Annikki Arola

Annikki Arola, PhD, principal lecturer in occupational therapy.

Annikki Arola has a Ph.D. from the Department of Health and Rehabilitation at University of Gothenburg. Her research focuses on health and well-being in the aging population. She is particularly interested in solutions for promoting, maintaining, and supporting health in everyday life among older persons in society. Annikki Arola has been part of multidisciplinary research centers such as Ageing and Health, AGECAP and Centre for person-centred care, GPCC, at University of Gothenburg. Additionally, she is affiliated as a post-doc alumnus to the SWEAH, the National Graduate School on Ageing and Health at Lund University.

Arola has been affiliated with Umeå University as a postdoctoral researcher on a project focusing on fall prevention among persons aged 65 and older. The project was based on co-creative research, in which a fall prevention motor-cognitive program was developed together with representatives of the target group, people living at home aged 65 or older.
Annikki Arola is also involved in developing and co-creating projects connected to Arcada's Health Tech Hub, which serves as a learning and research environment where users, professionals, and stakeholders together test and develop health technology from a user perspective.
Annikki Arola serves as a reviewer for scientific journals focusing on occupational science and occupational therapy, health promotion, aging, and rehabilitation.

Selected publications:
Arola, A., Sandlund, M., Domellöf, M. E., Taylor, M. E., & Toots, A. (2025). In their own words: older persons’ experiences of participating in co-creation. Research Involvement and Engagement, 11(1), 56–59. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40900-025-0072…
Hallin, J., Arola, A., Domellöf, M. E., Zingmark, M., Taylor, M. E., Sandlund, M., & Toots, A. 2025. Co-creation of a motor–cognitive exercise programme—a qualitative study with older people and physiotherapists. BMC Geriatrics, 25(1), 780. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-025-0652…
Goodyear, A.-C., Arola, A. and Rosendahl, S. 2023 “'I wish I had asked for support earlier' - Immigrant family caregivers' experiences of living with a person with dementia,” Scandinavian journal of caring sciences, 1–10. DOI: 10.1111/scs.13155
Arola, A. 2018. Capturing the experience of health among persons aging in a migration context: Health promotion interventions as means to enable health and occupations in daily life. (Doctoral dissertation). http://hdl.handle.net/2077/56883
Arola, L A,. Barenfeld,E., Dahlin-Ivanoff, S., & Häggblom-Kronlöf, G. 2018. Distribution and evaluation of sense of coherence among older immigrants before and after a health promotion intervention – results from the RCT study promoting aging migrants’ capability. Clinical Interventions in Aging, 13, 2317-2328. https://doi.org/10.2147/CIA.S177791
Arola LA., Dellenborg, L., & Häggblom-Kronlöf , G. 2018. Occupational perspective of health among persons ageing in the context of migration. Journal of Occupational Science, 25(1), 65-75. DOI: 10.1080/14427591.2017.1368411
Arola, L., Mårtensson, L., & Häggblom Kronlöf, G. 2017. Viewing oneself as a capable person – Experiences of professionals working with older Finnish immigrants. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 31(4), 759-767.