The struggle between welfare state models and prevailing healthcare policy in Scandinavian healthcare legislative documents

Elisabeth Dahlborg is professor in caring sciences and associate professor in pedagogics at the Department of Health Sciences, University West, Sweden. Research interests are equal care, anti-oppressive caring and norm critical development in nursing education, discourse analysis and gender in relation to care and nursing. Recently, she has focused on how the Nordic welfare model has changed and what impact this macro level may have on patients' access to equal care and health.

Ellinor Tengelin, MS in Public Health Science, University of Gothenburg 2008; PhD in Health and Caring Science, Jönköping University 2019; currently works as university lecturer at the Department of Health Sciences, University West, Sweden. Her dissertation is titled “Becoming aware of blind spots” and explores the implementation of norm-critical perspectives within nursing education at university college level. Her research interests include bridging health and caring sciences with critical perspectives including discourse studies, power relations and social justice.

Elin Aasen, PhD, RN, Associate Professor Department of Health Science Aalesund, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Her dissertation from 2013, Department of psychology, University of Bergen, is titled “From paternalism to participation? The older patients undergoing hemodialysis, their next of kin and the nurses: a discursive perspective on perception of patient participation in dialysis units”. Her research interest is patient participation and ethics and how the Nordic welfare models influence the patient care.

Jeanne Strunck, Master in French linguistics and culture Århus University, DK and BA in Nordic literature, Aalborg University, DK. Both degrees are from 1983. She has a PhD in French linguistics and intercultural communication (indirect speech in professional communication) from Aalborg University, Denmark, 1998. Assistant professor 1983–2002, and Associate professor from 2002 at Aalborg University, DK, Department for Culture and Learning. Research within discourse studies and rhetoric in professional settings such as health care, banc- and building societies and airports.

Åse Boman, PhD, RN, is head of department and senior lecturer at the Department of Health Sciences, University West, Sweden. She is a specialist in pediatric nursing with research interests in health promotion for children with type 1 diabetes, gender structures in parenthood and in how societal structures and discourses affect equal health and care. Her dissertation explores interactions between pediatric guidelines, health professionals and fathers of children with diabetes type 1. Recently, she has focused on how the Nordic welfare model has changed and what impact this macro level may have on patients' access to equal health and care.

Aase Marie Ottesen, PhD, Master in Humanities and Health Studies (MHH), RN. Post doc at Department of Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University from 2016 until 2019, where she, through an action research project in collaboration with co-researchers from practice, has developed a research-based, realistic and user-friendly manual for institutions and interdisciplinary staff on how to implement and embed song and music as a communicative intervention in rehabilitation of persons with dementia. Her focus in research is user involvement in research, relational communication and coordination, interdisciplinary collaboration, learning and patients' access to equal care and health.

Berit Misund Dahl, PhD, RN, PHN, Associate Professor at Department of Health Sciences in Aalesund, Faculty of medicine and Health Sciences, NTNU-Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Her present position is study programme leader for Public health nursing education at NTNU. The dissertation was from Department of Psychology, University of Bergen, with the title: The meaning of professional identity on public health nursing. Research interests: The Nordic welfare model's influence on patients` position, public health, professions and interprofessional collaboration. In her research, she not only uses discourse analysis and phenomenological hermeneutics methods mainly but also qualitative methods.

Lindis Kathrine Helberget, MSc, RN, Assistant Professor, NTNU, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences in Ålesund, Department of Health Sciences in Ålesund, Norway. Her works focuses on user participation, pedagogical methods in nursing and health promotion. Important publications are within empowerment and user participation and interprofessional training.

Inger Lassen is Professor Emerita at Aalborg University, Department of Culture and Learning. She obtained a Master's degree on translation and interpreting in 1990 from the Aarhus School of Business and a Ph.D. degree in linguistics from Aalborg University in 1999. The title of the dissertation was “Accessibility and Acceptability in Technical Manuals: A Survey of Style with the Emphasis on Grammatical Metaphor”. She was appointed full professor in Discourse and Communication in 2008 in the International Business Communication Programme. Until 2016, she was director of the doctoral programme Discourse and Contemporary Culture at Aalborg University.