Due to copyright issues, an electronic copy of the thesis must be ordered from the faculty. For the faculty to have time to process the order, the order must be received by the faculty at the latest 2 days before the public defence. Orders received later than 2 days before the defence will not be processed. After the public defence, please address any inquiries regarding the thesis to the candidate.
Trial Lecture – time and place
See Trial Lecture.
Adjudication committee
- First opponent: Associate Professor Michael Dunn, National University of Singapore,
- Second opponent: Professor Frode Fadnes Jacobsen, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences,
- Third member and chair of the evaluation committee: Researcher Silje Havrevold Henni, University of Oslo
Chair of the Defence
Associate Professor Lisbeth Thoresen, University of Oslo
Principal Supervisor
Associate Professor Anne Kari Tolo Heggestad, University of Oslo
Summary
This dissertation falls within the field of medical ethics and uses an ethnographic approach to uncover the ethical challenges faced by home-based care workers in Norway. The study explores the nature of these challenges, the ways in which staff deal with them, and whether there is a need for ethics support in home-based care. The study examines how organisational and systemic changes, the growing number of vulnerable patients and the solitary nature of home-based care contribute to ethical dilemmas.
The study is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between September 2020 and November 2021 in three municipalities in southeast Norway. The methodology includes participant observation and semi-structured interviews with key informants and home-based care workers.
The main findings suggest that home-based care staff often struggle to balance patient autonomy with safe and good care. Many are developing strategies to maintain patient autonomy while ensuring their well-being. In addition, staff often prioritise the needs of patients above the demands of the organisation and their own wellbeing. An important finding is that the lack of ethical awareness among staff means that ethical dilemmas go unrecognised.
The thesis concludes that systematic ethics support is needed to improve staff understanding of ethical challenges. It also emphasises the need for a more flexible system that enables staff to be more responsive to the daily needs of patients. In addition, fostering a good relationship between patient and staff is crucial to improving the quality of home-based care.
Additional information
Contact the research support staff.