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Department

Health Promotion

The department works with research into health promotion with a particular focus on mental health and community participation. We are responsible for several large data collections and work with the evaluation of measures aimed at preventing disease or promoting health.

Contact

Switchboard:: +47 210 77 000

Department Director

Øystein Vedaa

Visiting address

Zander Kaaesgate 7, 5015 Bergen

Post address

Norwegian Institute of Public Health, PO Box 973 Sentrum, N-5808 Bergen

Health promotion means enabling people to have better control over and improve their own health and well-being. This can happen through influencing individual behaviour as well as through a wide range of social and environmental interventions. Health and well-being are deeply rooted in how people interact with and contribute to the society around them. A special focus area for the department is therefore the concept of community participation.

Community participation

Community participation is a broad term that can initially refer to participation in the major arenas throughout life such as education, working life and local communities. It can be about participating in activities that feels meaningful and gives a sense of belonging with others. Our understanding of community participation also involves having access to and making use of public services and treatment options.

The work the department does contributes to providing knowledge about how social arenas such as local communities and working life are linked to health. The health-promoting perspective, knowledge of health behaviour and risk factors, as well as knowledge and evaluation of measures aimed at promoting health in the population are key areas of expertise for the department.

The department works with the Norwegian County Public Health Surveys (CPHS), the Students' health and well-being study (SHoT), and the Norwegian Public Health Survey (NPHS). We have research projects within a wide range of topics: maternity care in Norway, violence and abuse against children and young people, social media as a social arena, mental health and well-being, health behaviour change, and we evaluate low-threshold treatment options for mild to moderate mental health problems and sleep difficulties. The department has a special responsibility for developing research on the topic of work and health at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

The department has a strong quantitative orientation and works particularly with survey methods, epidemiology (incl. register studies), randomized controlled studies and other study designs to evaluate effects. We also have considerable expertise in process evaluation and qualitative research methods. User participation is central to the projects at the department, and we are committed to ensure that the research at the department reflects the perspectives, needs and experiences of the end users.

Key partners for the department include local and regional authorities, the student association, hospitals and workplaces, private charitable foundations, as well as a large range of international research partners.

Employees

Øystein Vedaa

Øystein Vedaa

Department director

Amanda Iselin Olesen Andersen

Amanda Iselin Olesen Andersen

Børge Sivertsen

Børge Sivertsen

Senior researcher

Camilla Tjønneland Mentzoni

Camilla Tjønneland Mentzoni

PhD-candidate

Erlend Sunde

Erlend Sunde

Gunnhild Johnsen Hjetland

Gunnhild Johnsen Hjetland

Postdoc

Hilde Marie Engjom

Hilde Marie Engjom

Specialist consultant Medical Birth Registry of No

Ingunn Agnete Riise

Ingunn Agnete Riise

Senior Adviser

Jens Christoffer Skogen

Jens Christoffer Skogen

Research Professor

Kaia Kjørstad

Kaia Kjørstad

Kari Klungsøyr

Kari Klungsøyr

Senior Medical Officer / professor

Leif Edvard Aarø

Leif Edvard Aarø

Senior Researcher

Marit Burkeland-Lie

Marit Burkeland-Lie

PhD candidate

Marit Knapstad

Marit Knapstad

Robert Smith

Robert Smith

Research Professor

Truc Trung Nguyen

Truc Trung Nguyen