Person centered care and working organization in elderly care

The Person-centered care and working organization within elderly care research group is a collaboration between researchers in nursing, occupational therapy and medicine at the School of Health and Medicine, Örebro University. Close cooperation has also been established with Örebro municipality, Örebro county council, Primary Health Care of Gävleborg, Karolinska Institute, Gävle University College, Halmstad University College and Buskerud University College in Drammen, Norway.

The main focus is how a person-centered health care can be developed in elderly care based on the subjective experiences of the persons involved. The health and living conditions of older persons in elderly care have been studied and reported for a considerable period of time. The work continues now with a compilation of the ongoing research focused on how the older person can experience a sense of serenity and meaning in their everyday life within elderly care. The views of health professionals and leaders regarding their work situation and the care provided have also been studied for a long time. Comparisons are now being made over time to highlight their work situation in order to uncover opportunities and hinders to person-centered care within elderly care.

The use of patient-based IT tools in municipal care is studied in different ways in collaboration with the Karolinska Institute, Halmstad University College and Health Navigator. Various intervention studies are carried out within the group and new methods are developed and validated in order to study and measure the older person's health and living conditions in which one focus is on how older persons can experience a feeling of serenity and meaning in their everyday lives.

The different projects are based on different epistemological approaches and the formed designs and methods of data collection as well as the analysis are done at the individual, group and organizational level.