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"The task force" in the Härnösand project: "We are already seeing positive developments"

Hands holding puzzle pieces towards the sky
Photo: Vardan Papikyan/Unsplash

Last fall, the municipality of Härnösand launched an initiative to more effectively support the older adults with rehabilitation and preventive health interventions. The first phase of part of the initiative, in the form of a “task force” led by Eva Ekvall Hansson, Professor of physiotherapy at Lund University, is now being completed.

An assessment and intervention team has been established in the municipality of Härnösand and the "task force" has already noted a positive development.

Extensive rehabilitation is what has worked best. But we have not yet started on the path of introducing early assessment at the first contact with elderly care, which could make the biggest difference, says Eva Ekvall Hansson, about her first municipal collaboration of this kind.

Together with the team members, she and her research colleagues Anne-Marie Boström at Karolinska Institutet and Cecilia Pettersson at Kristianstad University (former board member respectively study coordinator at SWEAH and supervisor at the graduate school) have developed work processes based on research and scientific evidence.

Woman in green dress in a hallway with a green painting
Eva Ekvall Hansson leads the researchers' first efforts in the Härnösand project. Photo: Lill Eriksson

Everything aims to strengthen older adults to cope with the most important things in everyday life, but also to maintain or regain function for a continued active everyday life.

– All resources in the new assessment and intervention team; occupational therapist, social worker, physiotherapist, nurse and two assistant nurses are gathered around the individual, continues Eva Ekvall Hansson.

The team highlights the advantages of working closely together – that social worker assessors are included in the team and direct contact with the assistant nurses who are the performers at the homes of the care recipients.

It is not about investing more resources, but about the team being coordinated with short decision-making paths, to make it easier to set goals, achieve continuity in the work and follow up and make adjustments.

Since February of this year, the team has been running at full scale and has so far worked with around 20 people within the framework of the initiative in the municipality, which will initially run for three years with the possibility of a two-year extension.

What has been the "task force's" most important advice to the assessment and response team?

– To use the research that exists. We have tried to make it more accessible to those who feel they do not have time, or are perhaps not used to reading research articles. With the help of AI, we created a podcast that is easier to absorb. It was received very well by the team. The podcast highlights the perspectives of both the staff and the patients.

What does the research say specifically?

– It is about showing great respect for the person and catching them where they are, not forcing them, never pointing fingers, but luring them out, preferably in a pleasurable way, says Eva Ekvall Hansson.

The researchers have also helped to assess evaluation instruments and have discussed a lot with the team about rehabilitation in everyday life.

– Stressed staff may think that it is faster to help the care recipients, than to let them try it themselves. But this leads to passive care recipients. Let them try instead, advises Eva Ekvall Hansson.

Now the assessment and intervention team wants to continue with health economic evaluations. And the managers are on board.

– This mindset should permeate the entire municipality in the future. It is really cool. This is where you want to grow old.

This investment in Härnösand is an initiative of Municipal Director Lars Liljedahl, Vice Chairman of the SWEAH Board, and Professor Susanne Iwarsson, SWEAH's coordinator, and is financed by Utfallsfonden for five years.

Susanne Iwarsson is not directly involved in the initiative, as she is also leading an evaluation project financed by Forte, to monitor and evaluate the effects of the initiative.

 

Read more in a news article on the Härnösand municipality website (in Swedish).

Read about the research project 'Health care and social services for older adults in the context of age-friendly cities and communities: Can system-thinking and cooperation on a broad front pay off?'