Steffen Torp - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Volume 7 - Issue 9 by Steffen Torp

Background: Norway is internationally known today for its political and socioeconomic prioritizat... more Background: Norway is internationally known today for its political and socioeconomic prioritization of equity. The 2012 Public Health Act (PHA) aimed to further equity in the domain of health by addressing the social gradient in health. The PHA's main policy measures were (1) delegation to the municipal level of responsibility for identifying and targeting underserved groups and (2) the imposition on municipalities of a " Health in All Policies " (HiAP) approach where local policy-making generally is considered in light of public health impact. In addition, the act recommended municipalities employ a public health coordinator (PHC) and required a development of an overview of their citizens' health to reveal underserved social segments. This study investigates the relationship between changes in municipal use of HiAP tools (PHC and health overviews) with regard to the PHA implementation and municipal prioritization of fair distribution of social and economic resources among social groups. Methods: Data from two surveys, conducted in 2011 and 2014, were merged with official register data. All Norwegian municipalities were included (N = 428). Descriptive statistics as well as bi-and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. Results: Thirty-eight percent of the municipalities reported they generally considered fair distribution among social groups in local policy-making, while 70% considered fair distribution in their local health promotion initiatives. Developing health overviews after the PHA's implementation was positively associated with prioritizing fair distribution in political decision-making (odds ratio [OR] = 2.54; CI: 1.12-5.76), compared to municipalities that had not developed such overviews. However, the employment of PHCs after the implementation was negatively associated with prioritizing fair distribution in local health promotion initiatives (OR = 0.22; CI: 0.05-0.90), compared to municipalities without that position. Conclusion: Development of health overviews — as requested by the PHA — may contribute to prioritization of fair distribution among social groups with regard to the social determinants of health at the local level. Implications for policy makers • The very process of developing a health overview seems to build the institutional muscle, awareness, and skills among relevant municipal personnel to address health inequalities. • Employing a public health coordinator (PHC) does not necessarily lead to greater focus on equity. • For PHCs to succeed in reducing health inequalities they need necessary information and competencies, to be employed in positions close to full-time, and possess sufficient organizational authority to coordinate municipal sectors and assist in developing and implementing policies. Implications for the public Attaining more equitable public health requires coordination of national and local policy. Our research suggests that tasking municipalities with developing local health overviews of the social determinants of health can help build both municipal awareness and competencies for addressing inequalities. A tentative unexpected finding is that merely employing a public health coordinator (PHC) can reduce the capacity to advance equity. If the PHC position is only part-time, and not empowered enough or bureaucratically integrated, or held by someone skilled at building needed cross-sectorial collaboration, equity might not be advanced.

Papers by Steffen Torp

Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, Feb 1, 2018

Journal of Advanced Nursing, Jul 30, 2023

International Practice Development Journal

Background: Assuring high-quality, person-centred practice in long-term care organisations requir... more Background: Assuring high-quality, person-centred practice in long-term care organisations requires attention to the wellbeing of the staff who deliver it – a factor sometimes overlooked amid the increasing challenges such organisations confront internationally. Research has shown that job demands and job resources are distinct aspects of the working environment that interact in predicting staff wellbeing and motivation. Work engagement can serve as a means to improve job motivation and performance, and also potentially facilitates activities that operationalise person-centred practice. Aims: To explore the influence of job demands and job resources on work engagement and person-centred processes, and examine whether engagement moderates or mediates the effects of demands and resources on person-centred processes. Method: A cross-sectional survey design with standardised self-report questionnaires was used to collect data on job resources, job demands, work engagement and person-cen...

Health Promotion International, 2022

Summary On 30 January 2020, the disease covid-19 was declared by the World Health Organization to... more Summary On 30 January 2020, the disease covid-19 was declared by the World Health Organization to be an international threat to human health and on 11 March 2020, the outbreak was declared a pandemic. The aim of this study was to analyse policy strategies developed by the five Nordic countries during the first 3 months of the pandemic from a health promotion perspective in order to identify Nordic responses to the crisis. Although the Nordic countries have a long tradition of co-operation as well as similar social welfare policies and legislation, each country developed their own strategies towards the crisis. The strategies identified were analysed from a health promotion perspective emanating from five principles: intersectorality, sustainability, equity, empowerment and a lifecourse perspective. Denmark, Finland and Norway had lockdowns to varying degrees, whereas Sweden and Iceland had no lockdowns. Iceland implemented a test and tracking strategy from the very beginning. All co...

Supplemental material, SJP953330_Supplemental_material for Labor-force participation and working ... more Supplemental material, SJP953330_Supplemental_material for Labor-force participation and working patterns among women and men who have survived cancer: A descriptive 9-year longitudinal cohort study by Birgit Brusletto, Roy A. Nielsen, Harald Engan, Line Oldervoll, Camilla M. Ihlebæk, Nina Helen Mjøsund and Steffen Torp in Scandinavian Journal of Public Health

International Practice Development Journal, 2021

Background: To provide high-quality and cost-effective person-centred care, organisations need em... more Background: To provide high-quality and cost-effective person-centred care, organisations need employees who are committed to perform at their best. Employee work engagement, defined as a positive, fulfilling approach to work, is known to correlate favourably with employee wellbeing and performance and with the service climate. Extended understanding about the meaning of work engagement can promote the development of environments that are both conducive to person-centred practices and good places to work. Aim: To explore the meaning of work engagement in the context of person-centred practices in municipal healthcare facilities for older people. Methods: A total of 16 individual interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of registered nurses and nursing assistants working in municipal healthcare facilities for older people in Norway. Data were analysed using a stepwise-deductive-inductive approach. Findings were generated inductively from the themes that emerged in the interv...

Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 2018

Aims: The gradient in health inequalities reflects a relationship between health and social circu... more Aims: The gradient in health inequalities reflects a relationship between health and social circumstance, demonstrating that health worsens as you move down the socio-economic scale. For more than a decade, the Norwegian National government has developed policies to reduce social inequalities in health by levelling the social gradient. The adoption of the Public Health Act in 2012 was a further movement towards a comprehensive policy. The main aim of the act is to reduce social health inequalities by adopting a Health in All Policies approach. The municipalities are regarded key in the implementation of the act. The SODEMIFA project aimed to study the development of the new public health policy, with a particular emphasis on its implementation in municipalities. Methods: In the SODEMIFA project, a mixed-methods approach was applied, and the data consisted of surveys as well as qualitative interviews. The informants were policymakers at the national and local level. Results: Our find...

European Journal of Public Health, 2019

Background Due to improved cancer treatment, the survival rate of cancer is increasing Unfortunat... more Background Due to improved cancer treatment, the survival rate of cancer is increasing Unfortunately, many cancer survivors suffer from serious late effects because of this treatment. Therefore, more and more cancer survivors with reduced work ability are, and will in the future be, in work. To include this group of workers in working life is a challenge for the society in general and for the enterprises in particular. The aim of this study was to investigate managers’ experiences regarding cancer survivors’ return to work (RTW). Methods We performed qualitative individual in-depth interviews with nine managers who had experience with workers who needed adaptations at work after cancer treatment. The interviews were transcribed in verbatim and thematically analyzed in accordance with guidelines for stepwise deductive-inductive analysis (Tjora, 2016). Results All managers emphasized the importance of taking good care of workers with serious diseases and to adapt work according to the...

International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 2019

International journal of health policy and management, Jan 14, 2018

Norway is internationally known today for its political and socio-economic prioritization of equi... more Norway is internationally known today for its political and socio-economic prioritization of equity. The 2012 Public Health Act (PHA) aimed to further equity in the domain of health by addressing the social gradient in health. The PHA's main policy measures were (1) delegation to the municipal level of responsibility for identifying and targeting underserved groups and (2) the imposition on municipalities of a "Health in All Policies" (HiAP) approach where local policy-making generally is considered in light of public health impact. In addition, the act recommended municipalities employ a public health coordinator (PHC) and required a development of an overview of their citizens' health to reveal underserved social segments. This study investigates the relationship between changes in municipal use of HiAP tools (PHC and health overviews) with regard to the PHA implementation and municipal prioritization of fair distribution of social and economic resources among so...

European Journal of Public Health, 2015

Health Promotion International, 2016

Scandinavian journal of public health, 2015

The public health coordinator (PHC) is a municipal-government position in Norway whose role is to... more The public health coordinator (PHC) is a municipal-government position in Norway whose role is to organise and oversee municipal policies and functions to support national public health goals. This cross-sectional study investigates conditions associated with use of PHCs by Norwegian municipalities in the period immediately before the new Public Health Act came into effect in 2012, decentralising responsibility for citizen health to the municipal level. This study provides descriptive baseline data regarding Norwegian municipalities' use of PHCs in this time - a marker for municipal engagement with inter-sectorial collaboration - before this policy was nationally mandated, and explores whether municipal characteristics such as structure, socio-economic status and extent of Health in All Policies (HiAP) implementation were associated factors. All Norway's municipalities (N=428) were included. We combined Norwegian register data with survey data. Descriptive analyses and bi- a...

Health Promotion International, 2012

The European Journal of Public Health, 2012

The Handbook of Salutogenesis, 2016