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: Professor Gudrun Rohde, University of Agder,
- Second opponent: Adjunct professor Kristine Sørensen, Global Health Literacy Academy,
- Third member and chair of the evaluation committee: Professor Bjørn Hofmann, University of Oslo
Chair of the Defence
Professor emeritus Per Nordtvedt, University of Oslo
Principal Supervisor
Associate professor Christine Råheim Borge, University of Oslo
Summary
In this thesis, healthcare personnel’s well-being and mental health were researched in combination with health literacy sensitivity in clinical practice. Health literacy sensitivity is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to effectively meet patients’ health literacy needs (health literacy: how individuals access, understand, and use information in ways that promote and maintain good health). Health literacy-sensitive care plays a critical role in patients’ long-term health outcomes, care quality, and patient safety.
The overall aim of this thesis was to explore experiences and potential associations among healthcare personnel’s health literacy sensitivity, work-related factors, and mental well-being in a general hospital setting, and to use this knowledge to develop and evaluate a health literacy intervention.
A multi-method sequential design was applied. Paper 1 used focus group interviews with interdisciplinary healthcare personnel, analyzed using thematic analysis. Paper 2 was a cross-sectional study (n=288) examining associations, analysed using hierarchical multiple regression. Paper 3 was a pre–post feasibility study, using quantitative measures and qualitative interviews to evaluate a six-month health literacy intervention for registered nurses.
Findings show that higher health literacy sensitivity is associated with better teamwork, higher work engagement, and fewer mental health challenges, and the intervention resulted in statistically significant improvements in 7 of 9 domains of health literacy sensitivity and improved nurse–physician collaboration. Qualitative findings highlighted increased awareness, strengthened routines, and enhanced interdisciplinary collaboration, but also identified health literacy responsibilities as potentially demanding.
In conclusion, health literacy sensitivity is closely linked to both organizational conditions and healthcare personnel’s mental well-being. While it can be experienced as demanding, it can be strengthened through structured interventions, improved teamwork, and integration into everyday clinical practice.
Additional information
Contact the research support staff.