Photo of Åsa Ernersson

Åsa Ernersson

Associate Professor, Head of Unit

When I worked as a nurse, patient training was fundamental to promoting self-care among those with chronic disease. As a lecturer for the Nursing programme, I am vitally concerned with the student's road to becoming a professional.

Research on lifestyle, health, patient training and self-care

Overweight and obesity have become even greater public health issues in recent decades. The primary contributing factors have been lifestyle changes. 

The aim of the thesis was to explore the impact of health and wellbeing when healthy people of normal weight substantially increase their caloric intake and reduce their physical activity for a short period of time. For four weeks, 6 women and 12 men consumed an average of 70% more calories and took no more than 5,000 steps per day.

The findings showed a similar impact as among people who are already overweight or obese. Preventive information about healthy diet and regular physical activity is essential to minimising the risk of overweight and poorer quality of life and wellbeing, including symptoms of depression, in individuals of normal weight.

After obtaining my PhD, my research has focused on patient training and care of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Teaching about diabetes and nursing

I teach and lecture on the subject of diabetes and nursing for semester 3 of the Nursing programme, as well as freestanding courses on diabetes and care, while supervising and examining students who write degree papers.

I am course coordinator for semester 3 of the Nursing programme and examiner for a freestanding course entitled Diabetes and Care II.

Higher education degrees

Higher education degrees

  • Nursing degree/Bachelor of Nursing, 2001
  • Doctor of Medicine, 2010

 

Publications

2023

Åsa Ernersson, Esther Mufunda, Katarina Hjelm (2023) Audit of essential knowledge of diabetes in patients with diabetes in Zimbabwe Pan African Medical Journal, Vol. 45 Continue to DOI