Care science

The research group focusses on the promotion of health and the prevention of ill health for:

• pregnant people
• children, adolescents and their families

Past studies have, for example, looked at obesity in preschool children, nutrition among healthy preschool children, children's self-reported recovery after surgery, and young adults with inflammatory bowel disease from different perspectives, such as procedures for examinations.

Researchers are also involved in investigating whether extended home visits for families with children, where several professionals work together, are beneficial to health.

They also work with:

• sexual health of adolescents
• young adults with inflammatory bowel disease
• sex education in schools
• young people's health-related quality of life and their experiences of violence in a global perspective

Another important area is children's pain during hospitalisation and the profession's attitudes towards children's pain — there is ongoing international date collection regarding this.

Contact person

Associate professor Ann-Cathrine Bramhagen

Pedagogy and Profession (CLEP) focusses on educational and didactic issues within higher education for health care professionals. This means that the prerequisites, processes and results of the nursing education, as well as the organisation of the nursing work, knowledge needs and use of knowledge in health care, and its courses are central.

The research questions are aimed at investigating, evaluating and critically examining educational content, models and theories with a special focus on students and forms of collaboration for learning, both within the profession and inter-professionally.

Researchers also study how professional knowledge and skills are shaped, transformed and developed in relation to education, professional life and changing demands of the surrounding community.

In summary, the research area aims to explore different strategies for learning and thus contribute to evidence-based didactic knowledge.

Contact person

Professor Elisabeth Carlson

Aging is a natural process where older people can suffer from complex health conditions that affect daily life. Segregation in our multicultural society is growing and the population who are 65 years old and over is increasing. This increases the need for equal and high-quality health care and social services.

The purpose of the research is to highlight elderly people's needs for healthcare regarding physical, mental, and existential health, and support their independence towards the end of life.

Our research focusses on:

• wound care and diabetic foot ulcers
• sexual expressions in people with dementia
• existential loneliness
• risk factors registered in Senior Alert
• coordinated care plans (SIP)
• health informatics

The goal of the research is to achieve good health and care on equal terms for the elderly regardless of where they reside by initiating evidence-based and safe nursing and high-quality care with the aim of avoiding medical injuries and hospitalisation.

Contact person

Senior lecturer/Director of studies Mariette Bengtsson

Issues relating to mental health disorders are a growing problem in Sweden. Our research aims to contribute to equal evidence-based and safe care for patients. The research area encompasses psychiatry, social psychiatry, and psychosomatics; it also includes social work and criminology.
We carry out research on:

• suicide prevention
• violence from a life cycle perspective
• nursing care for addiction
• psychosomatics
• assessment instruments for safe health and care

We use time geography in different contexts to describe the individual's life history. Time Geography, GeoLifeGraph, is an innovative method for promoting health and preventing mental health disorders.

Contact person

Senior lecturer Charlotta Sunnqvist

Research in the field of physical health is carried out in collaboration with the surrounding community. The research aims to support equal health and care, as well as contribute to sustainable changes of importance for people who are affected or at risk of suffering from physical ill health and their relatives. The research focusses on:

• Improvement knowledge and implementation that contributes to evidence-based practice regarding risk assessment and prevention of physical ill health, for example, PROSENIOR, implementation of work process according to Senior Alert.
• Prevention that includes measures to prevent deterioration in physical ill-health as well as research on the ability to obtain, understand and use health information.
• Screening focussing on perceived psychosocial consequences in connection with screening for potentially life-threatening diseases.
• Health promotion support that includes experiences of living with physical ill-health from the perspective of the person and relatives, as well as research on support that can contribute to recovery and physical health.

Contact person

Senior lecturer Malin Axelsson

ProHEQ (Promotion Health Equity/Equality) problematizes how equal health is related to various factors such as gender, power structures/empowerment, and health promotion. Since several of these factors interact with each other, the research team is working to create an applicable (conceptual and ethical) model for equal health.

The model should create an understanding of how equivalent conditions can relate to changes in health and quality of life. The research is always done in collaboration with various collaborative partners, citizens and patients.

The goal of the research is to develop interventions that produce effects in society, in health care professions, and in the health care system.

Contact person

Senior lecturer Margareta Rämgård