Living with uncertainty in old age

Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Uummannaq, I explore how older adults live with the uncertainty of old age and life in general. I'm concerned with how older adults navigate the health care system, when they become ill, but also how they negotiate their position in the community as life changes in old age. 

My ph.d.-project is a part of the research- and developement project, AgeArc. The project was funded by Velux-Foundation and Fonden Ensomme Gamle Værn (the EGV-Foundation). 

Unfolding Vulnerability - Practices of care among professionals and pregnant women with diabetes in socially vulnerable positions in the prenatal period

The association between diabetes, social inequality and low health literacy presents a paradox in the care of pregnant women with diabetes in socially vulnerable positions. Due to risks of complications associated with diabetes and social inequality, these women are followed closely by professionals across sectors. However, the tasks involved in participating in the recommended care trajectories, constitute a treatment burden, risking to overwhelm the women that are supposed to benefit from them. This makes the women less likely to participate in antenatal care, thus challenging their ability to access and benefit from health care. In this project, we examine the consequences of this paradox, by looking at how the possibilities and challenges of practicing good care is influenced by organizational and moral dynamics. We do so based on ethnographic fieldwork among professionals across sectors involved in care for pregnant women with diabetes in socially vulnerable positions and the women themselves. We thereby shift the focus from patients’ abilities to the care practices in which professionals and patients are actively involved. In doing so, we aim to articulate the specificities of practices of care which can provide us with insights into how organizational dynamics and structures might contribute to or hinder health equity.

The project is a part of PIREAU - Platform for Inequality Research at Aarhus University.