Person-centred care in aging populations 

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) has traditionally been perceived as a “young disease” and support offered to people with MS focus on themes relevant for a young target group such as family planning and working life. Because of medical advances and the general aging of the population, the demographics of people living with MS is, however, changing with a quickly growing number of older adults. Nonetheless, little remains known about older adults with MS and the kind of support they need. In this project we wish to contribute to this scarce area of research by investigating which challenges and resources that shape how older adults with MS manage their disease in their everyday life. Further, the project will deploy a co-creation methodology and investigate how it can contribute to designing and developing relevant support offerings to the group in the future. 

The project is designed with inspiration from participatory research. A co-creation methodology is deployed to investigate how engagement of the project’s stakeholders can contribute to designing and developing relevant support offerings to older adults with MS in the future. A key co-creation element is the establishment of an advisory group consisting of eight older adults living with MS that contribute to the execution of the project. Further a selected group of employees from the Danish Multiple Sclerosis Society has been invited to be part of the project and work with the translation of the results to initiatives on an on-going basis.  

Through the last decades, mortality from heart disease has decreased due to improved primary and secondary prevention and advances in the medical and surgical treatment. With the improved survival more people need cardiac rehabilitation, and it is therefore essential to ensure effective rehabilitation programmes of high quality. Cardiac rehabilitation has primarily been evaluated on clinical outcomes and less on the ability to promote level of function, including return to work (RTW). RTW is however an important rehabilitation goal, as work plays an important role for psychological and social wellbeing, and loss of productivity has economic costs for society. The aim of cardiac rehabilitation is to allow patients, as far as possible, to return to their activities of daily living, but even though the Danish national clinical guideline for cardiac rehabilitation cover vocational counselling, RTW following heart disease seems to remain suboptimal. Therefore, the aim of this PhD-project is to generate new knowledge needed for targeting vocational rehabilitation and enhancing RTW following heart disease.

The project focuses on the RTW process and investigates patient-reported reasons to RTW, predictors of RTW, and patient experienced barriers and facilitators associated with RTW.

The PhD-project is conducted as a mixed method study, including survey- and register-based studies, and a qualitative in-depth interview study. Focusing on patients’ perspectives on RTW the research project adds to a relatively limited research field and generates knowledge essential for improving cardiac rehabilitation and activities and initiatives in Danish Heart Foundation.

According to the World Health Organization, promotion of smokeless environments in workplaces and public places is one of the most effective existing tobacco control methods. Since most adults spend about a third of their day in a workplace, it appears to be a well-established and useful setting for implementation of smoke-free environments.  In this PhD project situated within the Danish Heart Foundation, we follow a private Danish production company that implemented  smoke free work hours to promote health and well-being among employees.

The overall purpose is to investigate whether the implementation of smoke free work hours will change the number of smoked cigarettes per day pr. employee one year after implementation. Furthermore, the study aims to assess dynamics related to compliance, enforcement and mental health.

The project uses a convergent multi-methods design with data collection using three approaches: an electronic survey at baseline and follow-up, focus group interviews, and fieldwork. To evaluate the implementation process, the study will apply the context, process and outcome (CPO) evaluations model that views the entire intervention process as a continuous change and distinguishes between proximate, intermediate, and distal outcomes of interventions.

Diabetes is increasing worldwide, leading to increased morbidity and mortality, and the disease constitutes a large burden for societies, healthcare systems and individuals. A growing diabetes prevalence combined with increasing life expectancy means that people live longer with diabetes, potentially developing diabetes-related complications at an early age. Although around 25.000 in the age group 18-45 years live with diabetes in Denmark, little is known about their burden of complications. The aim of this PhD is to expand the current knowledge about younger adults (aged 18-45 years) living with diabetes-related complications in Denmark, including prevalence of complications, associated sociodemographic characteristics, resources and needs for support and to develop a tailored intervention to improve their quality of life and well-being. Data is collected using mixed methods, combined with participatory approaches.

The project consists of 3 phases. Phase 1 is a registry-based study investigating the prevalence of diabetes complications among younger adults (18-45 years). Phase 2 contains a qualitative study with semi-structured interviews and focus groups exploring resources and needs in the target group and identifying relevant intervention themes. Findings from previous phases will inform phase 3, co-creation and pilot testing of a tailored intervention to promote quality of life and prevent further deterioration among younger adults with diabetes complications. The study will contribute to a better understanding of younger adults living with diabetes complications and support improvement of quality of life among a supposedly vulnerable part of the diabetes population.