About U-CARE
In 2010, we started U-CARE, one of the Swedish government's strategic research programmes. Within U-CARE, we conduct healthcare research based on a transdisciplinary approach. The goal of our research is that people with physical illness and their loved ones will get access to good and cost-effective care in terms of psychosocial support and psychological help. To achieve this goal, we develop, test, evaluate, and implement interventions, such as psychosocial and psychological internet-administered programmes. Our research is also about examining the psychological and economic consequences of physical illness for people with physical illness and their loved ones as well as the economic consequences for society.
We conduct our research together with people with personal experience of physical illness, their loved ones, representatives of healthcare, and academics from a number of subject areas.
We have developed and continue to develop the U-CARE Platform (Platform). The Platform is an advanced platform that enables decentralised clinical studies and intervention research. The Platform enables, among other things, randomisation, consent, reminders, and data collection.
Goals and vision
The overall goal of our activities is to contribute to good and cost-effective care in the form of psychosocial support and psychological help for people with physical illness and their loved ones.
Our vision is to promote well-being and health for people with physical illness and their loved ones regardless of socio-economic and cultural background.
The specific goals are to:
- Conduct innovative research of excellent quality regarding the psychological and economic consequences of physical illness, as well as the development, testing, and evaluation of psychosocial and psychological interventions.
- Conduct high-quality teaching at undergraduate, master's and postgraduate level in terms of scientific methods as well as eHealth, mental health, and public contribution.
- Contribute to the implementation of the interventions developed within U-CARE in healthcare.
- Make the U-CARE Platform available to external research groups.
Transdisciplinary approach
Collaborating with stakeholders outside academia and across academic disciplines is central to our organisation. We collaborate with people with experience of physical illness, either as a patient or as an informal caregiver. That helps us formulate important and relevant research questions, develop acceptable study procedures and materials for study participants, analyse and interpret results, and communicate the results of our research. Our collaboration with non-profit organisations and healthcare professionals ensures that our research is closely linked to the needs of individuals and society. Our collaboration across academic disciplines, for example Clinical Psychology, Health Economics, Global Mental Health, Health Informatics, Human-Machine Interaction, Implementation Science, and Information Systems helps us conduct relevant and excellent transdisciplinary healthcare research.
Scientific methods
To achieve our goals and our vision, we use a number of scientific methods and study designs, including: participatory action research, feasibility studies, mixed methods, pilot studies, process evaluation, public contribution, and randomised controlled trials.
Research group and unit
U-CARE is hosted by the research group CIRCLE – Complex Intervention Research in Health and Care. The research group is situated within the research unit Digital Health and Mental Health, which also includes the research groups Cardiovascular Psychology, PERCEPT and Participatory eHealth and Health data Research Group (PeHR). The overall aim of the research unit Digital Health and Mental Health is to conduct research at the forefront of scientific and technological developments within the digitalization of healthcare, especially in the field of mental health.
