Mats Granlund

The research is conducted within the CHILD research programme (a research collaboration involving Jönköping University and Mälardalen University) and associated with the Swedish Institute for Disability Research. It is focused on every-day functioning in children and young people in need of special support and their immediate environments.

In contemporary theory and practice health is seen as something more than just not being ill. Health includes perceptions of well-being and control over one´s life. Mats Granlund is responsible for some 20 research projects focusing on the relation between positive functioning in children in need of special support and individual characteristics, interaction factors and environmental factors. He argues that people who are engaged in their everyday-life contexts experience good health. Independently of the focus of individual studies the program tries to measure the relation between subjective and environmental factors and the everyday functioning of the child or family. The currently running projects include studies of what characterizes children who over time are highly engaged as compared to those who are non-engaged or whose engagement is more varied. Other projects are focused on interaction between children with profound multiple disabilities and their carers, and positive functioning in families where there are children with disabilities. In several studies the WHO health classification system ICF is used as a theoretical frame.

The research program is based on systems theory. Human beings are seen as systems in interaction with the environment. Thus it is assumed that there is always more than one cause of human development and functioning. As a consequence an aim is to develop and apply longitudinal research methods that can handle complex phenomena. 

There is collaboration with researchers from several universities in Europe, North America, Australia and Africa. In recent years he has published peer-reviewed articles with partners from all these continents. There is also collaboration with WHO and 13 European partners in the investigation of the utility of ICF. An illustration of Mats Granlund´s way of thinking as a researcher can be found in the publications mentioned below.