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.
Research groups
Co-production research in health and welfare
Research group
Read more about Co-production research in health and welfareNorm-critical perspec-tives in the research into social vulnerability
Research group
Read more about Norm-critical perspec-tives in the research into social vulnerabilityPerson-centred care and communication
Research group
Read more about Person-centred care and communicationSustainable lifestyle and health from a public health perspective
Research group
Read more about Sustainable lifestyle and health from a public health perspectiveMore information about Health and Welfare
Ongoing research projects
The aim is to explore the (inter)cultural understanding of school nurses and school social workers and the impact this may have on their interaction with students.
Project manager at MDU: Jonas Stier
Main financing: MDU
The current project demonstrates the usage of a digital, video tagging tool to explorie student participation and engagement in university classrooms, and aims to reveal university lecturers´ and students´ viewpoints about student participation, engagement, and well-being.
Project manager at MDU: Merve Bozbiyik
Main financing: Mälardalens universitet
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 overall purpose of this project is to explore newly graduated registered nurses' (NGRNs’) experiences of encountering work-related stress and of caring for patients in the emergency department (ED) during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Project manager at MDU: Petra Heideken Wågert
Main financing: Akademin för hälsa vård och välfärd MDU
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