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GPCC’s strategic research lines and focus areas

In 2025 GPCC established four strategic research lines that guide our long-term research and collaboration agenda. Three strategic focus areas already existed, which GPCC's research projects can be sorted into.

Strategic research lines

1. Precision Health

We conduct research on precision health, defined as the integration of precision medicine and person-centred care. This research aims to develop more tailored, effective, and equitable approaches to prevention, treatment, and care.

Several research and innovation projects within GPCC contribute to the development of precision health, where care and treatment are tailored to the individual by early identification of risks and health patterns to enable preventive and early accurate interventions.

The definition of precision health is based here as: “Precision health provides a framework for identifying predictive biomarkers and early indicators of disease at the individual level, enabling timely interventions to prevent or manage illness more effectively”¹.

Project

PicPecc and the developed Facial Thermometer focus on children's ability to self-report symptoms using digital and visual tools. By capturing individual expressions of pain and well-being, a more precise basis for assessment and treatment is created. This strengthens the child's participation and enables care tailored to unique biological and psychosocial needs.

Publications

¹Nilsson S, Hansson H, Moons P, Onerup A, Saarijärvi M, Sabel M, Bratt EL. Is this the road to health? - the person in precision health. Eur J Cardiovasc Nurs. 2025 Sep 5;24(6):988-995.

Höök A, Forsgren E, Björk M, Castor C, Nordh E, Nilsson S. Access to an mHealth Tool for Symptom Management in Pediatric Oncology Care: Triangulation Study. JMIR Form Res. 2026 Jul 2;10:e93934. doi: 10.2196/93934.

2. Governance

We conduct research on person-centred governance – that is, how steering mechanisms, organisational structures, leadership and incentive systems can be designed to enable, integrate and scale up person-centred care.

Our research is grounded in core normative principles of person-centredness – including respect for the person, integrity, informed consent and partnership – and relates these to broader international developments regarding integrated care, patient “rights”, healthcare governance and policy development.

We study both system-level issues and how decision-making and leadership function in practice, including governance across providers and authorities, quality and knowledge management systems, and economic incentives. Our aim is to demonstrate how norms of person-centredness can not only be articulated, but also translated into structures and processes that promote sustainable, person-centred health and social care in both Swedish and international contexts.

Projects

Quality Indicators for Person-Centred Care
A project developing and building consensus around relevant quality indicators to measure person-centredness in healthcare, providing a foundation for monitoring and continuous improvement.
RE-CONSIDERED – Transformation Alliance for Long-Term System Change
A transformation alliance working together with regions, municipalities and civil society to explore new models of governance, leadership and collaboration to promote integrated and person-centred health and social care.
Does Municipal Health and Social Care Become More Person-Centred After an Educational Initiative?
An evaluation of how an educational programme influences person-centred practices in municipal health and social care, with a focus on practical outcomes.
Co-Creating a Sustainable National Platform for Public Involvement
A project aimed at developing structures and a national platform for public involvement in health system governance and development, as part of the transition towards more person-centred care.

Publications

Bergholtz J, Wolf A, Crine V, et al Patient and public involvement in healthcare: a systematic mapping review of systematic reviews – identification of current research and possible directions for future research. BMJ Open 2024;14:e083215.

Bergholtz, J., Wallström, S., Gyllensten, H. et al. Reducing tokenism in patient and public involvement by integrating the Gothenburg person-centred care framework, relational bridges and impact log – a co-produced position paper. Res Involv Engagem 12, 86 (2026).

Forsgren E, Feldthusen C, Wallström S, Björkman I, Bergholtz J, Friberg F and Öhlén J (2025) Learning from the implementation of person-centred care: a meta-synthesis of research related to the Gothenburg framework. Front. Health Serv. 5:1589502.

Lood Q, Lalloo EC, Bergholtz J, Barenfeld E (2026) Leadership education to support person-centred health and social care: A scoping review of empirical literature. PLoS One 21(6): e0350991.

Bergholtz, J., Bais D. and Mylonopoulou, V. "Developing a national online platform for public involvement in research/innovation and healthcare improvement in Sweden with users as active co-creators." International Journal of Integrated Care, vol. 26, no. S1, Ubiquity Press, 2026, pp. 121-121.

3. Digital Infrastructures

We investigate the role of digital infrastructures, data, and artificial intelligence in the future of health and care systems, with particular attention to how these technologies can be developed and used in alignment with the ethics and values of person-centred care.

GPCC's work in digital infrastructure is based on a long tradition of research into digital technology and e-health in person-centred care. Today, the area also includes new initiatives in artificial intelligence, med-tech, digital monitoring, remote care, rehabilitation support and co-creating digital platforms.

In common for all these projects is the ambition to develop digital solutions that are not only technically advanced, but also ethically anchored, trustworthy and designed in partnership with patients, relatives and professionals. In this way, GPCC contributes to knowledge about how digitalization and its digital infrastructures can enable the future development of healthcare in a way that is sustainable, equitable and consistently person-centred.

Projects

4. Crisis Situations

We conduct research on person-centredness and disaster management. Crises challenge the normal functions of society and disasters constitute societal-threatening situations where resources are insufficient. Disasters affect us both structurally and individually. Structurally, clear exercise of authority is required that is characterized by the power to act, and individually, strategies are needed that reduce vulnerability, suffering and damage.

It is a challenge to manage time-critical and societal-threatening events while at the same time taking into account the situation of individuals. We believe that person-centredness is necessary in critical situations.

We have studied the different strategies used in mass casualty scenarios, they are:

1. proceduralism, i.e. a depersonalization to favour decision-making ability and rationality

2. selective survival assessments based on a utilitarian consequentialist mindset and

3. person-centredness that reduces different choices to the needs and preferences of the individual, where account is taken of abilities, rights and being treated with respect.

Our results show that experienced disaster medics use all three models but handle encounters with injured people, regardless of the scenario, from a person-centred perspective. When our results are compared with the training provided in the field, we can see that person-centred ethics are missing from the action strategies that are taught.

Another area we are interested in is society's capacity-building ability in the event of major critical events. Our starting point is that a person-centred approach promotes collaboration across organizational and administrative boundaries, increases the willingness to offer resources that can be deployed where they are needed most, and strengthens the capabilities of the public.

Publication

Khorram-Manesh, A., Grey, L., Cocco, A-L., Ranse, J., Goniewic, K., Phattharapornjaroen, P., Nebil, A., Peyravi, M., Hertelendy, A., Kupietz, K., Bergholtz, J & Carlström, E. (2024) Care in Emergencies and Disasters: Can it be Person-Centered? Patient Education and Counseling.  Jan:118:108046.  doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2023.108046.

Strategic focus areas

1. Development, adaptation and evaluation of person-centred care

We intend to carry out empirical studies and syntheses of international research on person-centred care of significance for regional, national, international care, treatment and care guidelines. These will include explanatory models for the extent to which person-centred care is generic and can be applied to promote health and reduce ill health, as well as how they can be adapted to specific health and medical care situations and living circumstances (such as ages - children and adolescents and the elderly). Specifically, we intend to contribute with the adaptation of person-centred care to improve continuity in the care chain. We will also have a special initiative to strengthen the ability for person-centering through digitization, such as person-centred med-tech and studies focusing on how AI/Big Data can be utilized. Through this research, the implementation of person-centred care will range from physical meetings between patients and staff to digital practice and tools for person-centred care, both enitrely digital care solutions and hybrid practice that combine digital tools with personal care meetings. The implementation will also include collaboration between formal care providers and informal care and care within the family, networks and civil society.

2. Enable transitioning to person-centred health care and care

We intend to contribute with knowledge about design, implementation, impact and effects in terms of strategies for implementation of and learning about person-centred care in the health care and care establishments as well as in professional education. This research ranges from specific measures for health promotion and inclusive health care and care, to studies of the transition to person-centred care at micro, meso and macro levels. The intention is that the research will thus contribute to national, Nordic and European transition to person-centred care in both care in commonly occurring societal situations and in stressful situations (time-critical events, increased work load and deployment of reinforcement resources in for example pandemics and other extensive societal challenges).

3. Development of partnerships between patient representatives, the general public and healthcare organizations and decision-making systems

This part of the research programme is intended to provide explanations for forms of partnership with patients and the general public within healthcare organizations and what can be seen as optimal for favorable decision-making in relation to organizations' assignments. We intend to shed light on the significance that inclusion of patients' and family carers' perspectives, in addition to research-based evidence, can have for decision-making in health care. GPCC has a unique ability to implement this as we have established well-functioning forms of collaboration with national patient organizations and in that we systematically include patient and user participation in the projects.