AgeCap activities during Covid-19

Research projects

• Completed qualitative interview study with the aim of understanding and describing experiences of how pandemic-related restrictions have affected people living in special housing. The participants were 10 persons between 85 and 100 years old and the preliminary result highlights the importance of balancing protection against the virus with supporting the rights of older persons to choose how they want to live the rest of their lives.
  Researchers involved: Qarin Lood, Maria Haak and Synneve Dahlin-Ivanoff (FRESH)
• The research group LEXLIV has received funding from the Swedish Research Council for health, Working life, and Welfare (Forte) for a project in elderly care that deals with organization and management that strengthens the older person´s influence and safety before, during and after Covid-19
  Researchers involved: Lotta Dellve & Caroline Hasselgren (LEXLIV)
• The research group LEXLIV has received funding from the Swedish Research Council for health, Working life, and Welfare (Forte) for a project on occupational injuries through infection, pain and stress - before, during and after Covid-19, and the importance of age, country of birth, and gender.
  Researchers involved: Lotta Dellve, Hans Ekbrand, Ylva Wallinder, Sofia Björk, Kristina Hermansson, Helena Stensöta, Helena Sanden (LEXLIV)
• The H70 study has received funding from the Swedish research council for sustainable development (Formas) for including questions about Covid-19.
  Researchers involved: Ingmar Skoog, Therese Rydberg Sterner, Anna Zettergren and Hanna Falk Erhag (EPINEP)
• In the H70 study, measurement of antibodies for covid-19 in 75/76-year-olds born in 1944 will take place during the spring of 2021. This is a collaboration with the Swedish Public Health Agency, the Swedish Armed Forces, the unit for clinical microbiology at Sahlgrenska University hospital, and infection control physicians in the Västra Götaland region.
• In the ongoing HEARTS study, questions related to the Covid situation were added. For example, questions about experiences of concerns about finances, degree of social distancing and risk assessments were included. Part of the results is presented in a recently published article (https://academic.oup.com/psychsocgerontology/advance-article/doi/10.1093/geronb/gbaa084/5864890). Follow-up analyzes have also been made for a report to the Swedish Public Health Agency. In future data collection, data will be collected on how the pandemic has affected work and pension plans, as well as the possibility of continued work.
  Researchers involved: Marie kivi, Isabelle Hansson, Pär Bjälkebring (LIFE LAB)
• Participation in an ongoing study on how disease in Covid-19 is affected by varying degrees of fragility.
  Researchers involved: Synneve Dahlin-Ivanoff and Katarina Wilhelmsson (FRESH)
• An ongoing survey and analysis in collaboration with the City of Gothenburg of the management, organization and working conditions of care for older persons: before - during - after the pandemic.
  Researchers involved: Lotta Dellve, Caroline Hasselgren, Karin Allard, Monica Bäck Andersson, Helena Håkansson, Gunnar Gillberg (LEXLIV)
• An ongoing survey and analysis in collaboration with the City of Gothenburg of pension preferences and working conditions among older municipal employees before and during the pandemic.
  Researchers involved: Daniel Seldén, Caroline Hasselgren, Lotta Dellve, Mikael Stattin, Daniel Larsson (LEXLIV)

• An explosion of new words, terms and phrases related to the global Covid-19 pandemic have been created and used since the beginning of 2020, rapidly spread through news, social media and the Internet. The coronavirus' own vocabulary can reveal a wealth of insights about its speakers. Word usage and language constructions can be used to study e.g. the effects of political decisions, ideological positioning, stereotypical uses of groups' social status or attitudes towards certain population groups etc. AgeCap researchers have compiled a Swedish digitized collection of corona-related texts, a so-called corpus. The corpus will be made searchable via Språkbanken text's Korp interface during the beginning of February 2021 (https://spraakbanken.gu.se/korp). A blog post that briefly describes the corpus can be found here: https://spraakbanken.gu.se/blogg/index.php/2021/01/13/a-swedish-covid-19-sv-covid-19-corpus-and-its-exploration-smorgasbord/.

  Researchers involved: Dimitrios Kokkinakis (Natural Language Processing)

• AgeCap researchers are involved in the SOM Institute's covid study and have added questions specifically aimed at older persons. Researchers write shorter reports with specific focus that are published on the SOM Institute's website (https://www.gu.se/som-institutet/resultat-och-publikationer/som-undersokningen-om-coronaviruset). A report particularly relevant from an aging perspective is Capability during a pandemic by Gabriella Sandstig and Synneve Dahlin-Ivanoff
  Researchers involved: Annika Bergström (AGEDEM), Gabriella Sandstig (AGEDEM), Maria Edström (AGEDEM) and Ingmar Skoog (EPINEP)
• AgeCap researchers have been involved in the ongoing study Disparate Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Norway and Sweden: lessons and opportunities for the Nordic region.
  Researcher involved: Ulrika Lagerlöf Nilsson

Scientific articles

• Published article: Baxter, et al (2020). COVID-19: Opportunities for interdisciplinary research to improve care for older people in Sweden. Scandinavian journal of public health, 1403494820969544. doi: 10.1177 / 1403494820969544
• Published article: Kivi, Hansson, Bjälkebring. Up and About: Older Adults’ Well-being During the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Swedish Longitudinal Study, The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, gbaa084, https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbaa084
• Submitted article on nutrient intake and Covid-19: Corona Virus Disease 19 in the perspective of aging with focus on nutritional status and nutrition management (to the journal Nutrients)

Participation in the media

• Our researchers have participated in TV, radio, print press and web articles over 2000 times in 2020 and most activities have been related to Covid-19

Participation in councils and investigations

• Director Ingmar Skoog has participated as an expert in the Government's Elderly Council, the Corona Commission and IVO's supervision of the care for older persons during the pandemic

Other activities

• Two online seminars were organized together with Jonsered manor on the corona crisis and old age, as well as on the crisis related to the care of older persons.

Researchers involved: Ingmar Skoog (EPINEP), Lotta Dellve (LEXLIV), Maria Edström (AGEDEM), Ulrika Lagerlöf Nilsson (Department of Historical Studies)

• UR samtiden filmed a lecture series with researchers from AgeCap, several of which are relevant to Covid-19: https://urplay.se/program/220125-ur-samtiden-allt-du-vill-veta-om-att-bli-aldre -research-on-aging
•  Director Ingmar Skoog blogs for the Senior: https://www.senioren.se/kategori/blogg/

• Researchers in LEXLIV has participated in web lectures, panel discussions, and knowledge compilations through, for example, the Ministry of Social Affairs, SKR, CGHRM, University of Gothenburg/ Jonsered, Ledarna Sveriges Chefsorganisation and Arbetarskydd. Knowledge disseminates about care of older persons to employers, leaders and HR is also performed.

Researchers involved: Lotta Dellve, Caroline Hasselgren, Karin Allard (LEXLIV)