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.
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 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
