Projects
Examples of research projects of the chair group Care Ethics:
How can we ensure a caring policy, also in crisis situations?
The University of Humanistic Studies is developing a care-ethical policy framework to ensure a more caring and inclusive response to future (health) crises.
iLIVE project: large international research project into end-of-life care
The University of Humanistic Studies is participating in a European project dedicated to developing knowledge about end-of-life care. The research is conducted by a consortium of research teams from 10 countries.
INZICHT: existential questions in palliative care
For people in the palliative phase, person-centred care by care professionals is important. This project concentrates on the communication between patients, relatives and caregivers. A tool is developed to help make patients’ experiences more visible and easier to discuss.
DIAMAND: improving the dialogue model in the palliative phase
The study seeks to bring together patients, relatives and carers in a dialogue on what is valuable, what are sources of support and strength, and which choices suit the palliative phase.
HOPEVOL: Fitting hospice care
This study investigates what (the quality of) hospice care should be like in the opinion of the care receivers. The goal of the analysis is to make the invisible visible and discussable, as the basis for selecting quality criteria for hospice care.
Project WAVE: difficult-to-understand behaviour among people with an intellectual disability
Our goal is to seek new answers to the question what hard-to-understand behaviour means and what this demands of adequate care.
DALT project: guideline for euthanasia in cases of advanced dementia
This research project focuses on euthanasia for people suffering dementia, based on a written euthanasia declaration. This study should result in a practical guideline for medical doctors.
Integrating chaplaincy in primary healthcare in 3 multidisciplinary practices
Many patients visit their General Practitioners with complaints and problems that would actually best be served through a meaningful conversation. But how can a GP determine whether to conduct this conversation personally, or to refer the patient to another care provider?
A responsive municipal government
A PhD study by Pascal Collard into municipal policy makers’ experiences with innovative interactive policy making using responsive approach methods.
MS and uncertainty: developing a tool
A tool could help MS patients and their caregivers with the use of medication. This tool should help recognise and acknowledge uncertainty.
Memento mori revisited: unravelling the role of choice regarding death and dying in old age
People increasingly wish to have some control over the time and the manner of their dying. This implies various complex choices. This research analyses how our relationship to death is changing and how this is impacting our life, old age, and the manner of our dying.
Research into respectful maternity care
Researchers of the Care Ethics chair group are investigating how care ethics can contribute to respectful maternity care on the part of obstetricians.
Family participation in dementia care
This empirical-ethical study examines how relatives experience participation in nursing home care, to what extent they feel moral pressure, and how this pressure can be avoided.
International research into 'social imaginaries'
The ‘Grand Narratives’ have lost their credibility, yet the relationship between religion and secular society once again tops the agenda. How do people picture the meaning of their life in a globalised world?
Therapy adherence among MS patients
The researchers apply a care-ethical approach to gain a better understanding of the existential and relational aspects in the lives of people with the chronic disease MS, and how these aspects affect therapy adherence.
Bodily awareness of people with MS
People living with MS must learn to cope with a body that steadily develops more severe complaints. How do they do that?
Perspectives on elderly people’s wish to die without being severely ill (completed)
The University of Humanistic Studies and the Julius Centrum of the UMCU jointly performed research in 2019 into elderly people’s wish to die without being severely ill, as part of the debate on a ‘completed life’.
Dignified care for people with multiple health conditions (completed)
This research project elaborates human dignity in the domain of public health care. The project is a collaborative venture with the City of Utrecht.
A good dialogue on the subject of care (completed)
There is a need to better understand the perspectives and experiences of clients, care professionals, informal caregivers and volunteer with respect to care in the elderly care sector. How should we picture ‘a good dialogue’ on the subject of care, and how to facilitate this dialogue?
How do young people with a mild intellectual disability experience life in their neighbourhood? (completed)
This project examines how youngsters and young adults with a mild intellectual disability experience their life in a residential neighbourhood.