The public defence will be held as a video conference over Zoom.
The defence will follow regular procedure as far as possible, hence it will be open to the public and the audience can ask ex auditorio questions when invited to do so.
Click here to participate in the public defence
Due to copyright reasons, an electronic copy of the thesis must be ordered from the faculty. In order for the faculty to have time to process the order, it must be received by the faculty no later than 2 days prior to the public defence. Orders received later than 2 days before the defence will not be processed. Inquiries regarding the thesis after the public defence must be addressed to the candidate.
Digital Trial Lecture – time and place
Adjudication committee
- First opponent: Professor Anthony Kessel, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
- Second opponent: Senior lecturer Amanda Owen-Smith, University of Bristol Medical School
- Third member and chair of the evaluation committee: Professor Søren Holm, University of Oslo
Chair of the Defence
Professor Emeritus Ole Berg, University of Oslo
Principal Supervisor
Associate Professor Eli Feiring, Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo
Summary
As the burden of diseases connected to personal lifestyles increases and healthcare costs are rising, the possibility of taking into consideration the individual’s responsibility for own health when determining access, eligibility and priority related to treatment has been debated.
The aim of this thesis was to investigate the relevance of the idea that individuals are responsible for their health in the context of healthcare prioritisation in Norway. The thesis incorporates the perspectives of three empirical studies that have analysed key health policy documents, attitudes from the general public and beliefs in a sample of clinicians working in Norwegian hospitals.
Overall, the findings cited in this thesis suggest that, in Norway, personal health responsibility can be accepted as a general principle when understood as a belief that individual citizens and patients have a responsibility for taking care of their own health. However, in relation to healthcare prioritisation, personal health responsibility is found to be framed as a contested criterion and is mainly rejected as a steering criterion for priority setting decisions in Norwegian healthcare. Still, this criterion was found to be viewed as relevant in specific clinical situations. This thesis contributes to the debate on the relevance of personal health responsibility for questions on resource prioritisation, offering a rich analysis of how this criterion would be supported and discussed by key stakeholders in a national tax-financed healthcare system. The thesis' originality lies in analysing personal health responsibility as a multidimensional concept and in applying quantitative and qualitative methodologies to provide an in-depth account of the relevance of this salient but controversial issue in the Norwegian context.
Additional information
Contact the research support staff.