Susanne Gustafsson

Susanne Gustafsson is an associate professor of occupational therapy and employed as a senior lecturer at the Department of Rehabilitation at the School of Health Sciences at Jönköping University. She divides her service between teaching and research. Susanne teaches occupational therapy and scientific methods at a basic and advanced level.

In 2012, Susanne defended her dissertation "Health-promoting intervention for community-dwelling older adults - Focusing on the concept of frailty and intervention outcome" at the University of Gothenburg. She then carried out a postdoc project at the University of Gothenburg in the years 2012–2015. This project evaluated the implementation of a health-promoting intervention for older people born in Finland and the Western Balkans.

Susanne has a professional background as a licensed occupational therapist, among other things in psychiatry and neurological and geriatric rehabilitation. She has many years of experience in patient work, but also in the role of clinical head supervisor and specialist occupational therapist with responsibility for development. Susanne's research is mainly about the health and well-being of older people. Areas where she has conducted research are health promotion, implementation of welfare technology, participation of older people in society, and aging in a migration context. Current research is focused on older adults everyday activities during heat waves with a focus on heat-adaptive strategies and conditions in the physical environment. Susanne has also been involved in translating an instrument for measuring capability, ICECAP-O, where a couple of studies have been published and further research is ongoing. In these areas, she is involved in interprofessional research with both quantitative- and qualitative- and mixed methods.