Erla Kolbrún Svavarsdóttir (born 30 April 1961) is a

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

in the School of Health Sciences within the Faculty of Nursing at the

University of Iceland The University of Iceland ( ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland, and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' school to a modern co ...

and Director of the family nursing section in a connected position at

Landspítali The Landspítali – The National University Hospital of Iceland () offers a wide range of clinical services in outpatient clinics, day patient units, inpatient wards, clinical laboratories and other divisions. Landspítalinn also operates the psy ...

University Hospital. Erla Kolbrún has for decades placed an emphasis on development of teaching in family

nursing Nursing is a health care profession that "integrates the art and science of caring and focuses on the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and human functioning; prevention of illness and injury; facilitation of healing; and alle ...

, in addition to developing and testing measuring instruments and therapeutic research in the field of family nursing and researching violence in intimate relationships and adaptation of individuals and family members to acute or long-term physical and mental illnesses/disorders.

Professional career

Erla Kolbrún completed a BSN degree from the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Iceland in 1987, Education Studies from the University of Iceland in 1988, Master's degree in Nursing (Clinical Nurse Specialist in Parent-Child Nursing) from the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

in the

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in 1993, and a Doctoral degree in Nursing from the same university in 1997. The PhD thesis of Erla Kolbrún, Family Adaptation for Families of an Infant or a Young Child with Asthma, covered the adaptation and ways of adaptation of young families with children who have asthma. Erla Kolbrún has attended to general nursing duties in the division of women's health and division of psychiatry at Landspítali University Hospital. In 1997, Erla Kolbrún was hired to the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Iceland and worked full-time in the Faculty as Assistant Professor until 2000 when she was promoted to the position of Associate Professor. In 2006, she was appointed Professor at the same university. Alongside her work as Professor, Erla Kolbrún is Director of the family nursing section at Landspítali University Hospital.

Research

Erla Kolbrún has worked on developing and testing results from strengths-oriented therapeutic conversations for individuals and their families who have various disease diagnoses and/or disorders. Together with her fellow researchers at Landspítali University Hospital, she has, for example, researched families of children and adolescents with serious physical and mental diseases/disorders, such as families dealing with

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

asthma Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wh ...

ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and emotional dysregulation that are excessive and pervasive, impairing in multiple ...

eating disorders An eating disorder is a mental disorder defined by abnormal eating behaviors that adversely affect a person's health, physical or mental health, mental health. These behaviors may include eating too much food or too little food. Types of eatin ...

arthritis Arthritis is a general medical term used to describe a disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, Joint effusion, swelling, and decreased range of motion of ...

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of Non-communicable disease, non-communicable Neurological disorder, neurological disorders characterized by a tendency for recurrent, unprovoked Seizure, seizures. A seizure is a sudden burst of abnormal electrical activit ...

kidney diseases Kidney disease, or renal disease, technically referred to as nephropathy, is damage to or disease of a kidney. Nephritis is an inflammatory kidney disease and has several types according to the location of the inflammation. Inflammation can ...

liver disease Liver disease, or hepatic disease, is any of many diseases of the liver. If long-lasting it is termed chronic liver disease. Although the diseases differ in detail, liver diseases often have features in common. Liver diseases File:Ground gla ...

. From 1997, Erla Kolbrún has, both in Iceland and the United States, researched persistence,

resilience Resilience, resilient, or resiliency may refer to: Science Ecology * Ecological resilience, the capacity of an ecosystem to recover from perturbations ** Climate resilience, the ability of systems to recover from climate change ** Soil resilien ...

coping Coping refers to conscious or unconscious strategies used to reduce and manage unpleasant emotions. Coping strategies can be cognitions or behaviors and can be individual or social. To cope is to deal with struggles and difficulties in life. It ...

, health-related quality of life, well-being and adaptation of Icelandic and foreign families when one family member has a long-term illness. Results from more than two decades of research by Erla Kolbrún and her fellow researchers led to the development of strengths-oriented therapeutic conversations for individuals dealing with various illnesses/health problems and their families. The therapeutic conversations are based on the ideology of family nursing and four new questionnaires have also been developed to assess the results of strengths-oriented therapeutic conversations in clinical settings. The benefit of her research has led to increased emphasis on the importance of family nursing within the health service both in Iceland and abroad. Erla Kolbrún has also researched family-based services among nurses and midwives, and its interplay with

job satisfaction Job satisfaction, employee satisfaction or work satisfaction is a measure of workers' contentment with their job, whether they like the job or individual aspects or facets of jobs, such as nature of work or supervision. Job satisfaction can be me ...

and with skills and competences in family nursing. In addition, she has for many years organised a national survey and clinical research projects concerning violence in intimate partner relationships among female university students, women in high-risk prenatal units and among women in the accident and emergency unit of Landspítali University Hospital. Erla Kolbrún has mentored numerous Master's and Doctoral students at the University of Iceland and has been involved in mentoring of Doctoral students at foreign universities. In addition, she has engaged in active research collaboration with nursing specialists and midwives at Landspítali University Hospital, with nurses and midwives within the Primary Health Care of the Capital Area and with nurses at

Akureyri Akureyri (, ) is a town in northern Iceland, the country's fifth most populous Municipalities of Iceland, municipality (under the official name of Akureyrarbær , 'town of Akureyri') and the largest outside the Capital Region (Iceland), Capital R ...

Hospital (SAk). She has furthermore participated in international research collaboration with researchers in the United States ( University of Minnesota School of Nursing,

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

and University of Kentucky-Lexington), and with researchers in the Nordic countries and Europe (FAME-RN research group), that is, at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; , abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen, Netherlands. Founded in 1614, th ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, University of Pamplona in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

University of Turku The University of Turku (, shortened ''UTU'') is a multidisciplinary public university with eight faculties located in the city of Turku in southwestern Finland. The university also has campuses in Rauma and Pori and research stations in Kevo ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

and the

University of Southern Denmark The University of Southern Denmark (, SDU) has campuses located in Southern Denmark and on Zealand. It offers a number of joint programmes in co-operation with the University of Flensburg and the University of Kiel. Contacts with regional indu ...

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

and

Aarhus University Aarhus University (, abbreviated AU) is a public research university. Its main campus is located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Group, the Guild, and Ut ...

Various tasks and recognitions

Erla Kolbrún has held various commissions of trust for the Faculty of Nursing and School of Health Sciences at the University of Iceland. She, for example, served as Head of the Faculty of Nursing during the period 2003–2007 and has furthermore had a seat on the doctoral studies committee and science committee of the School of Health Sciences and in the Faculty Council and research-based study committee of the Faculty of Nursing. In addition, she has participated in developing postgraduate study programmes in the Faculty, was Chair of the curriculum committee of BS studies in the Faculty, and had a seat on the board of the Research Institute of Nursing where she also served as Chair during 2008–2010. Erla Kolbrún is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Family Nursing and the Editorial Board of the Nordic Journal of Nursing Research. Erla Kolbrún was awarded the Honorary Scientist Award at Landspítali University Hospital in 2014. She was accepted into the

American Academy of Nursing The American Academy of Nursing (AAN) is a professional organization that generates, synthesizes, and disseminates nursing knowledge to contribute to health policy and practice for the benefit of the public and the nursing profession. Founded in ...

in 2015 and has been a member of the International Family Nursing Association from 2009.International Family Nursing Association
Dr. Erla Kolbrún Svavarsdottir: Honorary Scientist Award 2014, Landspitali University Hospital, Iceland
Retrieved April 14, 2020.

Main written works

Articles

*Svavarsdottir. E. K., & Gisladottir, M. (2019).
How Do Family Strengths-Oriented Therapeutic Conversations (FAM-SOTC) Advance Psychiatric Nursing Practice?
- Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 512, 214–224. *Svavarsdottir, E. K., & Tryggvadottir, G. B. (2019).
Predictors of quality of life for families of children and adolescents with severe physical illnesses who are receiving hospital-based care
Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 33, 698–705. *Svavarsdottir, E. K., Gisladottir, M., & Tryggvadottir, B. (2019).
Perception on family support and predictors' of satisfaction with the healthcare service among families of children and adolescents with serious mental illnesses who are in active psychiatric treatment
Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, vol. 32(1), p. 6-15. *Svavarsdottir, E. K., Sigurdardottir, A. O., Konradsdottir, E., & Tryggvadottir, G. B. (2018).
The impact of nursing education and job characteristics on nurse's perceptions of their family nursing practice skills
Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, vol. 32(4), p 1297–1307. *Svavarsdottir, E. K., Looman W., Tryggvadottir, G. B., & Garwick, A.
Psychometric testing of the Iceland Health Care practitioner Illness Beliefs Questionnaire among School Nurses
(2018). Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 32(1), 261–269. *Svavarsdottir, E. K., Sigurdardottir, A O., Konradsdottir, E., Stefansdottir, A., Sveinbjarnardottir E. K., Ketilsdottir, A., Blondal, B., Jonsdottir, A. Bergs, D. & Gudmundsdottir H. (2015).
The Process of Translating Family Nursing Knowledge into Clinical Practice
, Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 47(1), 5-15. *Svavarsdottir, E. K., & Orlygsdottir, B. (2015). Can abuse disclosure function as a protective factor for women who are victims of Intimate Partner Violence in current marital/partner relationships? Journal of Forensic Nursing, April–June, 11, 2, 84–92. *Svavarsdottir, E. K., Orlygsdottir, B., & Gudmundsdottir, B. (2014).
Reaching out to Women who are Victims of Intimate Partner Violence
Perspective in Psychiatry Care, 51(3).

Books

*Erla Kolbrún Svavarsdottir og Helga Jonsdottir. (2011). Family Nursing in Action. Erla Kolbrún Svavarsdóttir and Helga Jónsdóttir, Ritstjórar (eds.). University of Iceland Press, University of Iceland, Reykjavik (406 pages). *Erla Kolbrún Svavarsdottir. (2010). Ofbeldi margbreytileg birtingarmynd. Erla Kolbrun Svavarsdottir, ritstjóri (ed.). Háskólaútgáfan, (185 pages).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Svavarsdóttir, Erla Kolbrún 1961 births Living people Erla Kolbrún Svavarsdóttir University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Nursing alumni Erla Kolbrún Svavarsdóttir