UserAge is a collaboration between Lund University, University of Gothenburg, Linnaeus University and Kristianstad University. Christine Etzerodt Laustsen has been linked to the "Research Platform for Health in Collaboration" at Kristianstad University, and has focused on the involvement of professionals in research in aging and health.

UserAge a larger context

- Being a part of UserAge has given me the opportunity to discuss and develop my own perspective on involvement in research and put it in a larger context, she says.

Her research focuses on how researchers and professionals can benefit from each other's perspectives to bridge the gap between research and practice and make research more relevant and useful in practice. The involvement can look different and be to a different extent and in different parts of the research process or the entire research process.

Christine Etzerodt Laustsen means that when professionals are involved in research, the intended outcome, process and conditions for involvement must be taken into account.

There must be time and also support from the managers

- It must be ensured that there are the right conditions for professionals to be involved in the way that is desired and needed to achieve common goals. It may be that they need time set aside in their regular work to participate or support from managers and colleagues. The relationships between the researchers and the professionals and how they meet each other are also important. It requires trusting relationships.

The values ​​behind the work must be clarified

- Research is structured and has a systematic approach. But when it comes to involvement, researchers need to continuously reflect on how they treat the people who are to be involved in the research. Not only does the workflow in the project need to be structured; you must also talk about what you want to characterize the interaction and have an open and continuous dialogue about what values ​​you are based on and what the relationships should look like.
 
After the dissertation, which takes place on April 1, Christine Etzerodt Laustsen will teach at Kristianstad University, Faculty of Health Sciences, both in the nursing program and in the master's program for integrated science.

- Then I plan for further research, both about collaboration between researchers and professionals but also about collaboration within the municipality, she says.