1. Bern University of Applied Sciences
  2. School of Health Professions
  3. Research + Consulting services at the School of Health Professions
  4. Research areas of the School of Health Professions
  5. Psychosocial Health innovation field
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Psychosocial Health innovation field

Our research prioritises equal opportunities in health and care. We focus on people in their social environment and on their interactions with professionals and organisations in the healthcare system.

We see psychosocial health as a complex phenomenon that arises at the intersection of individual life-wordls and social systems. People interact with the healthcare system based on their needs, life stories, social networks and social positions. Our research explores how care users interact with nursing professionals and institutions. We view health as a public, communal and global good – in the sense of planetary health – and want to help ensure that access to it is fair, inclusive and resource-sensitive.

Research topics

The research topics in the Psychosocial Health innovation field are:

  • Diversity, inequality and equal opportunities
  • Settings and interfaces that are hard to research
  • Promoting health in in life-worlds, communities and society
  • Fields of care with pressure or drive to innovate

Projects

  • Parenting in Precarity (PiP)

    Parenting in Precarity explores parenthood and psychosocial health in the context of a precarious residential status, which (in)formal support services affected persons utilize, and what this means for...

    • Institute(s) Nursing
    • Research unit(s) Field of Innovation – Psychosocial Health
    • Head of project Sabrina Laimbacher

  • Born Green Generation - Delivering toxic-free healthcare

    Aims to protect the environment and vulnerable groups in maternity, neonatal, and paediatric wards: Healthcare students will learn why and how to reduce healthcare’s use of plastics and toxic chemicals,...

    • Institute(s) Nursing
      Kompetenzzentrum Interprofessionalität
    • Research unit(s) Field of Innovation – Psychosocial Health
    • Head of project Tannys Helfer

  • Caring about Diversities

    Dealing with diversity in nursing care is challenging, despite well-established concepts of professional competence. The SNSF-funded project 'Caring about Diversities' focuses on everyday practice in...

    • Research unit(s) Nursing
    • Head of project Prof. Dr. Eva Soom Ammann

  • Vorprojekt CONNECT: Projektplanung zum Älterwerden in der Obdachlosigkeit

    Bei Personen ohne Obdach entstehen mit dem Älterwerden diverse Herausforderungen. Über ihre spezifischen Bedürfnisse betreffend (psychischer) Gesundheit und Wohnen und den Handlungsbedarf ist wenig bekannt.

    • Institute(s) Institute on Ageing
      Nursing
      Institute for Social and Cultural Diversity
    • Research unit(s) Field of Innovation – Psychosocial Health
    • Head of project Sabrina Laimbacher
      Sabrina Gröble

  • Healthy up High in Switzerland – sustainable «Ageing in Place»

    The project validates Swiss-wide recommendations for “ageing in place” in communal-settings in need of revitalization. The findings form the basis for the planning of an implementation project in the setting.

    • Institute(s) Nursing
    • Research unit(s) Field of Innovation – Psychosocial Health
    • Head of project Tannys Helfer

  • Pandemic Objects: Making Medicine in Pandemic Times

    In this project, BFH and ZHdK used ethnographic methods to investigate how the pandemic shaped everyday hospital life. The results are presented as a special exhibition for the Medical Collection of the...

    • Institute(s) Nursing
    • Research unit(s) Field of Innovation – Psychosocial Health
    • Head of project Eva Soom Ammann
      Prof. Bitten Stetter

    • Partnerships

    • Institut für Sozialanthropologie, Universität Bern 
    • Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Geschlechterforschung (IZFG), Universität Bern 
    • Swiss Center for Design and Health 
    • Zürcher Hochschule der Künste 
    • Medical Anthropology Switzerland 
    • Domicil Bern AG 
    • Dandelion Pflegezentrum und oase.kleinbasel 
    • Zentrum für Palliative Care, Stadtspital Zürich Waid 
    • Medizinsammlung, Inselspital Bern 
    • Universitätsklinik für Frauenheilkunde, Inselspital Bern 
    • Institut für Pflegewissenschaft, Universität Wien 
    • Health Matters research group, Universität Wien 
    • Health Care Without Harm Europe 
    • IMISCOE Standing Committee «Families, Welfare, Care and the Life Course»

    Publications