Pia Petersson

Research

Research is traditionally seen as an activity that should be carried out by researchers from universities or other research institutions. The knowledge produced is often perceived as possible to disseminate, and thus becomes a basis for change. However, research shows that health care personnel find research results to be difficult to interpret, and that the results often lack clinical relevance. The translation of research results and theories into practice requires a process of reflection in which the prevailing knowledge is questioned and reassessed. Therefore, the clarification and problematisation of prevailing values, norms and actions is crucial if there is to be a change in health care.

My research approach implements participant-based action research. This approach is based on collaborating with those affected by a problem in order to create opportunities for reflection, thus promoting knowledge development that leads to changes in attitudes and behaviours.

In my thesis, I focused my research on working with health and social care personnel to concretise abstract concepts and complex situations and facilitate their translation into action. Among other things, we examined the concept of security and the care planning situation. The findings indicated that trust, participation and relationships were important aspects, both in health care and between researchers and participants, but that structural obstacles may exist in these areas.

These findings aroused my interest in continuing my work with participant-based action research and developing myself as an action scientist. In addition, studies founded on participant-based action research are relatively uncommon in Swedish nursing research.

My research has focused on care planning as a form of collaboration in various participant-based action research projects. I am currently participating as a researcher in two projects, in which I also supervise two PhD students. One project is a collaborative research and development project involving seven municipalities in northeastern Skåne on how preventive home visits can be developed. Another is a Forte-financed programme (Forte is the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare) in which I and other researchers from Kristianstad University collaborate with the University of Gothenburg, Lund University, and Linnaeus University. In this programme, we will critically study whether user participation in research is the solution to bridging the gap between theory and practice.

Collaboration

Since January 2018, I have also served as the Collaboration Coordinator for the Faculty of Health Science. As Collaboration Coordinator, I work to increase the university's collaboration, both internally and externally.

In addition to my mission as Collaboration Coordinator, I am also responsible for an international collaborative project with Uganda, organised through the Linnaeus-Palme exchange programme. Two teachers and two students from each country participate i the project, which allows them to experience another country's education system, health care service, and culture.

I am a member of the Research Platform for Collaboration in Health, as well as two research environments: PRO-CARE and MHS – Man - Health - Society.

Other exciting collaborative projects in which I have participated include two Erasmus+ projects – 'When Looks' and IHEM. In these two projects, we collaborated with other European countries to develop courses for health care professionals. The aim was to provide them with in-depth knowledge of appearance-related issues. Within the framework of the 'When Looks' project, we moved on to develop a research project in which we examined how professionals in health and social care perceive and relate to the phenomena of appearance and body image. Our participation also led those of us at the university to conduct a single-subject course on the culture of appearance, body image and health.

Publications