Health and Welfare
At the School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, research is conducted in Health and Welfare. This is an interdisciplinary specialisation, an area for research studies and consists of ten research groups who study various aspects of health and welfare.
The concept of health is based on a goal-oriented view in which health is determined on the basis of the individual’s perspective and the context in which the person finds him-/herself. Thereby health becomes more flexible since it is also socially and culturally related.
Research in Health and Welfare is conducted in
- Work Life Science
- Public Health Science
- Physiotherapy
- Medical Science
- Psychology
- Social Work
- Sociology
- Health Care Education
- Caring Sciences with specialisation in Nursing.
A large part of this research is conducted in collaboration with other research specialisations at MDU, but also regionally, nationally and internationally. Within this research specialisation there are 14 professors, 25 associate professors, over 40 PhD researchers and 30 doctoral students. Research studies take place within the area of Health and Welfare, and specifically within the five subjects of Work Life Studies, Public Health Science, Physiotherapy, Social Work and Caring Science.
More information about Health and Welfare
Ongoing research projects
The digital transformation of healthcare in Africa presents both a tremendous opportunity and a complex challenge.
Project manager at MDU: Sarah Wamala Andersson
Main financing: Läkarmissionen International
The DEAHL-BALTIC consortium includes 13 partners across Europe and is led by Hamburg Ministry of Social Affairs and University College of Northern Denmark. The consortium is organized in such a way that both the entire project and the work packages have an administrative/operational lead and a scientific lead.
Project manager at MDU: Sarah Wamala Andersson
Main financing: Interreg Baltic Sea Region
Children and young people often have sophisticated ideas about the future but they also have limited knowledge about the labor market and the wide range of career opportunities available. Research also shows that socioeconomic background plays a significant role in shaping their educational and career choices.
Project manager at MDU: Sarah Wamala Andersson
Main financing: Region Skåne
From a gender perspective, the purpose of this project is to develop new knowledge about the extent of harmful alcohol use among women and men in the labor market in Sweden, to investigate risk factors and protective factors in the work environment for harmful alcohol use and to increase knowledge about preventive efforts against harmful alcohol use in working life.
Project manager at MDU: Susanna Toivanen
Main financing: Afa Försäkring
The project aims to improve the understanding and acceptance of AI-based virtual assistants in public sector rehabilitation processes. This will be achieved by producing carefully designed VA demos, guidelines and descriptions of their requirements, piloted in real-life situations.
Project manager at MDU: Viktoria Zander
Main financing: Interreg Baltic Sea Region
The purpose of this project is to investigate key principles and conflicts of goals in RNs’ initial assessments related to the priority of patients’ needs and care provision in primary care.
Project manager at MDU: Inger Holmström
Main financing: FORTE
The overall aim is to investigate the effects of a digital self-management intervention to reduce sedentary behavior in people undergoing neo- or adjuvant cancer treatment for breast, prostate, or colorectal cancer.
Project manager at MDU: Petra Heideken Wågert
Main financing: The Swedish Cancer Society
Before suicide and suicide attempts, most people come in contact with the healthcare system and they show great ambivalence, meaning that there are numerous occasions for people whom come in contact with the patient to interfere and prevent suicide. Ambulance care traditionally have a distinct medical perspective on the patient with focus on severe somatic disease and previous research have shown that mental illness can be considered as secondary and even obstructing from what is considered as legit assignments.
Main financing: Centrum för klinisk forskning Region Sörmland