About me
For many years I worked as a Occupational health safety and ergonomist consultant at a Occupational Health Service Unit. During 2012-2014 I held a post doctoral position at the Unit of Intervention and Implementation Research, Karolinska Institutet. Now I am an associated researcher at the department. My main interests are evaluation of methods for rehabilitation and health prevention, ergonomics, workers safety and workplace interventions. I will continue to work with the SPA study, Stress Prevention at the workplace.
I work as an ergonomist and researcher at the unit of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, County Council, Östergötland. My focus is patient- and workplace investigations, conducting research projects (neck pain and work postures, patient- and workers safety, work environment andwork load among workers in dentistry), and knowledge sharing.
I have a special interest in science communication. I am the editing manager of a swedish workenvironment blog: www.arbetsochmiljomedicin.se. I collaborate with a research group with interest in socal media and communication using twitter; Mark Merolli, Ann Green and Maria-Louisa Busuttil.
Research description
Project: Stress-related mental health - prevention in the workplace (SPA project)
Stress-related illnesses are today together with musculoskeletal disorders the predominant cause of production loss and absenteeism. The risks of developing stress-related mental illness is today well established, however, it is less studied how this can be successfully treated or prevented in workplaces through interventions.
Programme description
The SPA project intends to evaluate the method the Productivity Measurement and Enhancement System (ProMES). The method is mainly evaluated for production improvement, but there are indications that it also has stress-reducing effect on working groups. The method gives employees opportunities to participate actively in productivity-enhancing measures. The employees, along with their immediate supervisors, identify and prioritize responsive and desirable results in all of the activities important dimensions. International studies have shown that participation (participation) has positive effects on employee performance and attitudes.
The aim of this study is to test whether efforts in targeting the organization and work environment can reduce stress and prevent stress-related ill health in the workplace. Primary outcomes of the study are tense work i.e. imbalance between demand and control and other primary indicators of stress, such as sleep and recovery. Result from the SPA study is presented from 2016 and the analysis is ongoing during 2018 and 2019.
Education
PhD, Linköpings University, 2012
Ergonomist, Occupational Health, 2009/2010
Specialist in physiotherapy within orthopedics, 2002
Master in physiotherapy, 2000, Physiotherapist, 1987
Thesis: The Rehabilitation Process for Individuals with Musculoskeletal and Mental disorders.
My thesis is based on the Return to Work East Sweden Study, following sick-listed persons with Mental disorders or musculoskeletal disorders in their rehabilitation process. ReWESS research group: Charlotte Wåhlin, Kerstin Ekberg, Birgitta Öberg, Jan Persson, and Lars Bernfort, Linköping University.