One of my absolute greatest research contributions to clinical practice is the development of a brief screening tool to detect eating difficulties, the instrument Minimal Eating Observation Form - Version II (MEOF-II). The instrument is used both clinically and in research. It has been translated into over ten languages. A speech pathologist and researcher expressed the following:

This test is the most effective in nursing homes to extend the observation of caregivers. The other easy-to-use tools only look at foods and textures, which is not enough (2023-07-03, Xavier Cormary, Speech therapist, France).

My research focus is within eating difficulties, nutrition, and neurology (stroke and Parkinson's disease). I am also working with psychometrics and metrology, methods for evaluation and development of instruments/rating scales based on classical and modern test theory.

In the fall of 2024, I will start a new project focusing on "The significance of playfulness and play for the health and well-being of elderly people with reduced mobility." The project goes under the acronym "PLAY-SE," Play and Supportive Environments. The project group also includes Petra Nilsson Lindström (Associate Professor in Public Health Science), Anna Nivestam (Lecturer in Health Science), Maria Haak (Professor in Health Science), and Annica Norell (Associate Professor in Psychology, Örebro University). The PhD student in the project is Anna Bergman (Master's degrees in Nursing), who will begin her doctoral studies on September 1, 2024, within the doctoral program in Nursing Science, specializing in person-centered care for health and well-being, at Kristianstad University.

During my Ph.D. studies, the focus for my research was on older people, especially older people with stroke and their problems with eating and nutrition. The studies were conducted within acute care and rehabilitation. After becoming Ph.D. (2001) the research has expanded to include care and service to elderly people within primary care and municipalities (special accommodation and ordinary living). The focus on neurology and nutrition maintains. I became associate professor at Lund University in 2006. During 2007-2009 I was employed as research assistant, funded by the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet). I am a professor of nursing (since 2009), and was the director for the Research platform for Collaboration for Health 2018-2023. During the autumn 2018 until autumn 2019 I was a visiting professor (in the name of Hedda Andersson) at Lund University, 20 %.

I am the third generation of nurses in my family. Grandmother Hanna Nilsson (born Åkesdotter) became a nurse in Kristianstad 1911, mother Ingegärd Westergren (born Nilsson) in Jönköping 1949, and I became a nurse in Kristianstad 1989.