Healthy Aging
Our research
The program incorporates both quantitative and qualitative data and considers various living environments, giving special emphasis on senior housing. The Healthy Aging group focuses on interdisciplinary research on active and healthy aging and conducts both qualitative and quantitative studies.
The research topics include, for example, social participation and agency, physical and mental functioning, resilience, frailty, and ageing in working life.
A central part of the program is the BoAktiv Study, a project on senior housing as a determinant of healthy and active ageing. The quantitative part of BoAktiv includes a survey that has been carried out in 2018, 2020 and 2024 in Folkhälsan’s senior housing around Swedish-speaking areas in Finland. Altogether over 600 participants have answered the survey on health, functioning, social participation, active aging, and sense of community. The qualitative part of the BoAktiv Study includes in-depth interviews on quality of life in the senior housing context and on what healthy ageing comprise. Results of the study are currently being reported.
The Healthy Aging group collaborates closely within Folkhälsan and with national and foreign universities.
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Group Leader
Mikaela von Bonsdorff
Senior Scientist
Markus Haapanen
Doctoral Researchers
Filip Kronqvist
Anna Lahti
Helena Levonmaa
Jenny Ray
Ann-Louise Siren
Sini Stenroth
Sense of Community and Social Participation Underlying Active Aging Among Senior Housing Residents.
Siltanen S, Rantakokko M, Lahti AM, Levonmaa H, von Bonsdorff MB. Journal of Applied Gerontology. 2025.
Social Mobility and Health-Related Quality of Life Trajectory Classes Among Older Women and Men.
Lahti AM, Mikkola TM, Wasenius NS, Törmäkangas T, Ikonen JN, Siltanen S, Eriksson JG, von Bonsdorff MB. Journal of Aging and Health. 2024.
Life events and the experience of quality of life among residents of senior housing in Finland.
Sirén AL, Seppänen M, von Bonsdorff MB. International Journal of Ageing and Later Life. 2024.
Early growth, stress, and socioeconomic factors as predictors of the rate of multimorbidity accumulation across the life course: a longitudinal birth cohort study.
Haapanen MJ, Vetrano DL, Mikkola TM, Calderon-Larranaga A, Dekhtyar S, Kajantie E, Eriksson JG, von Bonsdorff MB. Lancet Healthy Longevity. 2023.
Association between resilience and frailty in older age: Findings from the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study.
Stenroth SM, Pynnönen K, Haapanen MJ, Vuoskoski P, Mikkola TM, Eriksson JG, von Bonsdorff MB. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics. 2023.
Active aging in senior housing residents and community-dwelling older adults: a comparative study in Finland.
Siltanen S, Keskinen K, Lahti AM, Rantanen T, von Bonsdorff MB. Journal of Aging and Health. 2023.
Social Participation Considered as Meaningful in old age− the Perceptions of Senior Housing Residents in Finland.
Sirén AL, Seppänen M, & von Bonsdorff MB. Ageing International. 2023.
Early life factors as predictors of age-associated deficit accumulation across 17 years from midlife to old age.
Haapanen MJ, Jylhävä J, Kortelainen L, Mikkola TM, Salonen M, Wasenius N, Kajantie E, Eriksson JG, von Bonsdorff MB. The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences. 2022.
Folkhälsans seniorboende och aktivt åldrande – BoAktiv-studien.
Lahti AM, Simonsen N, Seppänen M, Finne M, Sarvimäki A, von Bonsdorff MB. Gerontologia. 2019.
Childhood adversities and home atmosphere as determinants of physical and mental functioning.
von Bonsdorff MB, Kokko K, Salonen M, von Bonsdorff ME, Poranen-Clark T, Alastalo H, Kajantie E, Osmond C, Eriksson JG. Age and Ageing. 2019.
Professor Timo Strandberg, University of Helsinki
Professor Marjaana Seppänen, University of Helsinki
Professor (emerita) Anneli Sarvimäki, Age Institute, Helsinki
Professor Taina Rantanen, University of Jyväskylä
Associate Professor Juulia Jylhävä, Karolinska Institutet
Professor Dorly Deeg, Amsterdam UMC
Associate professor Merja Rantakokko, University of Jyväskylä
Professor Anu Sirén, Tampere University
Samfundet Folkhälsan
University of Jyväskylä
Jan Magnus Janssons fond
Medicinska Understödsföreningen Liv och Hälsa (“Life and Health Medical Fund”)
Juho Vainio Foundation
Society of Swedish Literature in Finland
Kort om studien på svenska
Gruppen fokuserar på tvärvetenskaplig forskning om aktivt och hälsosamt åldrande
Contact us
Mikaela von Bonsdorff
Group Leader
+358 40 034 2692