Susanne Bernhardsson

Region Västra Götaland, Göteborg, Sweden · Research & Development Primary Health Care

It is of critical importance that findings from the wealth of clinical physical therapist research are transferred into clinical practice without unnecessary delays. There is a lack of knowledge about strategies that can be used to effectively implement physical therapist research findings and evidence-based practice (EBP) into everyday clinical pr...

Background Guidelines support health care decision-making and high quality care and outcomes. However, their implementation is sub-optimal. Theory-informed, tailored implementation is associated with guideline use. Few guideline implementation studies published up to 1998 employed theory. This study aimed to describe if and how theory is now used t...

Background: Patients' preferences should be integrated in evidence-based practice. This study aimed to explore patients' preferences for physiotherapy treatment and participation in decision making. Methods: A qualitative study set in an urban physiotherapy clinic in Gothenburg, Sweden. Individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted with...

Purpose: Despite growth in rehabilitation research, implementing research findings into rehabilitation practice has been slow. This creates inequities for patients and is an ethical issue. However, methods to investigate and facilitate evidence implementation are being developed. This paper aims to make these methods relevant and accessible for reh...

Background The relevance of context in implementation science is reflected in the numerous theories, frameworks, models and taxonomies that have been proposed to analyse determinants of implementation (in this paper referred to as determinant frameworks). This scoping review aimed to investigate and map how determinant frameworks used in implementa...

Background Musculoskeletal disorders are commonly treated in primary healthcare and may, if not treated adequately, entail a risk for long-term disability and sickness absence. A team-based rehabilitation intervention (PREVention of Sickness Absence for Musculoskeletal disorders, PREVSAM) was evaluated in a randomised controlled trial. The purpose...

Background The Scandinavian Neurotrauma Committee guideline (SNC-16) was developed and published in 2016, to aid clinicians in management of pediatric head injuries in Scandinavian emergency departments (ED). The objective of this study was to explore determinants for use of the SNC-16 guideline by Swedish ED physicians. Methods This is a nationwi...

Methods: Measurement of HGS with Jamar dynamometers was added to annual check-ups for patients with T2DM by diabetes nurses in primary care with feedback about normal values for age and sex in the intervention group. The control group had standard check-ups. Change in self-reported PA level was measured with questionnaires. Results: Seven clinic...

A research‐supported model to support schools' prevention of behavior problems and promotion of a positive school climate is school‐wide positive behavior support (SW‐PBS), in Scandinavia adapted into “positive behavior, interactions and learning environment in school” (PALS). Facilitators and barriers for achieving and sustaining a full implementa...

Purpose: The rehabilitation model "Prevention of sickness absence through early identification and rehabilitation of at-risk patients with musculoskeletal disorders" (PREVSAM) was tested in a randomised controlled trial. This study aimed to explore participating healthcare professionals' experiences of working according to the PREVSAM model, and t...

Purpose: To evaluate short-term effects of the PREVention of Sickness Absence for Musculoskeletal disorders (PREVSAM) model on sickness absence and patient-reported health outcomes. Methods: Patients with musculoskeletal disorders were randomised to rehabilitation according to PREVSAM or treatment as usual (TAU) in primary care. Sickness absence...

Background Insufficient physical activity is a growing public health concern and is closely linked to obesity in both adults and children. Swedish physical activity on prescription (PAP) is effective in increasing physical activity levels in adults, but knowledge about how PAP is used in paediatric healthcare is lacking. Therefore, this study aimed...

Background Somatisation is a highly prevalent psychiatric syndrome in both women and men, in which psychological distress is manifested in physical symptoms without a medical explanation. Many patients with somatisation disorder are high healthcare utilisers, particularly at emergency departments. Unnecessary investigations and diagnostic operation...

Background Although there is growing awareness that early childhood development programs are important for a sustainable society, there is a knowledge gap about how to implement such programs. Successful implementation requires attention to implementation drivers (competency, organization, and leadership) during all phases of the implementation. Th...

Background There is overwhelming evidence for the preventive effects of regular physical activity and healthy eating habits on the risk for developing a non-communicable disease (NCD). Increasing attention has been paid to community-wide approaches in the battle against NCDs. Communities can create supportive policies, modify physical environments,...

Introduction: Swedish Physical Activity on Prescription (PAP) has been shown to increase physical activity levels, which is known to lead to positive health effects. PAP is being implemented in Swedish healthcare to various extents. However, there is a lack of knowledge about how Swedish general practitioners (GPs) work with PAP and what hinders a...

Background This systematic review aimed to assess the certainty of evidence for digital versus conventional, face-to-face physiotherapy assessment of musculoskeletal disorders, concerning validity, reliability, feasibility, patient satisfaction, physiotherapist satisfaction, adverse events, clinical management, and cost-effectiveness. Methods Elig...

S. (2023). Swedish parents' satisfaction and experience of facilitators and barriers with Family Checkup: A mixed methods study. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. Family Checkup (FCU) was introduced in Sweden more than a decade ago. Little is known about what parents experience as FCU's key mechanisms leading to changes in parenting. The aim of t...

Supporting file 4 Outcome tables

Background Physical inactivity is a main driver of childhood obesity that tracks into adulthood, making it crucial to address early in life. Swedish physical activity on prescription (PAP) is an effective intervention for increasing physical activity levels in adults and is being implemented in primary care in Sweden. Before implementing PAP for ch...

Supporting file 3 List of excluded studies

Search strategies

Sexual ill health among young people, in terms of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), unintended pregnancy, transactional sex and sexual violence, is a global public health concern. To that end, the SEXual health Identification Tool (SEXIT) was developed. The purpose of this study was to explore the visitors' experiences of a youth clinic visit...

Background Physical inactivity is a main cause of childhood obesity which tracks into adulthood obesity, making it important to address early in life. Physical activity on prescription (PAP) is an evidence-based intervention that has shown good effect on physical activity levels in adults, but has not been evaluated in children with obesity. This p...

Background Many children with intellectual developmental disorders are insufficiently physically active and do not reach recommendations for physical activity. Pediatric healthcare providers play a key role in addressing these children’s needs, including promoting interventions for physical activity. Aim To explore pediatric healthcare providers’...

Background There is no consensus for when publicly funded breast reduction is indicated and recommendations in guidelines vary greatly, indicating a lack of evidence and unequal access. The primary aim of this review was to examine risks and benefits of breast reduction to treat breast hypertrophy. Secondary aims were to examine how the studies def...

Background Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) has been suggested as a treatment method for depression. Methods A systematic review to systematically evaluate the efficacy of tVNS for the treatment of depression was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines. Primary outcomes were mortality, self-harm, depressive symptoms, and health-relat...

Stress-related mental disorders contribute to work disabilities globally and are a common cause for sick leave. Nature-based rehabilitation (NBR) is a multi-disciplinary approach offered to this patient group on a limited scale. Qualitative studies provide insight into patients’ experiences of NBR, and there is a need to synthesize and assess the c...

Background Young people are disproportionally burdened by sexual ill health. The SEXual health Identification Tool (SEXIT) was developed for use at youth clinics, to facilitate identification of visitors exposed to or at risk of sexual ill health. The aim of this study was to explore experiences of using SEXIT among youth clinic staff who participa...

Background: The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the assessment of trabecular bone patterns in dental radiographs, for fracture risk prediction, compared with the current diagnostic methods. Methods: The PRISMA guidelines were followed. According to predefined inclusion criteria (PICO), literature searches were focussed on published...

Introduction: Somatization, defined as a number of medically unexplained physical symptoms for many years, is a resource-intensive condition with much suffering. Adult somatization has been linked to childhood trauma in both men and women. Among women, sexual trauma affects somatization level to a greater extent than non-sexual trauma. Early diagn...

Background: Depression is a common mental illness associated with significant disability and suffering. Current treatment strategies include psychopharmacological therapy, psychotherapy, and in certain cases electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) or repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). However, further treatment options are needed. Vagus n...

Background Musculoskeletal pain is globally a leading cause of physical disability. Many musculoskeletal-related pain conditions, such as low back pain, often resolve spontaneously. In some individuals, pain may recur or persist, leading to ong-term physical disability, reduced work capacity, and sickness absence. Early identification of individual...

Background Physiotherapist-led (PT-led) orthopaedic triage is an evolving model of care for patients with musculoskeletal disorders. Objectives for this study were to establish the current evidence body on the impact of PT-led orthopaedic triage on health, quality, and service outcomes for patients referred for orthopaedic consultation, compared wi...

Aim: This study explored perceived couple relationship quality amongst Swedish parents during their child’s first 18 months in the context of shared parental leave. We aimed to examine associations between division of parental leave and change in perceived couple relationship quality, and possible mediating effects of parenting stress and coparenti...

Background: Acute low back pain is associated with pain and disability, but symptoms are often self-healing. The effectiveness of exercise therapy for acute low back pain remains uncertain with conflicting evidence from systematic reviews. The aim of this systematic review of systematic reviews was to assess the overall certainty of evidence for t...

Background: Insomnia is a common diagnosis among patients in psychiatric health care and effective treatments are highly demanded. Previous research suggests that internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (ICBT-i) is helpful for a variety of patients and may be effective for psychiatric health care patients. Little is known abo...

Background Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is debilitating for patients and society. There are a number of treatment methods albeit not all patients respond to these and an interesting method using electroencephalography-based neurofeedback (EEG-NF) has become more prominent in recent years. This systematic review aimed to assess whether EEG-...

The study aimed to explore associations between division of parental leave and perceived quality of coparenting in parents of infants and to compare parents’ work-family balance in terms of satisfaction with time on parental leave and time spent at work. Using survey data from 280 Swedish parents at 18 months after childbirth, we compared parents w...

Background Subacromial impingement syndrome is a common problem in primary healthcare. It often include tendinopathy. While exercise therapy is effective for this condition, it is not clear which type of exercise is the most effective. Eccentric exercises has proven effective for treating similar tendinopathies in the lower extremities. The aim of...

Objectives: The purpose of this research was to generate and validate a questionnaire that identifies determinants of guideline use from the clinician perspective. Study Design and Setting: From January 2017 to March 2018, a seven-member six-country multidisciplinary team used a five-step multimethod design to search for and compile determinant f...

Objectives: We aimed to develop and pilot-implement an evidence-informed toolkit (SEXual health Identification Tool; SEXIT) for identifying young people exposed to or at risk of sexual ill health, at Swedish youth clinics, and to investigate SEXIT’s potential to identify young people in need of special care and monitoring. Methods: The SEXIT toolki...

Objectives: To describe women’s self-reported use of non-medical contraceptive methods (including barrier methods, fertility awareness-based methods and withdrawal), explore reasons for and satisfaction with choice of contraceptive methods and examine women’s fertility awareness. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among women consultin...

Background Mental illness, and particularly stress-related disorders such as exhaustion disorder, is continuously increasing in today’s society. It is important to identify patients who consult for potentially stress-related symptoms early, before the stress condition develops into an exhaustion disorder. The purpose of the study was to investigate...

Introduction: Understanding of attitudes, knowledge, and behaviour related to evidence-based practice (EBP) and guidelines in Swedish occupational therapy is limited. The study aims were to investigate attitudes, knowledge, and behaviour related to evidence-based practice and guidelines of Swedish occupational therapists in primary care. Methods:...

Background: Eliciting and considering patients’ preferences is essential to any clinical encounter and to good, high quality health care. Little research exists on how preferences are accommodated in decision making and how they influence treatment and rehabilitation. Aims: To explore perceptions of patients with musculoskeletal pain regarding how...

Aim: The aim of this research was to evaluate CAN-Implement.Pro as a structured and systematic process for planning local evidence implementation, to develop a contextual and demographic profile of potential users and assess their initial perceptions and intention to use CAN-Implement.Pro. Methods: Ethics approval was obtained from the Universit...

Rationale, aims, and objectives: Clinical practice guidelines are a common strategy for implementing research findings into practice and facilitating evidence-based practice in health care settings. There is a paucity of knowledge about the impact of different guideline implementation strategies on clinical practice in a physiotherapy context. The...

Objective To explore associations between division of parental leave and perceived parenting stress in mothers and fathers of infants. Background In Sweden, both parents have the same right to parental leave, and fathers use about a quarter of the total 480 benefit days. Little is known about the parents’ psychological well-being in terms of stres...

Background Patients’ perceptions of care is an important factor in evaluation of health care, in quality assessment, and in improvement efforts. Expectations of assessments or procedures such as surgery have been found to be related to perceptions of outcome as well as satisfaction, and are therefore of interest to both clinicians and researchers....

Objective: To report and synthesise the experiences, needs and preferences of carers of stroke survivors undergoing inpatient rehabilitation. Data sources: MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO and Web of Science were searched to March 2016. Reference lists of relevant publications were searched. No language restrictions were applied. Study selecti...

Background: Physical activity plays an important role in the prevention and treatment of chronic musculoskeletal pain, but chronic pain may implicate a poor rehabilitation outcome. The concept of physical activity on prescription (PAP) is a therapeutic option for various diseases, but there is a lack of knowledge about how patients with chronic mu...

Background Physiotherapist-led orthopaedic triage, where physiotherapists diagnose and determine management plans, aims to enhance effectiveness and provide the best care. However, scientific evidence for the effectiveness of this model of care remains limited, and there are few studies reporting on patients’ perceptions of the care provided. The p...

Rationale, aims and objectives: It is important that physiotherapists routinely use outcome measures to evaluate treatment results. There is limited knowledge about effective ways to increase use of outcome measures. The objectives were to investigate the effect of a tailored implementation of guidelines for evaluation of physiotherapy treatment a...

Introduction Extensive research has been undertaken over the last 30 years on the methods underpinning clinical practice guidelines (CPGs), including their development, updating, reporting, tailoring for specific purposes, implementation and evaluation. This has resulted in an increasing number of terms, tools and acronyms. Over time, CPGs have shi...

Background: Research on physiotherapy treatment interventions has increased dramatically in the past 25 years and it is a challenge to transfer research findings into clinical practice, so that patients benefit from effective treatment. Development of clinical practice guidelines is a potentially useful strategy to implement research evidence into...

Background and purpose: The aim of this study is to provide a systematic overview of the past decade of literature on processes of triage for patients with spinal pain, outcomes measured and markers of effectiveness. Methods: A systematic search of the literature with narrative synthesis of findings was conducted. Studies in English language of...

Large numbers of people provide carer roles for survivors of stroke. Person-centred stroke rehabilitation must consider the perspectives of carers, as stroke affects not only the stroke survivor but also the quality of life and health of the carers. There is little collective knowledge about stroke carers' experiences, needs and preferences during...

Evidence-based practice is becoming increasingly important in primary care physiotherapy. Clinical practice needs to reflect current best evidence and be concordant with evidence-based clinical guidelines. There is limited knowledge about therapeutic interventions used in primary care physiotherapy in Sweden. The objectives were to examine preferre...