Health Care Utilization among Young Adults in Primary and Emergency Health Care : The Need for Support, the Capacity to Support, and the Communication in between

Abstract

With a bachelor degree in public health from the University of Halmstad, my background is more within behavioural than medical science. Doing my two-year master's degree at the Medical Faculty at Linköping University had me approaching health care settings and gaining a more in-depth medical understanding. During that time, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, registered nurses, speech therapists, and public health scientists integrated and worked together in different health care setting scenarios. The possibility to study with other professions added many new insights and made me realize the need for public health within health care organizations. From a public health perspective, a salutogenic approach to the patient was often put aside for a more pathogenic approach. I experienced patient autonomy, self-worth, and empowerment sometimes being put aside to prioritize diagnosis, sickness, and their possible effects on the body. Initially, I doubted myself and thought of my public health education as a possible weakness, fearing being questioned due to having scarce knowledge about health care. I lacked specific insights and preconceptions about health care and working directly with patients. But as time went on, I came to realize that my background could and should be considered as adding perspective to research in health care settings, contributing with salutogenic and preventive approaches.Lastly, readers should be reminded that this thesis was initiated before online doctors became widespread in Sweden. When I carried out the first interviews with young adults, several of them had not heard about the possibility of visiting doctors online. That is also one of the reasons why online doctors were not explicitly included in this thesis, though they are implicitly represented in the fourth and last study when analysing health care information online. Contents