Marianne Holmgren got her Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2004 and Postgraduate Diploma in Specialist Nursing – Primary Health Care in 2011. In her nursing career, she has worked at oncology clinic, in municipal home care, in primary health care and in child-and youth habilitation. Her thesis of Master of Medical Science one year (60 credits) was about the Primary Health Care Nurse treatment of persons with disabilities and the difficulties with the communications in the interaction between these persons and the nurses. Both professional and personal experience of disabilities has made her very interested in nursing in the area of disabilities and therefore she applied to Department of Health Science during spring 2011. Marianne was then accepted as PhD student in September 2011. 

Marianne’s thesis consists of four studies. The first study is a regional retrospective cohort study with the aim of investigating changes over time (8 year) in regard to self-reported health, participation, quality of life and body mass index (BMI) among individuals with mobility disability and overweight/obesity in comparison with individuals without mobility disability and overweight/obesity. In the second study, which is a national cross-sectional study, examined how overweight and obesity interact with the health-related quality of life in individuals with mobility disability in comparison to those without mobility disability. The third study will be a qualitative study in which the individuals with mobility disability will be interviewed regarding their experience of having a mobility disability and overweight/obesity and their need of support to reach or restore a healthy weight. The fourth study intends to explore professional health workers’ experiences of health promotion provided to persons with mobility disability and overweight/obesity.