Projects
The projects are conducted within the Promotion of Health and Innovation (PHI) research lab, which is part of the International Network for Well-Being. The network consists of senior and junior researchers, as well as students interested in the science of well-being.
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High School Students' Personal Development
In this project, we test different measures and develop working methods for following-up high school students' personal development during the high school years.
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We also examine differences between students from different programs. The project is a collaboration between Linköping University, various high schools and Lärlingsfrämjandet.
Health among the long-term unemployed
In the project, we monitor the physical and mental health of the long-term unemployed. Among other things, we have followed up various initiatives that aim to improve the health and employability of individuals who are far from working life and who also suffer from mental illness.
Well-being among asylum seekers and new arrivals
In this project, we follow up various interventions among individuals seeking asylum in Sweden or who have recently received a residence permit. The project follows up the physical, mental and social health
Using artificial intelligence to measure psychological and social phenomena
In this project, we use machine learning to analyze people's own descriptions of their health, well-being, personality and other phenomena that are expressed naturally with language.
With machine learning, we transform the texts/narratives and then use it in common statistical analyses.
This research can be applied in clinical contexts, work and working life, coaching situations and etcetera.
Parasocial Relationships and Health
A parasocial relationship is a one-sided relationship, like the one we develop with actors, media figures and other individuals we see in mass media. We commit by spending energy, interest and time in this relationship...but they don't even know we exist!
The focus of the project is social media figures (e.g., Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, etcetera) and how our parasocial relationship with them affects our biopsychosocial health.
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In this project, we have developed a measuring instrument (The Multidimensional Measure of Parasocial Relationships, MMPR), which is primarily based on the classic view of attitude formation. In other words, in parasocial relationships we experience feelings and thoughts about a social media figure we 'follow', which influence and are influenced by our behavior (e.g., we share and 'like' their posts). The instrument also includes questions about how parasocial relationships influence our daily decisions (e.g., which everyday or luxury products we buy, our training routine, the food we eat, and etcetera). In other words, we measure how and to what extent people are engaged in parasocial relationships.
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Another focus within the project is how algorithms affect our mental health through the content in the social media flow these algorithms choose for us.
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The project is being conducted in several countries: Sweden, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Lithuania, Malta, Nigeria, Philippines, Poland, Great Britain and the United States.
