Asta B. Petursdottir, PhD, RN, focuses on the nursing of families experiencing specialized palliative and end-of-life care. Her primary interest is in developing and implementing family support interventions for families dealing with advanced cancer who are receiving palliative and end-of-life care. She earned her PhD from the University of Iceland in 2020 and the focus of her doctoral research was “Family Nursing Strengths-Oriented Supportive Interventions in Specialized Palliative Home Care Settings”. She teaches family nursing part-time at the University of Iceland, Faculty of Nursing Health Care Science, in the bachelor of nursing program lead by Dr. Erla Kolbrún Svavarsdottir.
She will be conducting a longitudinal study at Landspitali the National University Hospital of Iceland with Dr. Erla Kolbrún Svavarsdottir and Dr. Anna Olafía Sigurdardottir, both well-known Family Systems Nursing experts in Iceland. The study aims at generating knowledge about cancer patients and their partners’ experience of coping with a serious illness and what effect it may have over time on the family´s daily life and their emotional well-being.
Currently, she is also conducting a bereavement study that aims to better understand the effectiveness of participation in bereavement support groups on mental well-being and responses to loss.
For more information, contact IFNA member, Asta B. Petursdottir.