Scandinavian Online Cancer Information as Expressions of Governmentality

Our current featured article is titled “Scandinavian Online Cancer Information as Expressions of Governmentality A Comparative Qualitative Study” authored by Elin Margrethe Aasen, PhD, RN; Berit Misund Dahl, PhD, RN; Aase Marie Ottesen, PhD, RN; Jeanne Strunck, PhD; Henrik Erikson, PhD, RN; Elisabeth Dahlborg, PhD, RN; Åse Boman, PhD, RN; Lisbeth Alnes Vestgarden, MScN, RN; and Ellinor Tengelin, PhD. Download the PDF of the article on the ANS website and share your thoughts here. This is the background about this work provided by Dr. Aasen:

This article is the result of a collaboration between Denmark, Sweden and Norway.  A Nordic network working with discourses.

The Nordic countries represents a model for health care in the welfare system, where equal health is a goal. However, there are considerable variations in the structural levels and in the institutional design and policy. Care organized around the care-seeking person has the potential to improve clinical outcomes and satisfaction with care and a more patient focused care have the potentials to an equal and cost-effective care and treatment, yet there may be hindrance for this to be implemented.

In order to uncover if the political intentions have been implemented, the overall purpose of the study is to generate knowledge and understanding of the relation between the Nordic health care legislations level, institutional/organizational level and the experiences of the care-seeking person.

The part studies are described below:

1. Part study one (Macro-level):

The aim of this study is to explore and analyze how persons in need of care are discursively constructed and interdiscursively related in Nordic health care legislation in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. To conclude part study one, results obtained in the three countries will be compared. Articles:

• Aasen, Elin Margrethe; Dahl, Berit Misund. (2018) Construction of patients’ position in Norway’s Patients’ Rights Act. Nursing Ethics.

• Lyckhage, E.D., Pennbrant, S. and Boman, Å (2016) ”The Emperor’s new clothes”: discourse analysis on how the patient is constructed in the new Swedish Patient Act. Nursing Inquiry. Wiley, 1-11. DOI: 10-1111/nin.12162
• Lassen I, Ottesen AM, Strunck J. Health care policy at a crossroads? A discursive study of patient agency in national health quality strategies between 1993 and 2015. Nursing inquiry. 2018;25(4):e12252.
• Lassen, I., Ottesen, A.M. & Strunck, J. (2015) Identitetskonstruktioner af patienter. Malene Kjær (red.). Sundhed. Aalborg: Academic Quarter. Volume 12, 136-153. http://www.akademiskkvarter.hum.aau.dk/UK/index.php
• Dahlborg, Elisabeth; Tengelin, Ellinor; Aasen, Elin Margrethe; Strunck, Jeanne; Boman, Åse; Ottesen, Anne Mari; Dahl, Berit Misund; Helberget, Lindis Kathrine; Lassen, Inger. (2020) The struggle between welfare state models and prevailing healthcare policy in Scandinavian healthcare legislative documents. International Journal of Health Governance.

2. Part study two (Mezzo-level):

The aim of this study is to explore and analyze how persons in need of care are discursively constructed in health care documents in Nordic institutional organizations. To conclude part study two, results obtained in the three countries will be compared.

Articles:

• Ottesen A. M., & Strunck J. The discursive construction of person-centredness in online information leaflets addressed to patients with cancer. https:// vbn.aau.dk/en/publications/the-discursiveconstruction-of-person-centredness-in-online-infor-2. 2021.
• Aasen EM, Crawford P, Dahl BM. Discursive construction of the patient in online clinical cancer pathways information. J Adv Nurs. 2020;76(11): 3113-3122. doi:10.1111/jan.14513
• Boman Å, Dahlborg E, Eriksson H, Tengelin E. The reasonable patient—a Swedish discursive construction. Nurs Inq. 2021;28(3):e12401. doi:10. 1111/nin.12401
• Aasen, Elin Margrethe; Dahl, Berit Misund; Ottesen, Aase Marie; Strunck, Jeanne; Erikson, Henrik; Lyckhage, Elisabeth Dahlborg; Boman, Åse; Vestgarden, Lisbeth Alnes; Tengelin, Ellinor. (2022) Scandinavian Online Cancer Information as Expressions of Governmentality. A Comparative Qualitative Study. Advances in Nursing Science.

3. Part study three (Micro-level):

The aim of this study is to explore and analyze individual narratives about becoming a person in need of care. To conclude part study three, results obtained in the three countries will be compared and a joint article will be prepared for publication in an international journal.

We are now working on micro levels and have put focus on the cancer patient and how they express themselves online via blogs.