Research Group for Prevention and Rehabilitation
The overall purpose of the research conducted in the Prevention and Rehabilitation group at the Section of Social Medicine is to study psychosocial and behavioral determinants of health and function, as well as the socioeconomic consequences of disease and functional decline, with a focus on social inequality.
Our research includes epidemiological studies of causal mechanisms to identify modifiable factors, the development of inter-sectoral policies to tackle the health divide and development of tools to facilitate their implementation. Further, we quantify and compare the expected health consequences of major policy initiatives and interventions from a clinical perspective. The health policy research is done in collaboration with policy makers at international, national, regional and municipal level. Since long, we put emphasis on the collaboration with the City of Copenhagen.
We have a special focus on the following research programs:
Tackling Health Inequalities and Extending Working Lives (THRIVE)
This project aims at investigating the differential impacts of health on the opportunity to work later in life in order to develop policies for extending working life that address these inequalities.
THRIVE is a collaboration between researchers from Liverpool, Stockholm, Toronto and Copenhagen. The project is supported by Innovationsfonden.
Contact persons: Ingelise Andersen, Natasja Koitzsch Jensen, Henrik Brønnum-Hansen, Karsten Thielen, Finn Diderichsen
Social Inequality in Ageing; Health, care and institutional reforms in the Nordic Welfare Model (SIA)
The sustainability of the Nordic model is a key issue in relation to an ageing population because of its universal, comprehensive and largely tax-financed welfare model. The policy concept of “active ageing” is largely an attempt to a solution, concerned with both increasing retirement ages, participation in society and our possibility to independent living at old age.
The SIA project is a collaboration between the Nordic countries and is organized into five work packages. The WP Health care needs and health care reforms: future needs and inequality impacts aims to answer the following questions:
The project is supported by Nordforsk.
Contact persons: Ingelise Andersen, Natasja Koitzsch Jensen, Karsten Thielen
The Equity and the socioeconomic impact of disease management programs in Denmark (EQUIP)
This research project aims to investigate two areas of health economics and health policy research. The first area of interest is related to the recent implementation of disease management programs (DMPs) in Denmark. A central part of the project will be to study the impact of socioeconomic position on the uptake and effects of DMPs (e.g. the effects of DMPs on socioeconomic inequality in health).
The second area of interest originates from the observation that mainstream health economic evaluation techniques do not explicitly incorporate concerns for equity despite the fact that aversion towards inequity is a core value in most health systems across the world.
The project is collaboration with researchers from CHEP (Department of Public Health, Copenhagen University), is led by Professor Karsten Vrangbæk kv@ifs.ku.dk.
The project is supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation.
Contact persons: Henrik Brønnum-Hansen, Anne Mette Bender, Ingelise Andersen
It is of great policy relevance to quantify and compare scenarios of expected consequences on population health of major policy initiatives and interventions and thereby facilitate cooperation between policy makers within different sectors. Quantitative health impact assessment (HIA) tools are developed for this purpose. We are connected with the international research group, which developed the EU-funded DYNAMO-HIA model (Dynamic Model for Health Impact Assessment), and we have implemented this model for use in a local Danish context. Further, socioeconomic position has been included when estimating expected change in disease burden.
The model has been used for HIA scenarios for the population of Copenhagen. Thus, the effect on selected diseases and mortality of different intervention scenarios targeted tobacco and alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, overweight and traffic-related air pollution in Copenhagen have been quantified.
Another project, carried out by an industrial PhD, adjusted and applied different methods for quantitative HIA to analyze the effect of traffic policy and increased cycling, and a number of interventions targeted high alcohol consumption.
Our work on development of methods for quantitative health impact assessments is carried out in collaboration with the health administration in the Municipality of Copenhagen and other relevant partners.
Contact persons: Henrik Brønnum-Hansen, Anne Mette Bender
MAMAACT
MAMAACT is a complex intervention study for increased ethnic equality in maternal and child health. The study is a cluster randomised trial with 19 Danish maternity wards participating and aims to create change in the clinical setting by improving the communication between pregnant women and midwives regarding signs of complications in pregnancy. Optimal and timely response to warning signs in pregnancy from both the women and the health system are expected to lead to improved health literacy of the women and reduced infant morbidity and survival. For more information: https://mamaact.ku.dk/
Contact person: Sarah Fredsted Villadsen
Cities Changing Diabetes - CCD
Cities Changing Diabetes (CCD) is a global partnership programme, initiated by Novo Nordisk, that addresses the urban diabetes challenge. In Europe, Copenhagen has been appointed as CCD city, and in August 2014 collaboration between Novo Nordisk, the municipality of Copenhagen, Danish Diabetes Association and Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen - and Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen was established, focusing on social inequality and vulnerability within the subareas in Copenhagen.
Contact persons: Ulla Christensen, Stine Øien Dandanell
Social inequality in health care services targeting diabetes 2 patients
The aim of this project is to identify the risk factors that would contribute to the development of health care services targeted towards socially vulnerable diabetes 2 patients.
The project is based on an extensive ethnographic study, conducted in a hospital ward and in 10 different general practices in the capital region of Denmark. 16 patients in the hospital ward and 16 patients in general practice are followed during two consultations with diabetes nurses and medical doctors, 64 consultations in total. After each of these consultations semi-structured research interviews are conducted with both the patient and the health care professional. Based on the results a feasibility study will be developed in collaboration with the health care professionals in order to qualify the cross sectional health services offered the socially vulnerable patients.
Contact person: Ulla Christensen
Research Group Leader
Ingelise Andersen
Associate Professor
Email: inan@sund.ku.dk
Phone:+45 35 32 76 62
Medlemmer
| Name | Title | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bender, Mette | Assistant Professor | +4535328033 | |
| Christensen, Ulla | Associate Professor | +4535327663 | |
| Foverskov, Else | Assistant Professor | +4535328974 | |
| Gadeberg, Anne Kristine | PhD Fellow | +4535332966 | |
| Mortensen, Ole Steen | Clinical Professor | +4523328431 | |
| Rossau, Henriette Knold | PhD Fellow | +4535325179 | |
| Thielen, Karsten | Clinical Associate Professor | ||
| Toft, Ulla Marie Nørgaard | Clinical Professor | +4529997877 | |
| Villadsen, Sarah Fredsted | Associate Professor | +4535327997 |