Associate professor, Lecturer, Registered nurse with specialist training in psychiatry

I became a nurse 1978 and have worked with acupuncture since 1987. Since I defended my thesis in December 2011, I work as a lecturer and researcher. My research focus on infantile colic, acupuncture in psychiatry, self referred admission in psychiatry and advanced home care for ill children.

The first interview study in my thesis examined parents' experience of having a colicky baby. Colic overshadowed everything and parents suffered with their crying infants. Four years later when they were interviewed again, they clearly remembered the colicky period but had bonded with their child. A randomized study evaluated the effect of acupuncture on infants with colic. Infants who got minimal standardized acupuncture cried less than infants who did not get acupuncture. In a later trial, infants were randomized to either minimal standardized acupuncture or to a group where the acupuncturist could choose points according to the infants´ symptoms, or to a control group. Infants in both acupuncture groups cried less than infants in the control group. There was no significant difference between the two types of acupuncture.

The second research track includes studies on acupuncture in psychiatric nursing. Persons with anorexia found acupuncture to offer an appreciated framework for relaxation and reflection. Interview studies illuminate patients and nurses experiences of acupuncture in general psychiatric care, and the effect of acupuncture is evaluated in a quantitative study.