Lena Von Koch

About me

I am professor in health services research. In my research I am focusing on the development and evaluation of interventions with the objective to support and improve health and everyday life for people living with long term disabilities and for their families. Thus the research entails studies e.g., randomized controlled trials of complex interventions in which both the effects of the interventions, processes and the experiences of the different stakeholders are studied i.e., those of the person with disabilities as well as those of the family, health services personnel and health service policy makers and administrators.

By synthesising the results of the different studies new knowledge /evidence is gained  regarding when, where, how and for whom the new interventions will work.  An example of such a synthesis in which my research is represented with several contributions to the knowledge development is: Intermediate care: A realist review and conceptual framework, from the National Institute for Health Research Service Delivery and Organisation Programme, NHS, UK. 

I am interested in developing life style stroke secondary prevention and am  a member of the International Network for Stroke Secondary prevention INSsPIRE 

Research description

I belong to the research group for social work at the Division of Family Medicine and Primary Care, but I also work closely with the research group HELD at the Division of Occupational Therapy, the Research Group for Neuroepidemiology and Health services Research at the Division of Physiotherapy, Researchers at the Center for Health Care Architecture of Chalmer’s Institute of Technology and University of Dalarna.

Ongoing research projects:

The Missing Link- development and evaluation of person-centred care transitions: a co-design project

ReArch - On the Importance of the Built Environment in Person-Centred Rehabilitation at Home

CoDeAc - To realise the unrealised potential – How people with disabilities can be included in and benefit from universally designed e-health services by participatory co-production in the design process

The rehabilitation process after stroke, patients and significant others

A 5-year longitudinal study of perceived needs of rehabilitation and support in people with stroke and their significant others

Evaluating design quality and its impact on quality of life and care for older persons living in nursing homes

Stroke care units: evaluating the design quality and its impact on patients' health, quality of care, and perception of the environment

F @ ce 2.0 - Implementation and evaluation and of a new model for a person-centered, ICT-based and interdisciplinary rehabilitation intervention for people with stroke.

Participation in everyday life after stroke in Uganda - A randomized controlled trial of a family-centered intervention using the mobile phone as support in rehabilitation

Participation in society after an acquired brain injury - a participatory approach

SELMA - Self-management in stroke rehabilitation

Academic honours, awards and prizes

2015 Verna Wright Prize from The Society of Rehabilitation Research 

2019 Karolinska Institutet silver medal