Three new fundings from Forte to researchers at GPH
This year, Forte has awarded funding to a total of 20 projects at Karolinska Institutet, including three researchers from the Department of Global Public Health, Anna-Clara Hollander, Sibylle Herzig Van Wees and Lene Lindberg.
Anna-Clara Hollander has been awarded 4 960 000 SEK dispersed over three years and until 2026 from Forte for the project "Why is compulsory psychiatric care more common amongst migrants than the Swedish-born population?"
The purpose of the project is to study why compulsory psychiatric care use differs within different migrant groups as compared with the Swedish majority population and to explore possible reasons for any differences. The grant will be used for a mixed methods approach using both longitudinal epidemiological studies and focus groups.
In cases of immediate danger to a patient or others, physicians have a difficult dual mandate when deciding if compulsory psychiatric care is needed; requiring them to balance the patient’s right to autonomy with the protection of the patient’s and others’ lives. The project will highlight inequities in the use of compulsory psychiatric care and explore potential factors influencing these patterns, paving the way for more equitable psychiatric care."
Sibylle Herzig van Wees received 4 968 000 SEK for the project "Addressing HPV vaccine hesitancy by co-designing a digital health intervention with and for socioeconomically disadvantaged adolescents and guardians in Sweden (HPV-END-IT)".
Historically, Sweden has had very good immunization coverage but this has changed somewhat in the past decade. One vaccine where there is lower uptake than others is the HPV vaccine, which can effectively reduce invasive cervical cancer. Low HPV vaccine uptake has been found in socially disadvantaged communities in Sweden.
"Our project aims to contribute to an improved understanding of these low rates, and co-design and pilot-test a digital health intervention to strengthen knowledge and confidence in the HPV vaccine. The grant will be used to conduct co-designed research, create the digital health intervention and pilot test it in schools."
"The grant is a collaborative effort and brings together a brilliant team, which I am so excited to work with. It includes Elin Larsson and Anna Kågesten who will contribute with their expertise on migrant, adolescent sexual and reproductive health. As well as Zangin Zeebari who will support the pilot trial. Moreover, a key member of the group is Prof Marie Löf from the e-Health unit at KI, who is an experienced digital health researcher in socially disadvantaged communities in Sweden."
Sibylle is based in Ethiopia, since her husband works for the Swedish Foreign service. We asked her about what she appreciates most about living in Ethiopia, and how has it influenced her research?
" I appreciate being close to collaborators in Addis Ababa and learning a lot about how they operate and what constraints they face while doing fieldwork. It is easy to forget that when being far away in Sweden. Ethiopia is going through a very difficult time politically and it is a constant and humbling reminder that peace and safety are privileges. Ironically, being far away from Sweden also connects me more to the communities I work with in Sweden because learning about the politics of the horn of Africa allows for a better understanding of where many migrants in Sweden are coming from."
Lene Lindberg has recieved programme grant of 19 876 000 SEK for the project "Proportionate universalism in practice - a program of study of universal, selective and indicated interventions to strengthen children's well-being and mental health in the first five years"
"The grant from Forte will be used to develop and evaluate feasible and effective interventions within and through collaboration between the activities (Maternal and Child Health Care, Open Preschool, Preventive Social Services) that work with parents-to-be and families with children between the ages of 0-5."