Ottar Ness

Ottar Ness
Norwegian University of Science and Technology | NTNU · NTNU WellFare: Nordic Research Center for Wellbeing and Social

PhD

About

228
Publications
64,969
Reads
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1,457
Citations
Introduction
Professor and Head of NTNU WellFare: Nordic Research Center for Wellbeing and Social Sustainability at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
Additional affiliations
March 2024 - present
Aalborg University
Position
  • Adjunct Professor
August 2020 - June 2022
VID Specialized University
Position
  • Adjunct Professor
August 2010 - June 2020
University of South-Eastern Norway
Position
  • Professor (Associate)
Education
September 2007 - November 2011
Tilburg University
Field of study
  • Social and Behavioral Sciences
August 2004 - July 2006
Diakonhjemmet University College
Field of study
  • Family Therapy
August 1998 - August 2006
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Field of study
  • Educational Psychology

Publications

Publications (228)
Article
Full-text available
Background Although the importance of collaboration is well established as a principle in research and in theory, what it actually means for practitioners to collaborate in practice, to be partners in a collaborative relationship, has thus far been given less attention. The aim of this study was to identify key characteristics of the ways in which...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose – The co-occurrence of mental health and substance use problems is prevalent, and has been problematic both in terms of its complexity for the person and of the challenges it poses to health care practitioners. Recovery in co-occurring mental health and substance use problems is viewed as with multiple challenges embedded in it. As most of...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose – Hope is regarded as central to recovery processes. The phenomenon along with its implications for research and practice has, however, gained limited attention within the fields of mental health and substance use. The purpose of this paper is to explore how hope, and what may inspire it, is described within the literature by persons experi...
Article
Full-text available
The negative effects of social exclusion are well known, as are the effects of social inclusion on quality of life and well-being. Young adults with mental illness and complex needs are among the most marginalized people in the community. There is a pressing need to better define and promote social inclusion in mental health and substance use servi...
Book
Discover a groundbreaking perspective on personal and collective flourishing in this transformative book. Unveiling a dynamic synthesis of wellness, fairness, and worthiness, it presents a blueprint for thriving on personal, relational, occupational, systemic, community, and planetary scales. Move beyond the confines of individual well-being; embra...
Chapter
Discover a groundbreaking perspective on personal and collective flourishing in this transformative book. Unveiling a dynamic synthesis of wellness, fairness, and worthiness, it presents a blueprint for thriving on personal, relational, occupational, systemic, community, and planetary scales. Move beyond the confines of individual well-being; embra...
Chapter
Discover a groundbreaking perspective on personal and collective flourishing in this transformative book. Unveiling a dynamic synthesis of wellness, fairness, and worthiness, it presents a blueprint for thriving on personal, relational, occupational, systemic, community, and planetary scales. Move beyond the confines of individual well-being; embra...
Article
Full-text available
Across the world, governments are struggling to help people recover from substance use problems. Due to their particular risk factors, two age groups are of special interest to public health: emerging adults and older adults. Psychological sense of community (PSOC) is a key dimension in their recovery. Yet, to develop context-sensitive and effectiv...
Article
Full-text available
Background People with concurrent mental health and substance use problems are among the most socially excluded groups in our society, yet little attention has been paid to what socially excluded people see as central to promoting their social inclusion. The aim of this qualitative scoping review is to provide an overview of barriers and facilitato...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose Addressing social inclusion often involves objective measures and means related to work, education, housing and economy. However, important subjective factors, such as the relationship between identity on social inclusion among young adults with mental illness and complex needs, are understudied. The study objective is to explore how young...
Technical Report
Full-text available
Promoting and sustaining social participation are crucial for creating health systems that deliver health for all. Through a selection of country case studies from the WHO European Region, this policy brief showcases how social participation serves as a core sub-function of health system governance and directly contributes to achieving key health s...
Technical Report
Full-text available
Social participation is increasingly acknowledged as essential to making health policies that respond to people's experiences, expectations and needs, and as a key driver of equitable, inclusive and responsive health systems. This policy brief offers insights into how to institutionalize social participation in health policy. It shares seven key pr...
Article
Full-text available
Educational transitions can influence loneliness and increase mental health issues for young people transitioning between educational stages. The aim was to explore the link between educational transitions and emerging adults’ loneliness and mental health and how they perceive they can alleviate and/or improve these issues. Semi-structured qualitat...
Article
Full-text available
Editorial: Breaking the mental health stigma for people with substance use disorders
Article
Full-text available
Debate: A relational agenda for changing public administration research and practice
Article
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In Norway, child welfare responsibilities are divided between state-run (SCW) and municipal (MCW) agencies. This study explores MCW practitioners' experiences of implementing a therapeutic model tailored by SCW for MCW to aid adolescents with severe and co-occurring problems and their families. In this qualitative study, 12 MCW practitioners partic...
Chapter
I dette kapittelet presenterer vi et relasjonelt perspektiv på velferd som vektlegger livskvalitet, medborgerskap og deltakelse.
Article
Full-text available
Transitions can be described as passage/movement from one life phase, condition, or status to another, where people learn to adapt to the change through inner reorientation, adaptation, and/or transformation. The aim was to explore whether educational transitions during adolescence and emerging adulthood relate to loneliness and mental health. A sy...
Article
Full-text available
Background Co-creation has become a guiding principle in public service innovation, but more knowledge is still needed on overcoming barriers and increasing the effectiveness of co-creation processes. This study explores the research circle method as a concrete methodology for co-creation, and its application within two cases involving the implemen...
Book
Håndbok i kvalitativ forskning er en vitenskapelig antologi. Stoffet er presentert på en lett tilgjengelig måte, med utstrakt bruk av konkrete og praksisnære eksempler. Boken vil være nyttig for både forskere og studenter på alle nivåer.
Chapter
Dette kapittelet presenterer aksjonsforskning mer overordnet, og vise hvordan aksjonsforskning kan gjennomføres i praksis. Denne mer overordnede tilnærmingen kan forstås som en innramming av aksjonsforskningsprosesser som er gjenkjennbare på tvers av ulike tilnærminger til aksjonsforskning, selv om ulike varianter har sine egne nyanser, teoretiske...
Article
Full-text available
Social participation in health system governance can help develop effective and efficient health services and promote health system legitimacy and transparency. This article presents a framework for social participation that stresses the importance of diverse representation to ensure all relevant voices are heard. The framework is illustrated with...
Article
Full-text available
Students mental health is declining. StudyWell is a project aiming at positive impact on student mental health in student cities in Norway; by integrating relational welfare with service design, and the study environment as a starting point. We discussfour implementation challenges: First, co-design depends on a shared mindset across disciplinary b...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Research focusing on managerial perspectives on organizations that co-produce and co-create is limited, and what is published calls for more. The study's research question is: What can we learn from research on management and leadership of public organizations that co-produce public value, and which tendencies emerge as avenues for future research?...
Article
Full-text available
Aim Mattering (to feel valued and add value to self and others) is a fundamental human experience and mechanismi n recovery. In this paper, we concern ourselves with the recovery of older adults with substance problems. This population is on the rise in many Western countries. To offer mattering enhancing programs for this group, more knowledge ab...
Article
Modellen BrukerInvolvering i KVAlitetsutvikling (BIKVA) er prøvd ut for å løfte frem brukerstemmen i systematisk kvalitetsutviklingsarbeid i en kommune. Skoleelever med behov for særskilt tilrettelegging for læring ble involvert og hørt, og deres stemme ble løftet videre til lærere, ledere og politikere av psy-kolog i PPT. Tilpasninger av BIKVA-mod...
Article
Full-text available
The deinstitutionalization of mental health institutions has enabled service users to live in the community and search for what Duff coins ‘enabling places.’ These places were explored through walking interviews, in which service-users led the way. This analysis revealed features which made places promote liveable lives: places help people explore,...
Article
New interventions are offered to children of divorced parents in Danish schools. Establishing conversation-groups can be seen as part of this overall effort to increase pupils’ wellbeing. This new practice leads to new professional challenges when teachers facilitate group processes and call for in-depth studies of children’s own perspectives on th...
Article
Full-text available
The influx of immigrants has led to increased cultural and ethnic diversity in classrooms, presenting unique challenges for teachers who work with pupils with varying linguistic, social, and cultural backgrounds. This paper examines the impact of these challenges on the wellbeing of teachers who work with newly arrived immigrant pupils. It is argue...
Technical Report
Full-text available
https://www.helsedirektoratet.no/rapporter/kunnskapsoppsummering-om-ulikheter-i-helse-og-livskvalitet-i-norge-siden-2014--sammendrag#referere Citation: Helsedirektoratet (2023). Kunnskapsoppsummering om ulikheter i helse og livskvalitet i Norge siden 2014 – sammendrag [nettdokument]. Oslo: Helsedirektoratet (sist faglig oppdatert 01. august 2023,...
Article
Full-text available
The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of the interplay between home-living young adults in the community with a serious mental illness (SMI) and their social environment and how this experience influence their mental health and well-being in light of the theory of salutogenesis. In a qualitative study, nine young adults with SMI w...
Technical Report
Full-text available
The WHO Regional Office for Europe’s series of deep dives are part of the technical documentation supporting the WHO European Regional High-level Forum on Health in the Well-being Economy (‎1–2 March 2023)‎.Each publication in the series is developed by combining academic and grey literature with narratives from semistructured interviews conducted...
Article
Full-text available
Background Citizens with experience and knowledge about what it is like to use mental health and substance use services are increasingly employed within similar services as peer workers. Peer workers are portrayed as achieving societal obligations and help ensure that the outputs from service provision are more effective. Even though peer workers h...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose To explore how young adults with serious mental illness (SMI) experience physical activity and how these experiences influence their perceived health and well-being. Methods Nine young adults with SMI who had participated in an aerobic high-intensity interval training program were interviewed in depth. The interviews were transcribed and s...
Preprint
Full-text available
Aim: Mattering is a fundamental human experience promoting crucial components to later-life recovery processes. Today, the largest population of older adult persons with substance use problems, so far, is on a steep rise in many Western countries. To tailor and offer substance use services promoting mattering, more knowledge about later life matter...
Article
Full-text available
We are living in turbulent times. In the aftermath of Covid-19, countries and communities continue to face multiple and interwoven crises. Geopolitical instability. War on the European continent. Cost of living crisis. Political polarization. The failures of capitalism in promoting and protecting the health of people and the planet. Globalized comp...
Article
The question we address in this article comes from the tension that frequently arises from the contrast between a collaborative and a political stance in therapy: Can a therapist work coherently while being informed by both collaborative-dialogic and narrative practices? We return to the concepts of collaboration and politics, as informed by each o...
Poster
Full-text available
Protocol poster: How to matter: Promoting social inclusion and participation among young adults with complex problems in FACT teams
Article
Full-text available
Research on mental health recovery points to an interdependent relationship between experiences of meaning and experiences of recovery; meaning in everyday life promotes recovery, and recovery promotes meaning in everyday life. In this study we address the following question: What do people with mental challenges find meaningful in their everyday l...
Article
Full-text available
Whereas the behavioral and health sciences have been mainly concerned with the private good, there is an urgent need to understand and foster the collective good. Without a coherent framework for the common good, it will be extremely difficult to prevent and manage crises such as pandemics, illness, climate change, poverty, discrimination, injustic...
Technical Report
Full-text available
This report of a rapid review of inequalities in health and wellbeing in Norway since 2014 was commissioned by the Norwegian Directorate of Health to inform the development of a National Strategy to Reduce Social Inequalities in Health. It is a joint collaboration between UCL Institute of Health Equity (IHE) and WellFare: Nordic Research Centre for...
Technical Report
Full-text available
This report of a rapid review of inequalities in health and wellbeing in Norway since 2014 was commissioned by the Norwegian Directorate of Health to inform the development of a National Strategy to Reduce Social Inequalities in Health. It is a joint collaboration between UCL Institute of Health Equity (IHE) and WellFare: Nordic Research Centre for...
Article
Full-text available
Through a double interpretation of a focus group interview, the study explores how recovery-oriented professionals in a supported housing facility for people in dual recovery support the residents’ need for meaningfuless in everyday life, and how this work may also facilitate the professionals’ own need for meaningfuless. Findings suggest that prof...
Technical Report
Full-text available
The WHO Regional Office for Europe has developed deep dives for Finland, Iceland, Scotland and Wales, which have committed to and are on the road to becoming wellbeing economies. These deep dives are part of the technical documentation supporting the WHO European Regional High-Level Forum on Health in the Well-being Economy (‎1–2 March 2023)‎ and a...
Research
Full-text available
Vi må snakke mer om relasjonell velferd
Article
Full-text available
This article outlines a new supervision practice of narrative therapy‐informed reflecting team‐based relational interviewing for a high‐conflict stuck case of a separated middle‐aged couple. The article demonstrates the supervision method consisting in five parts. First, the supervisor interviews the couples' relationship while the team watches fro...
Article
Full-text available
People with lived experience of mental health challenges are extensively employed as peer workers within mental health and substance use services worldwide. Research shows that peer workers benefit individuals using such services and can have essential roles in developing recovery-oriented services. However, understanding how peer workers’ contribu...
Article
Full-text available
We are excited to introduce the first issue of the Nordic Journal of Wellbeing and Sustainable Welfare Development (NJWEL). We, the editorial board, represent different institutions, disciplines and strands of research. However, what unites us is a dedication to a common aim to support progress towards universal wellbeing and social sustainability....
Article
Full-text available
We aim to consolidate recent trends in public health into a reconceptualization of the field as public good. We build on several strands of theory, research and action to formulate a more impactful future for the field. Our argument comprises three main parts. In the first part, we describe the central components of the proposed public good: condit...
Technical Report
Full-text available
Tenk Ut Refleksjonsgrupper (TUR) er et program innen kriminalomsorgen som er utviklet av innsatte, tidligere innsatte, fengselsansatte og medlemmer av frivillige organisasjoner. Målet med refleksjonsgruppene er å skape et trygt sted hvor de innsatte kan snakke åpent og ærlig om temaer og følelser som er viktig for dem, temaer som ofte er skambelagt...
Article
Full-text available
Studenter som utdanner seg til familieterapeuter, skal tilegne seg kunnskap om aktuelle teorier og metodiske tilnærminger. De skal tilegne seg ferdigheter og utvikle et reflektert forhold til egne verdier og holdninger og hvilken betydning dette har i arbeid med mennesker. Veiledning av familieterapistudentenes kliniske arbeid i utdanningen er en v...
Article
Full-text available
Background A recent policy change dictates that all mental healthcare in Norway must be referred and documented in the medical record of the service users. This has not been the case within low threshold mental health services, which is services without referrals, social arenas where healthcare professionals are available and where service users th...
Article
Full-text available
In this article, we introduce volume two of our themed issue on co-creation and co-production and discuss various basic assumptions related to collaborative research. In collaborative studies in general, dialogue is often highlighted as an important process element with important implications for empowerment for those involved. However, the underly...
Article
Full-text available
Applying the multiple psychological sense of community concept (MPSOC), this study explored how emerging adults with substance use problems experience the influences of various senses of community and communities on their personal recovery processes. Semi-structured interviews with 21 emerging adults from different urban contexts in Norway were ana...
Chapter
Well-being is of vital importance for individuals as well as society at large. UNs Sustainability Goal #17, ‘Partnership for the Goals', support co-creation and co-production as necessary approaches to reach public values such as citizenship, social justice, and well-being. However, co-creation and co-production is not enough. It is necessary to ad...
Article
Full-text available
Background Although a growing number of studies indicates a high prevalence of reported mental health problems in students and that the problems are growing in number and severity, less is known about the experiences of students facing mental health problems and personnel who interact with students that seek help for these problems. The aim of this...
Article
Full-text available
Over the past decade, co-production and co-creation have become central buzzwords throughout society. The terms engender a fundamental participatory ethos, entailing an increasing involvement in decision-making processes of a variety of people across diverse contexts, who should be given a voice in a wide range of practices to a higher degree than...
Article
Full-text available
Aims: Contemporary approaches to pursuing public value and the vision of health and wellbeing for all have evolved notably in the past few decades, with distinct approaches termed 'co-creation' and 'health promotion' gaining traction. This article explores a critique of ongoing paradigmatic shifts in public health and the public sector, focusing o...
Article
Full-text available
This article explores the possibilities of a systemic approach in the support of parents whose children are placed in public care. The article is based on a qualitative study interviewing six parents who have received support from Norwegian Family Counselling Services (FCS) and seven systemic family therapists from FCS. Both groups were interviewed...
Book
https://issuu.com/fagbokforlaget/docs/aksjonsforskning_9788245032635_?fr=sZjNhNjQwODUyMzk
Book
This book is focused on relational processes in supervision for counselling and psychotherapy. The aim is first to introduce a relational theoretical stance, then to apply that stance to the process of supervision, and finally to offer practitioners immediately accessible resources for relational supervision. Within a relational perspective, superv...
Article
Full-text available
Recovery, a prominent concern in mental health care worldwide, has been variously defined , requiring further clarification of the term as processual. Few studies have comprehensively addressed the nature of recovery processes. This study aims to explore the nature and characteristics of experiences of recovery as processual. The method used is a f...
Article
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This article contributes methodological reflections on how dialogical and reflective approaches can enhance many voices in research. An epistemological assumption in research with a participatory design is that knowledge can be developed by collaborative processes between researchers and individuals with lived experiences. The study was conducted b...
Article
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(1) Background: The challenge of immigrants and their integration into adopted countries is a key topic for the global field of social work. However, there is a paucity of research on immigrants’ lived experiences in gaining access to the labour market. Thus, this study examines how immigrants in Norway experience integration while in the process o...
Article
Full-text available
Worldwide, there is a growing interest to employ people with lived experiences in health and social services. Particularly in mental health and addiction services, individuals with lived experience of mental health problems enter the workplace as peer support workers (PSW´s). Their aim in the services is to bring in the perspective of service users...
Article
Full-text available
This qualitative study aims to explore how noncohabiting parenting couples in prolonged conflict construct the other parent and themselves. Ten parents from five parent couples were interviewed. A dyadic analytical design was used, where parent's stories of conflict were analyzed in parallel with their co‐parent. Drawing on positioning theory, self...
Chapter
Full-text available
Well-being is of vital importance for individuals as well as society at large. UNs Sustainability Goal #17, ‘Partnership for the Goals', support co-creation and co-production as necessary approaches to reach public values such as citizenship, social justice, and well-being. However, co-creation and co-production is not enough. It is necessary to ad...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore experiences with daily challenges and the development of salutogenic copings skills among young adults with serious mental illness. Methods Nine young adults with serious mental illness were interviewed. The interviews were transcribed and subjected to reflexive thematic analysis. Results Two main t...
Article
Full-text available
Background: Staff-directed aggression and violence may have harmful implications for all parts of a mental health service organisation. In an effort to advance the development of competent practice in community mental health and substance abuse services in Oslo, the municipality has offered various courses in the prevention and management of staff-...
Article
https://www.midtnorskdebatt.no/meninger/kronikker/2020/11/02/Hva-tenker-du-om-Harald-Eias-syn-p%C3%A5-Norge-Vi-mener-han-har-helt-rett-22917854.ece?fbclid=IwAR23IUv3qfCsPYUvQOuU4DyYoMQ5i91M6C6uWGRZ9BqMx22AOck69Af2-Nw
Article
https://www.tronderdebatt.no/nar-psykisk-helse-settes-pa-dagsorden/o/5-122-8657?fbclid=IwAR0ZR_q-hktHux-SgTgQ3NXBo0yi56D-MGioXTTXKiEMzcfOhCWYg7mbUDI