Svensen, Erling
Title: Psychologist, PhD
Present position: Researcher (since 2003)
Institution where degree(s) were taken:
Cand.psychol, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway (1996)
PhD, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway, (Aug 2007)
Current research or planned research in Haydom area or related to Haydom:
Illness perception among Tanzanian patients
Project summary
Subjective Health Complaints or unexplained medical symptoms such as muscle- and skeletal pain and fatigue are by far the conditions that causes most of the sick leave in western countries (Nimnuan, Hotopf, & Wessely, 2000). These complaints are very common in the normal healthy population (Eriksen, Svendsrød, Ursin, & Ursin, 1998), but we do not why these complaints are being developed into conditions where the patient cannot work. One explanation is offered by Wilhelmsen (2004) who suggest the individual perception and attribution of these complaints as an important area of research. There are reasons to believe that these conditions are common all over the world (Eriksen, Hellesnes, Staff, & Ursin, 2004), but it is not investigated if this is also true in Tanzania. We do not know much on how people from different cultures perceive and attribute these complaints. This is an explorative study, where the objective is to learn more about these complaints and investigate if they are related to health worries, life style or social relationship. The study takes place at Haydom Lutheran Hospital, Mbulu District in Northern Tanzania.
Contact information:
e-mail: erling.svensen@unifob.uib.no
Postal address: Christies gate 13, 5018 Bergen, Norway
Publications:
Work Dissemination: