Frida Andréasson

I am a PhD student in Health Science at the Department of Health and Caring Sciences. Overall, my dissertation work is about Information and Communication Technology-based support for informal carers of older persons.

As a PhD student I am affiliated to SWEAH, National Graduate School on Ageing and Health. As a background, I am a sociologist and social worker and have previously worked as a needs assessor in the municipality and with research and development work concerning the social services. In recent years I have been working at the Swedish Family Care Competence Centre, SFCCC.

Research

Demographic changes with a growing aging population combined with fiscal constraints and changes in public care puts more responsibility on informal carers. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is seen both internationally and nationally as a potential way of meeting the challenges and provide support to carers.

My thesis work is based on two major projects; the EU-funded INNOVAGE (Social Innovation Promoting Active and Healthy Ageing) project and the ICT4SelfCare research program funded by the Swedish National Science Council and the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working life and Welfare. INNOVAGE has now ended, but was led by the Italian Aging Centre (INRCA) in Italy and in collaboration with the NGO, Eurocarers and Swedish Family Care Competence Centre.

The INNOVAGE project consisted of researching, developing and testing a web platform for informal caregivers across 27 EU Member States (27 countries because Croatia was not formally a member of EU at the commencement of the project). ICT4SelfCare is led by Anna Strömberg, professor at Linköping University in collaboration with, among others, Linnaeus University and Elizabeth Hanson, Professor, and Lennart Magnusson, Associate Professor.

The program consists of 7 different projects, of which the project I am involved in is about research and development of a support program for carers of people with Heart Failure.