GRANTS. Six researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy have each been awarded five million SEK from Forte for their projects. One of them is Katarina Wilhelmsson, adjunct professor at the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, whose project aims to strengthen the care chain for frail older adults.

Today’s highly specialized healthcare is poorly adapted to the extensive needs of frail elderly individuals, notes Katarina Wilhelmson:

“Frail elderly individuals are at risk of deteriorating health and function, leading to an increased need for care and heightened suffering. Active follow-up after discharge by a case manager is an important way to integrate care for frail elderly individuals. It is a method to enhance the quality of care for this vulnerable patient group and direct the right healthcare interventions to those who need them the most.”

The project emphasizes the role of a “case manager” in primary care, a nurse who serves as a contact person responsible for actively following up with frail elderly individuals. The case manager ensures that their needs are met and that the planning of their care, assistance, and rehabilitation is carried out.

Active Follow-up

In the study, researchers will first develop the content of active follow-up after a frail elderly person has been discharged from care by a case manager. The intervention will be developed in collaboration with primary care, rehabilitation, municipal care and services, and geriatric hospital departments through focus group discussions.

Frail elderly individuals discharged from the geriatric department at Sahlgrenska University Hospital will be invited to participate. Those discharged to an “interventional care center,” a primary care center with a case manager for frail elderly individuals, will be part of the intervention group. Those discharged to a primary care center without a case manager will be part of the control group. Participants will then be followed up for a year, focusing on their dependence on help in daily activities, self-assessed health, and satisfaction with care. Healthcare consumption data will be obtained from healthcare registers.

“The study is controlled because we also include participants who do not receive the intervention but receive “regular” follow-up at a primary care center without a case manager. This means we can compare the effects of the intervention against the effects of “regular” follow-up. Ideally, we would have liked to randomly assign participants to intervention or control groups. However, it is not possible to randomize since the intervention depends on which primary care center participants are listed with”, says Katarina Wilhelmsson.

The research project is based on the research group FRESH (FRail Elderly reSearcH group), one of the research groups within AgeCap, the Center for Aging and Health.

In total, Forte grants 330 million SEK to 70 new research projects with significance for society and people’s lives. Read more on Forte’s website: https://forte.se/nyhet/forskning-som-gor-skillnad-70-projekt-far-finansiering-i-arliga-projektutlysningen/

Six researchers at Sahlgrenska Academy received grants from Forte

Monica Bertilsson
Project Grant: 4 964 000 kronor
Managers who act: Preventing sick leave in employees with mental illness in the public sector and the importance of organizational and workplace context
Contribution from the call “Mental illness with a focus on rehabilitation, collaboration and a sustainable working life in 2023”

Bo Jacobsson
Project Grant: 4,927,000 SEK
Regional and local inequalities in pregnancy and child outcomes in Sweden – studies to identify areas for targeted public health interventions, medical screening, and prevention

Mikael Svensson
Project Grant: 4,798,000 SEK
Can we trust health economic evaluations of new drugs? Evaluation of the importance of researchers’ degrees of freedom in modeling based on multiple analyst teams

Katarina Wilhelmson
Project Grant: 4,998,000 SEK
Bridging the Gap: Strengthening the Care Chain through Active Follow-up by a Case Manager after Discharge – a controlled study

Sebastian Lundström
Project Grant: 4,982,000 SEK
Autism – a bigger problem now than before? On autism, school performance, and mental health over time

Florencia Harari Thuresson
Project Grant: 4,950,000 SEK
Mapping occupational exposure to metals and chemicals and potential health effects in the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries

Two additional researchers at the University of Gothenburg received funding from Forte in the call, both at the Faculty of Social Sciences. Kristina Alstam (Department of Social Work) receives five million SEK for the project “Approaching the hot zone – on gang-related conflict breakdowns and their societal responses.” Patrik Öhberg (Department of Journalism, Media and Communication JMG) receives 3,512,000 SEK for the project “Movement among men to the right. Explanations for shifting political gender differences 1956–2022.”

BY: ELIN LINDSTRÖM