Research areas

Narratology and storyelling

Narrative medicine

Organizational communication

Discourse analysis

Writing across genres, including creative writing

Research information

My research interests span a broad range of narrative studies with a constant focus on the uses of narratives within organizational and institutional contexts, including medical settings. My theoretical and analytical background, developed through investigations of literary narrative and qualitative methods, gives me a foundation for the study of narratives as they are used in practice — in the construction of identity, for patients’ sense-making of illness, for communication between health professionals and patients, and for understanding organizational changes.

My participation in the Project Narrative Intensive Summer Program on Narrative Medicine at Ohio State University (2016) bolstered my specialization in narratives in medicine. This specialization is reflected in my most recent research, collaboration with the Intensive Care Unit at the University Hospital of Southern Denmark, where I investigate health professionals’ writing of patient diaries to alleviate patients’ post-intensive trauma, and how the writing of these narratives affects both health care professionals and patients. In collaboration with the Research Unit for General Practice at the University of Southern Denmark, I’m involved in a project on “defensive medicine” and “defensive writing” as reflected in the narrative and linguistic aspects of electronic patient records in general practice.

In organizational settings, my interest in narrative extends from stories people use to make sense of work and change, how stories are used to build relationships with stakeholders, and most recently, how employees’ stories are used in the implementation and communication of Corporate Social Responsibility.

I’m a member of the International Society of the Study of Narrative, the Nordic Network for Narratives in Medicine, and here at SDU, part of the Human Health research project as well as a member of the Center for Organizational Practice and Research and Center for Multimodal Communication.

I teach courses in communication, narratives and writing at the BA and MA levels across a wide spectrum of degree programs including International Business Communication, Cand. Negot., English Studies, the BSc in Medicine and the MSc in Health Professions.