Berit Hofset Larsen

• Bahus, Marianne & Larsen, Berit Hofset (2026). Behandling av selvskadere: lovregler til besvær. Kritisk juss. ISSN 0804-7375. 52(1), p. 30–55. doi: 10.18261/kj.52.1.3. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The Health Personnel Act Section 7 creates challenges when healthcare personnel are to treat patients with recurring self-harm without the patient’s consent. Emergency intervention with coercion results in a negative spiral for such patients and ethical challenges for healthcare personnel. A review of annual reports from clinical ethics committees shows an increased incidence of inquiries about such cases. We discuss whether healthcare personnel can refrain from providing emergency help when it is prognostically unfavorable. We also shed light on the ethical considerations that clinical ethics committees should uphold when advising. We argue that it is legally sustainable to refrain from providing emergency help in cases of repeated self-harm when such help is prognostically unfavorable.

• Karlsen, Marte-Marie Wallander; Sørensen, Kari; Larsen, Berit Hofset; Heyn, Lena & Gerwing, Jennifer (2025). Video recording as a data collection method in vulnerable populations - methodological and ethical considerations. PEC Innovation. 7, p. 1–8. doi: 10.1016/j.pecinn.2025.100432. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Introduction: Video recording vulnerable situations in healthcare practice raises ethical challenges that require addressing throughout the research process. Such challenges are linked to protecting research participants and assessing when and how using video recordings is appropriate. Aim: This article aims to present methodological and ethical considerations inherent in video recording vulnerable participants and to offer future researchers concrete guidance and inspiration as to how they might assess these aspects of their own planned video research. Results and discussion: As a group of researchers who have used video recordings to collect data of patients in vulnerable situations, we reflect upon our own methodological and ethical choices against the backdrop of other research studies and ethical guidelines. Conclusion: Video recordings provide a unique opportunity to observe human interaction and to understand more about how we relate to each other. This article contributes to knowledge regarding empirically and ethically sound practice. We have demonstrated how methodological and ethical considerations are intertwined and should be treated as such. Innovation: There are no existing guidelines or tools specifically for conducting and reporting qualitative studies using video recording that link the ethical considerations to the methodological choices. This article could provide a point of departure for establishing a reflective tool.

• Larsen, Berit Hofset; Gerwing, Jennifer; Lundeby, Tonje; Gulbrandsen, Pål & Førde, Reidun (2025). More than an extra set of ears: A video-based analysis exploring the role of companions in routine oncology visits. Journal of psychosocial oncology. ISSN 0734-7332. 43(5), p. 682–703. doi: 10.1080/07347332.2025.2457964. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Purpose Patients with advanced cancer commonly bring a companion to medical appointments, often a family member. Despite increasing focus on family involvement, few studies are based on observations of real-life consultations. This study aimed to explore how companions contribute to the information exchange process during advanced cancer outpatient visits. Methods Data were ten videos of routine oncology visits. We identified when and how companions participated using microanalysis of clinical interaction. Findings Companion participation varied greatly. They tended to speak up spontaneously, contributing medical, personal, and contextual information that might otherwise have remained unsaid. They both brought information into the discussion and facilitated information exchanged between the physician and patient. Companions displayed few of their own concerns. Conclusions The findings suggest that companions may be an important resource during oncology visits, not only for the patient, but also for healthcare providers aiming for person-centered care to the individual patient.

• Lie, Hanne Cathrine; Gerwing, Jennifer; Bondevik, Hilde; Bostad, Inga; Ellingsen, Dan-Mikael & Frühholz, Sascha [Show all 12 contributors for this article] (2022). Studying clinical communication through multiple lenses: The underused potential of inter-disciplinary collaborations. Patient Education and Counseling. ISSN 0738-3991. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2022.04.010. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In the era of evidence-based medicine, surprisingly little attention is given to the practice of evidence-based communication skills and strategies to provide the best and most efficient patient care, perhaps due to the infinitely complex nature of clinical communication. Multiple models for ‘best practice’ exist, but they tend to focus on what skills and strategies to use, paying less attention to how they should be used in which contexts and situations for best effects [1]. Disentangling the complexities of effective clinical communication would therefore require insights from other disciplines outside medicine, including their theoretical models, empirical knowledge, and research methods, concerning the study of human communication and interaction, as well as medical, ethical, legal, philosophical, existential, cultural, and organizational perspectives. Although several disciplines study clinical communication, this is often done in isolation, without integrating efforts beyond a few selected disciplines, e.g., medicine, linguistics, or social psychology [[1], [2], [3], [4]]. Given the multiple levels of complexity in clinical communication research, we need to move beyond this fragmented approach to answer questions about what works, for what reasons, and in which contexts. These Association Pages aim to provide insights to move forward towards interdisciplinary research of clinical communication. As a primer to help build bridges across disciplines, we have asked experts from medicine, cognitive neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, linguistics, medical ethics, and educational sciences these two questions: “What fascinates you about clinical communication?” and “Which methodological tools do you tend to use to study it?“. We have summarized the responses below and provided a suggestion for how these different experts may work together in an interdisciplinary effort to generate new and needed knowledge of what is effective clinical communication, how it works and why, which can be translated into clinical practice and training.

• Thoresen, Lisbeth; Larsen, Berit Hofset & Rugseth, Gro (2022). Sorting out the ethical aspects? A discussion article on filming in healthcare institutions. Sykepleien Forskning. ISSN 1890-2936. doi: 10.4220/Sykepleienf.2022.88890en. Full text in Research Archive
• Thoresen, Lisbeth; Larsen, Berit Hofset & Rugseth, Gro (2022). Etikk ryddet av veien? En diskusjonsartikkel om filming i helseinstitusjoner. Sykepleien Forskning. ISSN 1890-2936. 17. doi: 10.4220/Sykepleienf.2022.88890. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Den statseide allmennkringkasteren NRK har hatt stor suksess med dokumentarserier som Helene sjekker inn, Jeg mot meg og Sinnssykt. Her får seerne innblikk i virkelige personers sykdomserfaringer. Som helsefaglige forskere deler vi interessen for pasienters subjektive erfaringer, men vi er også godt kjent med alle de forskningsetiske skrankene som må forseres for å få tilgang til intervjuer med pasienter. Vi har derfor blitt opptatt av hvordan NRK går frem for å få tillatelse fra institusjoner, helsepersonell og pasienter. Hvilke etiske vurderinger gjør ledere og helsepersonell når det gjelder deltakelse i seriene? Hvilke etiske utfordringer diskuteres? Hvordan, og med hvem? Hvordan begrunnes avgjørelser om hvorvidt institusjonen skal delta eller ikke? Vi bruker episoden Helene sjekker inn på hospice som utgangspunkt for en nødvendig diskusjon om de etiske sidene ved journalisters krav om innsyn, åpenhet og ytringsfrihet satt opp mot helsepersonells plikt til å beskytte pasienters personvern og integritet.

• Larsen, Berit Hofset; Lundeby, Tonje; Gulbrandsen, Pål; Førde, Reidun & Gerwing, Jennifer (2022). Physicians’ responses to advanced cancer patients’ existential concerns: A video-based analysis. Patient Education and Counseling. ISSN 0738-3991. 105(10), p. 3062–3070. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2022.06.007. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Objective In a recent study, we explored what kind of existential concerns patients with advanced cancer disclose during a routine hospital consultation and how they communicate such concerns. The current study builds on these results, investigating how the physicians responded to those concerns. Methods We analyzed video-recorded hospital consultations involving adult patients with advanced cancer. The study has a qualitative and exploratory design, using procedures from microanalysis of face-to-face-dialogue. Results We identified 185 immediate physician-responses to the 127 patient existential utterances we had previously identified. The responses demonstrated three approaches: giving the patient control over the content, providing support, and taking control over the content. The latter was by far the most common, through which the physicians habitually kept the discussion around biomedical aspects and rarely pursued the patients’ existential concerns. Conclusions Although the physicians, to some extent, allowed the patients to talk freely about their concerns, they systematically failed to acknowledge and address the patients’ existential concerns. Practice implications Physicians should be attentive to their possible habit of steering the agenda towards biomedical topics, hence, avoiding patients’ existential concerns. Initiatives cultivating behavior enhancing person-centered and existential communication should be implemented in clinical practice and medical training.

• Larsen, Berit Hofset; Lundeby, Tonje; Gerwing, Jennifer; Gulbrandsen, Pål & Førde, Reidun (2021). “Eh – What type of cells are these – flourishing in the liver?” Cancer patients’ disclosure of existential concerns in routine hospital consultations. Patient Education and Counseling. ISSN 0738-3991. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2021.11.010. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Objective Advanced cancer poses a threat to all aspects of being, potentially causing existential suffering. We explore what kind of existential concerns patients with advanced cancer disclose during a routine hospital consultation, and how they communicate such concerns. Methods We analyzed thirteen video-recorded hospital consultations involving adult patients with advanced cancer. The study has a qualitative and exploratory design, using procedures from microanalysis of face-to-face-dialogue. Results Nearly all patients disclosed how the illness experience included losses and threats of loss that are strongly associated with existential suffering, displaying uncertainty about future and insecurity about self and coping. Patients usually disclosed existential concerns uninvited, but they did so indirectly and subtly, typically hiding concerns in biomedical terms or conveying them with hesitation and very little emotion. Conclusions Patients may have existential concerns they want to address, but they may be uncertain whether these are issues they can discuss with the physician. Practice implications Health professionals should be attentive to underlying existential messages embedded in the patient’s questions and concerns. Acknowledging these existential concerns provides an opportunity to briefly explore the patient’s needs and may direct how the physician tailors information and support to promote coping, autonomy, and existential health.

• Larsen, Berit Hofset & Nortvedt, Monica Wammen (2011). Barns og ungdoms informasjonsbehov når mor, eller far får kreft. Sykepleien Forskning. ISSN 1890-2936. Full text in Research Archive

View all works in NVA

• Larsen, Berit Hofset (2024). Ulike kulturer har forskjellige etiske utfordringer. Sykepleien Forskning. ISSN 1890-2936. doi: 10.4220/Sykepleiens.2024.94224. Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Berit Hofset (2024). Hvor går grensen for hva fødekvinnen kan bestemme? Sykepleien Forskning. ISSN 1890-2936. doi: 10.4220/Sykepleiens.2024.95703. Full text in Research Archive
• Karlsen, Marte-Marie Wallander; Heyn, Lena; Gerwing, Jennifer; Larsen, Berit Hofset & Sørensen, Kari (2024). Ethical considerations are methodological considerations: The importance of ethical reflections using video recordings as a data collection method. Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Berit Hofset & Solberg, Carl Tollef (2024). Fire prinsipper i helseetikken. Drøfting av case i plenum. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Innføringskurset er særlig rettet mot nye medlemmer av kliniske etikk-komiteer og etikkråd i helseforetak og kommuner. Andre som er interessert i praktisk etikk i helsetjenesten og systematisk etikkarbeid, er også velkomne. På kurset lærer du å drøfte etiske problemer fra hverdagen i helsetjenesten på en systematisk måte. Du får også viktig kunnskap om etikk og jus innen sentrale tema som pasientautonomi, samtykkekompetanse, beslutninger ved livets slutt, med mer. Kurset vil være tilnærmet likt Innføringskurset som er holdt de siste årene.

• Solberg, Carl Tollef & Larsen, Berit Hofset (2024). Begrensning av livsforlengende behandling og etikk ved livets slutt. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  nnføringskurset er særlig rettet mot nye medlemmer av kliniske etikk-komiteer og etikkråd i helseforetak og kommuner. Andre som er interessert i praktisk etikk i helsetjenesten og systematisk etikkarbeid, er også velkomne. På kurset lærer du å drøfte etiske problemer fra hverdagen i helsetjenesten på en systematisk måte. Du får også viktig kunnskap om etikk og jus innen sentrale tema som pasientautonomi, samtykkekompetanse, beslutninger ved livets slutt, med mer. Kurset vil være tilnærmet likt Innføringskurset som er holdt de siste årene.

• Solberg, Carl Tollef & Larsen, Berit Hofset (2024). Hva er etikk, og hvorfor er etikk viktig? Drøfting av etiske problemer med SME-modellen. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Innføringskurset er særlig rettet mot nye medlemmer av kliniske etikk-komiteer og etikkråd i helseforetak og kommuner. Andre som er interessert i praktisk etikk i helsetjenesten og systematisk etikkarbeid, er også velkomne. På kurset lærer du å drøfte etiske problemer fra hverdagen i helsetjenesten på en systematisk måte. Du får også viktig kunnskap om etikk og jus innen sentrale tema som pasientautonomi, samtykkekompetanse, beslutninger ved livets slutt, med mer. Kurset vil være tilnærmet likt Innføringskurset som er holdt de siste årene.

• Larsen, Berit Hofset & Solberg, Carl Tollef (2024). Hvordan lykkes med etikkarbeidet – på sykehus og i kommune? Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Innføringskurset er særlig rettet mot nye medlemmer av kliniske etikk-komiteer og etikkråd i helseforetak og kommuner. Andre som er interessert i praktisk etikk i helsetjenesten og systematisk etikkarbeid, er også velkomne. På kurset lærer du å drøfte etiske problemer fra hverdagen i helsetjenesten på en systematisk måte. Du får også viktig kunnskap om etikk og jus innen sentrale tema som pasientautonomi, samtykkekompetanse, beslutninger ved livets slutt, med mer. Kurset vil være tilnærmet likt Innføringskurset som er holdt de siste årene.

• Larsen, Berit Hofset; Lundeby, Tonje; Gerwing, Jennifer; Gulbrandsen, Pål & Førde, Reidun (2023). Alvorlig syke kreftpasienter kan kamuflere sine eksistensielle bekymringer. Sykepleien Forskning. ISSN 1890-2936. doi: 10.4220/Sykepleiens.2023.93333. Full text in Research Archive
• Solberg, Carl Tollef & Larsen, Berit Hofset (2023). Hva er etikk, og hvorfor er etikk viktig? Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Berit Hofset & Solberg, Carl Tollef (2023). Hvordan lykkes med etikkarbeidet – på sykehus og i kommune? Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Berit Hofset & Solberg, Carl Tollef (2023). Fire prinsipper i helseetikken. Full text in Research Archive
• Solberg, Carl Tollef & Larsen, Berit Hofset (2023). Begrensning av livsforlengende behandling og etikk ved livets slutt. Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Berit Hofset & Seljelid, Berit (2023). Helsepersonell strever med å omsette samvalg til praksis. Sykepleien Forskning. ISSN 1890-2936. doi: 10.4220/Sykepleiens.2023.92235. Full text in Research Archive
• Seljelid, Berit & Larsen, Berit Hofset (2023). Samvalg kan være nyttig når pasienten har kreft med spredning. Kreftsykepleien. ISSN 0804-0567. doi: 10.4220/Sykepleiens.2023.93378. Full text in Research Archive
• Førde, Reidun; Eeg-Henriksen, Hanne; Larsen, Berit Hofset; Semb, Mona & Dunlop, Oona Borghild (2022). Pasienters medbestemmelse - hvor går grensen? 142(8). doi: 10.4045/tidsskr.21.0782. Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Berit Hofset (2022). Hva kan rettferdiggjøre tvangstiltak? Sykepleien Forskning. ISSN 1890-2936. doi: 10.4220/Sykepleiens.2022.90856. Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Berit Hofset (2022). Er det etisk akseptabelt å redusere behandlingskvaliteten i krisetider? Sykepleien Forskning. ISSN 1890-2936. doi: 10.4220/Sykepleiens.2022.89412. Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Berit Hofset (2020). Etikk ved livets slutt - når er nok nok? Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Berit Hofset (2020). Etiske utfordringer i møte med alvorlig syke barn og deres familier. Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Berit Hofset (2020). Hvordan jobbe med etikk i praksis? Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Berit Hofset; Magelssen, Morten; Dunlop, Oona; Pedersen, Reidar & Førde, Reidun (2020). Etiske dilemmaer i sykehusene under covid-19-pandemien. 140(18), p. 1–5. doi: 10.4045/tidsskr.20.0851. Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Berit Hofset (2019). Kloke valg – hvordan kan etikken bidra? Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Berit Hofset (2019). Pasientinformasjon og medvirkning ved psykisk sykdom - etiske utfordringer. Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Berit Hofset (2019). Beslutningsprosesser ved begrensning av livsforlengende behandling. Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Berit Hofset (2019). Veiledning i etisk refleksjon. Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Berit Hofset (2019). Etiske utfordringer i møte med alvorlig syke barn - og deres familier. Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Berit Hofset (2018). Etikk ved livet slutt. Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Berit Hofset (2018). Etiske utfordringer ved helsehjelp til pasienter med manglende beslutningskompetanse. Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Berit Hofset & Førde, Reidun (2018). Who leads in the final dance of life? Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Berit Hofset & Førde, Reidun (2017). Hvem fører i livets siste dans? Pasientinvolvering ved beslutninger om livsforlengende kreftbehandling. Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Berit Hofset & Førde, Reidun (2017). Hvem fører i livets siste dans? Pasientinvolvering ved beslutninger om livsforlengende kreftbehandling. Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Berit Hofset & Førde, Reidun (2017). Hvem fører i livets siste dans? Pasientinvolvering ved beslutninger om livsforlengende kreftbehandling. Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Berit Hofset & Førde, Reidun (2017). Hvem fører i livets siste dans? Pasientinvolvering ved beslutninger om livsforlengende kreftbehandling. Full text in Research Archive
• Larsen, Berit Hofset & Førde, Reidun (2017). Hvem fører i livets siste dans? Pasientinvolvering ved beslutninger om livsforlengende kreftbehandling. Full text in Research Archive
• Stokke, Kjersti & Larsen, Berit Hofset (2015). Adressing tobacco use in patient with cancer. Full text in Research Archive
• Førde, Reidun; Gulbrandsen, Pål; Lundeby, Tonje & Larsen, Berit Hofset (2023). Patient autonomy in advanced cancer. A video-based qualitative study of clinical communication in routine hospital visits. Universitetet i Oslo. ISSN 9788234802898. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This thesis contributes to the discussion about how to enhance patient autonomy in the case of advanced cancer posing an existential threat to all aspects of being. The aim was to explore 1) what existential concerns patients with advanced cancer disclose during routine hospital visits and how they communicate such concerns, 2) how physicians respond to patients’ existential concerns, and 3) how next-of-kin accompanying the patient contribute to the information exchange. We employed a qualitative research design, studying video-recorded routine outpatient hospital visits involving patients with advanced cancer, using analytic principles from “microanalysis of clinical interaction”. Most patients disclosed existential concerns during the consultation. However, existential concerns were hesitant, subtle, and indirect, typically hidden in biomedical terms. The physicians habitually responded to these concerns by keeping the agenda around biomedical aspects, resulting in that the existential issues remained unaddressed. In most consultations, the patient was accompanied by a next-of-kin, whom the physicians mostly related to as a “supporter on the sidelines” rather than addressing the couple as a team. When claiming the floor, next-of-kin contributed to securing information that would otherwise have been missing. Next-of-kin provided personal and contextual information that can help the physician when aiming to tailor information and care to the individual patient. The thesis points to a potential existential neglect in the physician and in the medical culture. It argues that a narrow focus on patient choice and decision-making may be inadequate, as it does not consider that persons are vulnerable, dependent, and relational. Insights from this thesis can inform the discussion about how physicians can play a role in attending to existential concerns and restoring autonomy in collaboration with the patient, next-of-kin, and the interdisciplinary team.

View all works in NVA