Margaretha Ekebergh
Faculty of Caring Science, Work Life and Social Welfare
— Department of Caring Science
My research focus on learning and reflection in health care education and caring practice.
Within the framework of intervention studies learning strategies have been developed that can optimize students' and caregivers' learning processes to consciously practice a caring which relieve patients' suffering and creating conditions for well-being. The research has a lifeworld theoretical basis and is centrally studying the role of reflection in learning processes of interweaving theory and health care practice with the learner's lifeworld.
My research includes how patients’ and their families’ learning can be supported. It is a matter of developing learning strategies that can strengthen patients' own ability to health and well-being. Research has generated lifeworld didactics and a theory of learning based in the lifeworld philosophy and caring sciences; "Learning encounters in caring contexts" which has three main concepts: lifeworld, narrative, reflection.
The research requires a rigorous scientific awareness and specific methods that are able to affirm lifeworld diversity and meanings and also able to study learning and reflection as continuous processes of care practices. Methods on a broad basis are tested, such as group interviews, individual interviews, observation, recording of tutoring sessions, written reports, surveys.
My research has established forms of collaboration with health care operations. Through this collaboration, research has resulted in, “Dedicated Educational Wards” (DEU, training wards) in different health care specialties.
Current research projects are:
Innovative environments that build bridges between theory and practice in professional programs - the interaction between caring and learning
The overall aim is to develop knowledge about caring and learning as parallel as well as integrated processes in healthcare practices. Three perspectives are illuminated, students, patients, careers / supervisor. The research has the potential to develop new perspectives on learning and didactics, which can offer new supervision models for students and creative learning support for patients who can strengthen their own ability to regain and maintain health and wellness.
Reflected caring and learning that creates health
The project has focused on the reflection role in both caring as learning and foremost on how caring and learning intertwine in the encounter with the patient and their family with the goal of achieving well-being. The project builds on previous research that demonstrated the necessity of didactics that provide support for the reflection of caring context. The goal is to develop caring and learning strategies with lifeworld and caring science as the basis. The project includes intervention studies.
Power-full dialogues for elderly persons with chronic pain
The project is an intervention study designed to investigate whether the research-based model "POWER-full dialogues" can increase the health and wellbeing of older people with chronic pain. It also aims to describe how heath care staff acquires training in Power-full dialogues and their experiences working with these conversations. The project is implemented within the municipal care and include both educational and health intervention. It is done in collaboration with the University of Skövde.
Caring and learning conversations that can strengthen vitality
This project is based on the need for innovative ideas to strengthen people's own efforts to dare to know and face their existential questions. The aim is to investigate in an interventional study how caring and learning conversations, on base of lifeworld theory, support and strengthen individual's own capacity for growth and development, or in other words strengthen vitality.
