My research at the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Linköping University Hospital concerns several different areas with the common denominator being neuropsychology. Neuropsychology deals with the connection between brain and behaviour. With a background as a licensed psychologist and specialist in neuropsychology, I am particularly interested in how the brain and our cognitive functions are affected by various stresses such as being born prematurely, having a neuropsychiatric diagnosis, early use of digital media, being affected by post-covid or acquiring a brain injury.
Ongoing Research Projects
Fatigue, cognition and personality factors in brain injury and post-covid condition
This project consists of several studies that aim to investigate fatigue and cognition after acquired brain injury and postcovid condition. Fatigue as well as cognitive deficits are common sequelae after brain injury and in postcovid condition, which often require long-term multiprofessional rehabilitation. These problems can lead to long periods of sick leave and returning to work can be difficult. The relations between fatigue and cognitive problems in these diagnoses are not yet clear. Factors such as personality and the importance of how an individual interprets his illness symptoms can be important for rehabilitation. However, there are few studies that highlight the importance of personality and illness perception in terms of the experience of fatigue, performance in neurocognitive tests and for rehabilitation and return to work. This project examines these factors and the interaction between them. The goal of the project is to be able to individually adapt rehabilitation to the individual and thereby reduce the need for care and improve the possibility of returning to work.
EArly Collaborative Intervention (EACI)
Preterm birth means a great strain on the newborn's immature brain. Among other things, they have weaker communication signals, which makes it harder for them to be communicate and understood. At the same time, the parents have an increased risk of stress and depression because the preterm baby needs intensive care. In collaboration with clinicians at the Neonatal Care at the University Hospital, our research group has developed the EACI method, which means that parents receive targeted support from specially trained staff to learn to understand their premature child's weak communication signals so that they can respond to the child in the right way and at the right time. In several randomized controlled trials we investigate whether the intervention is effective. The children are followed up on several occasions. At the age of 1 and 4, cognition, language, motor skills and interaction are examined.
Epistemology and Post-Covid
I am also part of the research group for the multidisciplinary project “Biomedicine, clinical knowledge and humanities in interaction: A new epistemology for radically interdisciplinary health research and policy work” around the post-covid-19 case in a sub-project dealing with fatigue and cognition at postcovid condition.
Growing up in a digital world
This project examines how digital media affects young children's development. The project is carried out by the research group at the Baby and Children's Lab. Approximately 100 children and their families are followed from 9 months to about two years of age and examines their digital media habits and how this can affect language and memory. Our hope is to be able to contribute new insights and facts about how young children learn from the media and to try to identify both benefits and risks.
Teaching
My teaching has mainly been at the Psychology program, but also in other educational programs and courses. I teach in several different areas, in different types of psychological assessment, from developmental assessment, cognitive assessment, neuropsychological assessment, to personality assessment for both children and adults. Teaching in neuropsychology is also a main area, where I had courses in both basic neuropsychology and applied neuropsychology. Developmental psychology, where the teaching touched on the foundations of developmental psychology, cognitive development, school years and adolescence, developmental psychopathology and clinical application in developmental psychology is another teaching area. I teach at both basic and advanced courses.
My educational background is in problem-based learning (PBL) where the focus is on learning based on self-formulated problems within specific frameworks. I have been a group supervisor in various semesters of the psychology program and also in interprofessional courses. Collaborating with the student in learning is very rewarding and central to me even in more traditional teaching.
