Anneli Orrung Wallin

Research

I received my PhD from Lund University in 2013 with a thesis on care staff's situation in eldercare and that focused on their work satisfaction, stress of conscience and their relationship to factors relevant to care content such as person centred care, care climate and leadership.
Briefly, the research findings in my doctoral thesis indicate that the most central aspects of job satisfaction from the perspective of the staff working in residential care facilities are related to the encounter with the older person and their relatives. Having and being given the prerequisites to be close to and share in an old person's life and history, which the care staff say gives great satisfaction in their work, is closely linked to the philosophy of person centred care that is nowadays considered to be an approach that equates to good quality of care. These aspects, however, are poorly covered by the instruments used to measure job satisfaction, meaning that the quality of care in respect of existing instruments is questionable. There is also a tendency in the literature to, despite apparently salutogenic overtones, evaluate what generates low job satisfaction rather than what actually gives satisfaction at work. By focusing on this and developing instruments that have prerequisites to measure what is positive, we can develop and evaluate interventions that actually make a difference rather than only identify the problems.

Projects

After receiving my doctorate I took part in a European research project called "RHAPSODY" (Research and strategy for dementia in the young) in collaboration with German, France, the Netherlands, England and Portugal the purpose of which was to develop an education and support programme for relatives of younger (<65) people suffering from dementia. I was mainly involved in the background work for the programme through surveys of information, guidelines and policies and support for younger people available on the Internet in Sweden. The results showed that information, guidelines and policies adapted to younger people suffering from dementia and their relatives are as good as non-existent in Sweden. As part of the European study, focus group interviews were conducted with relatives of younger people with dementia on their needs and experiences of support for their younger relatives with dementia and for themselves as part of adapting the education and support programme on the basis of the users' needs. More focus group interviews have been conducted in Sweden to shed light on the relatives' situation based on the Swedish context. More information about the RHAPSODY study can be found on the project's website. .

Education and collaboration

I have held a lectureship in care of the elderly at Kristianstad University since 2014 and I have been programme director for nursing education since 2016. In this latter role, my focus has been to revise the programme based on the person centred framework developed by McCormack and McCance. As part of implementing the person centred framework, we have collaborated with Brendan McCormack, who has given lectures and held workshops with the staff, and the former programme director and I have also been in UK and met Brendan McCormack and colleagues and their network consisting of universities that have developed curriculums with patient-centred frameworks in their programmes. In connection with the development of the programme, specific emphasis will also be laid on person centred leadership in the development of the nursing programme but I will also be initiating collaboration on research on person centred care and leadership, where I and my colleagues will be collaborating with universities and researchers in Australia. As programme director I collaborate with programme directors from all universities in Sweden but also with representatives from health and medical care and healthcare and other care organisations.

Publications