Registered nurse (1989); PhD (2002) in medical science (neurology); Associate Professor of caring science (2007); Professor of neurological caring science (2011). Research group leader for PRO-CARE and head of subject (health sciences) at Kristianstad University. Coordinator of PMhealth (Swedish national network for Psychometrics and Metrology in the health sciences). Research areas include outcome measurement, assessment and evaluation, and observational and experimental clinical studies.

I received my PhD in 2002 based on a thesis (pdf, 727 kB) on clinical and patient-reported effects and in vivo functioning of embryonic dopaminergic cells transplanted to the striatum of people with Parkinson's disease. In parallel, I also engaged in other studies concerning, for example, long-term effects of subcutaneous apomorphine therapy for Parkinson's disease, patient-reported outcome measurement and health economics. Taken together, my PhD project and other concurrent activities largely came to shape the direction of my post-doctoral scientific profile. 
My current research is focused measurement and understanding of consequences of ill health and outcomes following various interventions from the perspective of the affected person, as well as from clinical and societal perspectives. This work primarily involves long-term neurological and other conditions, but also other areas. My research can be summarized into three related areas:

1. Development, evaluation and quality assurance of methods to assess and measure consequences of ill health and outcomes of interventions. The overall objective is to work towards metrologically sound person-centered and conceptually well-grounded approaches to assessment and measurement in clinical research and practice. Primarily work related to the development, construction and application of rating scale and questionnaire based assessment and measurement methods. This includes, e.g., cross-cultural translation and adaptation, response category interpretation and functioning, the meaning and impact of various scoring methodologies, as well as epistemological and ethical issues related to health outcomes assessment and measurement.
2. Improved knowledge and understanding of various aspects of health and disease, and the relationships among such aspects, with an intention to contribute to the development of new and better preventive and therapeutic interventions.
3. Studies regarding person-centered care, for example person-centered care from a patient perspective among people with long-term disorders, relationships between person-centered care and other factors, and person-centered care and vulnerable groups.

Methodologically, this work is primarily quantitative with a focus on psychometrics and metrology, particularly Rasch Measurement Theory (RMT). However, since qualitative aspects are central to measurement, assessment and evaluation processes, I also use qualitative methods and mixed methods, particularly Group Concept Mapping (GCM), on their own as well as integrated in quantification processes.

"The trouble with measurement is its seeming simplicity"

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National and international collaborations include representatives from academia/institutions (e.g., IHE, RI.SE, Linnaeus University, Vienna University, University of Copenhagen, Karolinska Institute), health care (e.g., Region Skåne, Region Sörmland, Karolinska University Hospital), industry (e.g., H. Lundbeck AB, Galen Research Ltd., Concept Systems Inc., Modus Outcomes), as well as governmental (e.g., the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare) and non-governmental organizations (e.g., the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society, SWEMODIS/SwePARK, the Swedish Movement Disorder Caring Society).