Projects

Demand and Ability Protocol – a tool to use within multimodal pain rehabilitation in order to strengthen the collaboration between health care, employee and employer?

Responsible researcher: Therese Hellman
Period: 2019-2021

Multimodal rehabilitation is a successful intervention in order to improve quality of life and return to work in people with long-term pain.  Previous research have shown that early contact between health care, employee and employer contribute to increased work ability and facilitate return to work. However, it is also known that health care personnel sometime take a dualistic perspective in rehabilitation. This means that return to work often is seen as something that cannot to be highlighted before health and a well-functioning everyday life are in place, instead of integrating the occupational arena of work in the whole rehabilitation period. Traditionally, rehabilitation has a clear structure for how the rehabilitation personnel, in collaboration with the patient, work with function, activity and participation. Such clear structure are still lacking for efforts targeting return to work. Since return to work is one of the goals in rehabilitation, there is a need to study how coordination and collaboration between health care, employee and employer might be strengthened. The aim of this project is to generate knowledge on how the Demand and Ability Protocol (DAP) contribute to the vocational part of the rehabilitation.

The overall purpose is to examine how patients who participate in multimodal pain rehabilitation and their managers experience the DAP, and to compare rehabilitation outcomes in patients that had participated in DAP during their rehabilitation with those that have not.

EpiHealth kohort om sömnproblem och lungfunktion

Ansvarig: Guihong Cai
Period: 2011-2019

EpiHealth (Epidemiologi för hälsa, www.epihealth.se) är ett storskaligt forskningssamarbete mellan Uppsala universitet och Lunds universitet. Projekt har 19,135 deltagare hos medelålders och äldre personer (45-75 år gammal).

EpiHealth syftar är att kartlägga orsakerna till våra vanligaste folksjukdomar. Tidigare studier har visat att sömnstörningar/sömnproblem har negativ inverkan på livskvaliteten såsom diabetes, hjärtinfarkt, demens och dödlighet. Denna delstudie av EpiHealth kohort handlar om kopplingen mellan lungfunktion och sömn (t.ex. insomnia och sömnapne), sömntid, viktuppgång, fetma, central fetma och miljöpåverkan och livsstilsfaktorer. Ytterligare forskning är nödvändig t.ex. fokus på sömnkvaliteten så att man ska kunna förebygga och behandla dessa i framtiden.

Evaluation of a collaborative intervention to promote early employer contact and return to work among people with common mental disorders or chronic pain

Responsible researcher: Teresia Nyman
Period: 2022-2024

We have good knowledge regarding important factors for reducing sick leave and increasing return to work (RTW), for example early involvement of employers. However, there is a lack of sufficient research on interventions that take these factors into account. The goal of the project is to contribute knowledge about an intervention that can promote RTW among patients on sick leave in primary care.

The intervention is called the Demand and Ability Protocol and consists of a structured conversation between the patient and his/hers immediate manager under the guidance of licensed medical staff (rehabilitation coordinators). During the intervention, a review is made of the balance between the work's requirements and the patient's functional ability in current work in order to identify possible adaptations and measures in the work.

The aim of this project is to evaluate a collaborative intervention between patient and manager with a focus on return to work, regarding usability and effect on the patient's health, RTW, work ability and trust in the manager. Furthermore, the purpose is to identify hindering and promoting factors for feasibility, usability and implementation of the intervention.

The project contains a cluster randomized intervention study and a process evaluation. To study the effect, questionnaires and sick leave data from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency will be obtained. To study how the intervention was experienced and implemented, interviews and questionnaires will be conducted in order to gain a deeper understanding of the intervention.

Hand-intensive work: A methology for risk assessment, medical checks and evaluation.

Responsible researcher: Teresia Nyman
Period: 2017-2020

The aim of the project is to develop, test and evaluate a model for medical checks for workers exposed to hand-intensive work with regard to feasibility (benefits and values for employers and employees) as well as effects regarding work-related ill health and improved working environment.

The project is expected to specifically increase knowledge about effective and feasible methodologies for implementing medical checks for workers exposed to hand-intensive work, and more generally provide support to the Swedish Work Environment Authority with regard to relevant key figures and factors for monitoring and evaluation in their supervisory work in terms of application and effects of regulations.

Time patterns of physical load, performance and musculoskeletal disorders. A longitudinal study of string players

Responsible researcher: Teresia Nyman
Period: 2018-2021

The purpose of the study is to, with repeated measurements, study the importance of variation in physical load, i.e. the time pattern between workload and recovery, for well-being, performance and musculoskeletal disorders. The purpose also includes investigating whether exposure, outcomes and relationships between them are different for women and men.

String musicians are a homogeneous professional group exposed to repetitive arm and hand movements and high precision demands. In addition, musicians experience high psychological demands to perform with good quality. In an orchestra, women and men within an instrument category have identical work tasks, which offer the opportunity to examine sex differences in movement patterns, perceived stress and musculoskeletal disorders.

String musicians in symphony orchestras will be followed for 12 months. Data collection is partly done experimentally in a laboratory with technical measurements, as well as through clinical examination and questionnaires about work environment, physical fatigue, performance and problems related to the work.

Does exposure to perfluorinated substances affect the risk of developing cardiometabolic diseases?

Responsible researcher: Monica Lind
Period: 2015-2019

Previous studies have shown associations between environmental pollutants, such as PCBs, pesticides, bisphenol A, phthalates and cardiometabolic disorders. In this current research project we are investigation if another group of environmental pollutants; perfluorinated substances (shortened PFASs) may cause similar disorders. In order to study this we use data from the PIVUS cohort (1016 men and women, all 70 years in 2001-2004) where 14 different PFASs have been measured in serum. Repeated measurements were performed at 75 (n=826) and 80 (n=606) years of age. The overall hypothesis for the project is that PFASs, through the influence on hormones that control fat metabolism, affects fat metabolism and that this effect leads to, for example, increased amount of abdominal fat, altered levels of blood lipids and fatty acids that can induce future cardiometric disease.

Does development exposure to Bisphenol A contribute to the development of obesity and osteoporosis?

Contact: Linda Dunder
Period: 2013-2019

Already in the 30's, it was known that bisphenol A (BPA) had estrogenic properties and therefore BPA was intended to be launched as a drug. However, another drug, diethylstilbestrol, was found to be more potent than BPA and therefore another use for found for BPA. In the 1950s, the properties of the substance were discovered as an efficient plastic hardener. Since 1957, BPA has been widely used in plastic production. BPA is used, for example, in the manufacturing of polycarbonate plastic (PC) and as an additive in other plastics, as well as in epoxy phenolic coatings used e.g. on the inside of canned cans and water pipelines ("relining"). BPA and its analogues are used today not only in plastics but also in eg. inks and receipts. Therefore, we are exposed to BPA not only via food but also via drinking water and dust, and it is therefore not surprising that BPA can be detected in the circulation of almost all people being investigated. Because of its endocrine properties, BPA has become a highly controversial chemical and although hundreds of experimental studies and several epidemiological studies have shown possible adverse effects of BPA on health, the authorities still require more data to make decisions about regulation of BPA. No previous studies have investigated how the bone tissue is affected by BPA or if the balance between fat and bone tissue is disturbed by early exposure to BPA. The overall aim of this research project is therefore to in a rat model study whether premature low dose exposure (in utero and during lactation) to BPA interferes with the sensitive balance between fat and bone tissue and if this causes permanent changes. Such changes could manifest as obesity and/or osteoporosis in adulthood.

STAMINA - Structured and Time-Effective Approach through Methods for an Inclusive and Active working life.

Responsible researcher: Magnus Svartengren
Period: 2016-2019

Developing and maintaining good health and productivity in the Swedish businesses requires a structured process that supports the development of good working environments. In Sweden, the regulation of Systematic work environment (SAM) (AFS 2001:1) addresses employer’s obligations to investigate, carry out and follow up activities in such a way that ill health and accidents at work are prevented and a satisfactory working environment is achieved. The methods, when applied, is very effective but it is not seldom experienced as time consuming, and somewhat abstract. In a report from the Swedish Work Environment Authority (SWEA) it emerged that despite legal requirements, there are still employers in Sweden who’s not fulfilling their legal obligations. It often fails with regard to the concretization of goals, communication, participation and follow-up / evaluation. The Stamina model is a structured, time efficient and participatory method aiming to improve work environment, productivity and quality.

The overall aim is to examine how the implementation and long-term usage of the Stamina model is applied in municipalities in Sweden and to investigate the effects of for example HRI and perceived productivity over time.

Method for assessing the employee functional capacity in current work – a key to successful cooperation between supervisor, employee and occupational health professional

Responsible researcher: Magnus Svartengren
Contact: Sofia Åström Paulsson
Period: 2013-2017

Krav- och funktionsschemat(KOF) – eng. Demands and Functional Schedule - is a method used by occupational health services for assessing employee´s capacity to work. It was originally developed in the Netherlands and Norway and has been translated in to Swedish. The method is conducted as a structured conversation between the employee and the manager under the guidance of a professional from the occupational health service. During the conversation, the employee and the manager agrees on the level of demands in the current work and the employee´s correspondent functional capacity. Compilation is made of areas where the functional capacity is less than the job's requirements and suggestions for adaptation measures are noted. The purpose of the project is to investigate the method´s:

• usefulness for employees, employers and occupational health services.
• impact on the company / workplace's rehabilitation process, employee sickness absence and trust in the supervisors (organizational justice).

Working environment and health among immigrants - a systematic literature review.

Responsible researcher: Martin Tondel
Contact: Bo Johansson

The aim of this literature review is to identify risk factors for illness among immigrants, but also to describe psychosocial conditions that can improve participation in working life. The project is funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Health and labour market attachment among immigrants.

Responsible researcher: Martin Tondel
Contact: Bo Johansson
Period: 2018-2020

The aim of this project is to illustrate and analyze labour market participation and health status for different groups of immigrants to Sweden, based on geographical origin and reason for migration/settling. We are using a longitudinal design and register data to identify factors that can be considered as prognostic markers for inclusion/exclusion in the labour market and are protective or harmful to health. The project will also scrutinize the established "healthy migrant effect" hypothesis (that immigrants are generally healthier than the native population on arrival in the new country).

Estimated lifetime effective dose to hunters and their families in Gävleborg, Västernorrland and Uppsala county after the Chernobyl accident in 1986 – a pilot study

Responsible researcher: Martin Tondel
Period: 2013-2017

In this pilot study we use existing registries and whole-body measurements to develop algorithms to calculate lifetime effective doses and collective doses to some hunters in Sweden. Internal effective doses will be estimated using aggregated transfer factors from ground deposition to in vivo body concentration for 134Cs and 137Cs. External effective doses will also be calculated for 134Cs, 137Cs and short-lived nuclides in these three counties. Internal and external doses will be added annually on an individual level and then cumulated to a lifetime dose. 

Hälsa och produktivitet bland vårdpersonal i Uppsala län

Ansvarig: Robert Wålinder
Period: 2015-2021

Det är känt att vårdpersonal har höga ohälsotal samtidigt som de utsätts för ovanligt många av arbetslivets riskfaktorer. De vårdanställda är utsatta för bl.a. obekväma arbetstider, långa arbetspass, nattarbete, våld- och hot, stress, underbemanning, tunga lyft, infektioner och smitta, narkosgaser, kemikalier, läkemedelshantering, joniserande strålning, organisationsförändringar, otydlig ledning mm.

Detta aktionsforskningsprojektet avser att interaktivt samla data om yrkes- och livsstilsfaktorer bland vårdpersonal för att skapa en risk- och hälsoprofil. Denna hälsoprofil återförs sedan till den anställda med en uppföljning av hälsodata.

Genom en webb-baserad enkät erbjuds samtliga anställda inom hälso- och sjukvården i Uppsala län svara på frågor om hälsa, arbete och livsstil. För varje anställd skapas en risk- och hälsoprofil som återförs till den anställde, tillsammans med ett evidensbaserat åtgärdsprogram med syfte att reducera risker och främja hälsa. En uppföljning sker efter 3 och 6 år.

Cancerförekomst i Sverige 25 år efter Tjernobylolyckan

Ansvarig: Robert Wålinder
Period: 2012-2018

Sverige erhöll relativt stor del av det radioaktiva nedfallet (jod-131 och cesium-137) från reaktorhaveriet i Tjernobyl 1986. Cesium-137 har en fysikalisk halveringstid på 30 år och inträffade cancerfall sker ofta med en latenstid på 20-30 år efter exponering. Den radioaktiva kontamineringen har haft stora samhällskonsekvenser i vissa delar av Mellansverige där viltkött, insjöfisk, bär och svamp fortfarande har hög radioaktivitet.

Studera om cancerförekomsten är högre i de områden som har högre nedfall av cesium-137 för att avgöra vilka hälsokonsekvenser den radioaktiva kontaminationen har.

Flygning med gammakamera har givit kartor med markstrålningen från cesium-137. Exponering av joniserande strålning från det radioaktiva nedfallet för befolkningen i norra Sverige skattas för deras bostäders värde på strålningskartan. Uppgifter om cancerdiagnos och dödsfall i befolkningen hämtas från nationella cancerregistret vid Epidemiologiskt centrum på Socialstyrelsen. Sambandet mellan bostadens strålvärde och risken att få cancer under 25 år skattas.