Guest researcher profile: Rakel Eklund

I am a full-time researcher at Uppsala University, working on a project developing psychosocial support interventions for families with dependent children in difficult life situations, such as severe illness, death and grief. With a special interest in children’s rights, the project focuses on children’s voices and active participation. As part of this project I am developing and evaluating a self-help app for children and teenagers in grief after losing a family member.

In my PhD thesis (2020), I evaluated a family-centered support programme from the children’s perspectives. The support programmes were given to families where a parent with dependent children had a severe, terminal illness.

During my post-doctoral period (2020-2022), I developed and evaluated a self-help app for parents with complicated grief after losing a child.

I also conduct research at the National Centre for Disaster Psychiatry, focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic. One of these projects explored daily uplifts in everyday life during the pandemic, and another project focuses on experiences of psychosocial rehabilitation after being cared for in an intensive care unit due to COVID-19.

Research interests:
Children as next of kin, Children's rights, Grief and bereavement, Psychosocial support interventions, Feasibility studies, Qualitative methods