Elisabet Sernbo

Biographic Data

ID4422085
NAMEElisabet Sernbo
GIVEN NAMESElisabet
FAMILY NAMESernbo
SIGNATURESERNBO E
AFFILIATIONSUniversity of Gothenburg
ORCID0000-0003-2765-3856
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS10
TOTAL CITATIONS1
AUTHOR COUNT10
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR2021
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX1

  • Using theory – To predict outcomes, describe, analyse or interpret? A framework for analysing the use of theories

    Open AccessElisabet Sernbo, Veronica Svärd et al.ARTICLEQualitative Social Work2026

    This article directs attention to theory in academic writing. The empirical material analysed consists of 52 Swedish doctoral dissertations on social work in healthcare, published between 2008 and 2019. The aim of the study is to describe and suggest a framework for analysing the use of theories in research work. The results suggest that the field is characterised by an intersection of sciences, mirrored by two overarching ways of understanding t…

  • Health social worker discourses on research knowledge utilisation – ideal in theory, distance in practice

    Open AccessDaniel Stahl, Elisabet SernboARTICLEJournal of Social Work Practice2026

    This study analyses responses to an open-ended survey question and directs attention to discourse around research knowledge utilisation in health social work (HSW) in Sweden. The central finding is the projection of three subject positions: a research-oriented HSW, a research-distanced HSW and a patient-centred HSW. A research-oriented HSW is analysed as an ideal that is not realised. By analysing depictions of actions not being taken to increase…

  • Finish line or starting shot? – analyzing the introduction of a professional license and Master’s in Healthcare Counseling programs in Sweden

    Open AccessElisabet Sernbo, Katarina HjortgrenARTICLESocial Work Education2026

    This article focuses on the current professionalization process of health social work in Sweden, where the professional group—the first among social workers—has been granted a license requiring a specialist master’s degree. The aim of this article is to analyze the experienced and expected effects of these changes. The empirical material consists of focus groups of health social workers who act as supervisors for students, as well as individual i…

  • Demystifying dying in end-of-life-care

    Open AccessElisabet Sernbo, Magnus Weber et al.ARTICLEDeath Studies2025References: 3

  • Knowledge production in health social work

    Open AccessVeronica Svärd, Elisabet Sernbo et al.ARTICLESocial Work Education2025References: 32

    Health social work is often described as a blurred profession, as a work area based on an interdisciplinary field of science with an unclear knowledge foundation of its own. This study describes and analyses the knowledge production in Swedish doctoral dissertations in health social work, authored by social workers, from 2008 to 2019, and focuses on the differences between dissertations published by faculties of health and those in the social sci…

  • Defining the health social worker role and function—Struggling between discretion and standardization

    Open AccessDaniel Stahl, Elisabet Sernbo et al.ARTICLEThe British Journal of Social Work2025References: 33

    This study investigated a project initiated at a Swedish hospital, striving to formalize the work of health social workers (HSWs). Focus is directed at the relation between standardization and discretion, and the aim of the study was to analyse the reflections and experiences the project raised among the HSWs and the manager. Six focus groups were conducted, and the empirical material was thematically analysed. The results suggest that the HSW ro…

  • Knowing what to know? Health social workers and the values of epistemic resources

    Open AccessElisabet Sernbo, Karin Törnbom et al.ARTICLEEuropean Journal of Social Work2025References: 5

  • Developing international virtual student exchange to enhance theory-practice transfer

    Open AccessElisabet Sernbo, Manuela Sjöström et al.ARTICLESocial Work Education2024

    The aim of this article is to describe our experiences designing a short-term virtual student exchange between Germany and Sweden and to discuss the implications of these experiences. Quantitative and qualitative material from three semesters of student evaluations relating to a course on the global aspects of social work and health in times of crisis is analyzed. The course focused on theory-practice transfer, ethnographic methods, and global ci…

  • Health social work with migrants

    Open AccessVeronica Svärd, Elisabet SernboARTICLEInternational Social Work2022Cited by: 1References: 3

    In 2016–2017, a large Swedish hospital introduced a mobile team of asylum social workers to work with asylum-seeking and undocumented patients. Based on interviews with the asylum social workers and the theoretical concepts of jurisdiction and professional discretion, this study explores how they experienced their work and developed their specialist competence and strategies for health social work with migrants. The findings show that they not on…

  • Conducting In-Depth Interviews via Mobile Phone with Persons with Common Mental Disorders and Multimorbidity

    Open AccessAshraful Azad, Azade Azad et al.ARTICLEInternational Journal of…2021

    Qualitative interviews are generally conducted in person. As the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) prevents in-person interviews, methodological studies which investigate the use of the telephone for persons with different illness experiences are needed. The aim was to explore experiences of the use of telephone during semi-structured research interviews, from the perspective of participants and researchers. Data were collected from mobile phone in…