will be leveraged to develop a new model for the coordination of care, where the synthesised knowledge from phases I-II will be used as a base. In phase IV, the co-designed new model of coordination of care will be implemented. To be able to draw adequate conclusion from the outcome analyses, data on the process of implementation will be collected, and frequency of readmission will be the primary outcome measure to evaluate the effect of new ways of working. Costs of readmission will be computed before and after implementation.
  • CANOPTIPHYS: OPTImizing PHYSical function before surgery: effects on complications and quality of life after gastrointestinal CANcer surgey in older people at risk – a randomized controlled trial
    Cancer Research Foundation
    1 January 2020 - 31 December 2024
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2020 - 31 December 2022
  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 December 2014 - 30 November 2017

Staff and contact

Group leader

All members of the group

Other people connected to the group

  • Andersson, Mikael
  • Naseer, Mahwish

Projects

CANOPTIPHYS

The aim of the CANOPTIPHYS RCT is to evaluate the effect of preoperative exercise on complications after gastrointestinal cancer surgery in older persons at risk. It is a joint study between Karolinska University, South General and, Ersta hospital, Academic Primary Care Center and Karolinska Institutet.

PoPEx

The purpose of the PoPEx project is to provide motivational support for preoperative exercise and remote support to monitor complex and time-consuming interventions more efficiently. The service/product will use mHealth solutions, such as mobile applications (for smartphone, iPad, etc.) and accelerometers for providing training instructions, feedback and contribute to increasing the motivation to exercise. The digital solution will also support objective measurement of physical activity and provide the possibility to measure compliance.

Coordination of care after discharge in a complex healthcare landscape

In this research project will address the following five overarching questions that are designed to map and assess the study population and the subject descriptively (I-II), analyse associations statistically (III), generate and refine viable ideas for addressing and improving the situation (IV), and finally start implementing new and improved ways of working (V). 

Re@home - Evaluation of home rehabilitation for older people

The aim of the Re@home project is to evaluate the state of home rehabilitation in relation to scientific evidence and the effectiveness on older persons’ well-being, participation and ability in daily activities as well as the older persons satisfaction with the interventions, the collaboration between social service- and health care providers, and level of service utilization. The design is based on the realist evaluation method, where a defined program theory is used as a base for the evaluation.

SOPHI- Selfcare in Older Persons with Heart failure Intervention

The overall aim of project SOPHI is to evaluate the effects of a selfcare program with individualized physical exercise in combination with dietary advice and symptom management for elderly, frail persons with heart failure. The project is a collaboration between Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset and Karolinska Institutet.