The Health Sciences Department at IMC Krems carries out research into therapeutic and nursing care. There is also an emphasis on testing and developing treatment measures for patients.

Interdisciplinary collaboration generates new findings

Research in the Department of Health Sciences may look at interventions systematically developed by the department itself, or alternatively the focus is on systematic testing of existing interventions. Measuring the outcomes is an important part of the implementation and evaluation process.

The department carries out interdisciplinary research projects, with an emphasis on possible practical applications. The projects concentrate on topics such as health promotion, prevention and rehabilitation, as well as the entire human life cycle – from birth right through to professional care in old age. Chronic conditions are another focus area.

Our research centres on the distinct perspectives and needs of all those affected – be it clients and their relatives or the various health experts involved. Another priority is finding ways to involve patients and doctors in evaluations.

The aim is to bring practice and research closer together.

Our department consists of the following institutes:

• Institute Nursing Science
• Institute Therapeutic and Midwifery Sciences

Research focus areas

Personalisation

The team at IMC Krems deals with the concretisation of the concept of personalisation in health science contexts with the aim of adapting interventions and nursing to individual patient needs. This involves clarifying the question of which non-pharmacological interventions (therapeutic and nursing actions) patients are receptive to, when, how often and for how long.

The focus is also on researching and characterising dialogue structures that are indicative of progress and change in the course of therapy or the nursing process. Another goal is the development of valid measurement methods and targeted training for empathy in the field of health care professions.

Contact person: Gerhard Tucek

Health and digitalisation

The development of new health technologies and the testing of the applicability of existing technologies and their effect on human health are an essential basis for the future. This research field not only aims at creating evidence-based digital solutions, but also deals intensively with the analysis of opportunities, risks and ethical issues.

Contact person: Markus Golla

Outcome and implementation research

The research field of developing, testing and evaluating new therapeutic and nursing interventions with the aim of improving clinical practice (outcome research) serves to further develop research findings. The investigation of supporting and hindering factors in the development, testing and evaluation of new interventions aims to facilitate the sustainable integration of the results into clinical practice (implementation research).

Contact person: Gerhard Tucek

Demographic change

The research of therapy and nursing science interventions for the constructive design of phenomena of demographic change, such as changed lifestyles, increase in alternative lifestyles, late motherhood as well as age-related diseases of the musculoskeletal system, dementia, etc., are the basis of therapeutic and nursing activities in today’s society. The needs of the different generations are in constant change, to which therapy and nursing science are adapting in an evidence-based manner.

Contact person: Markus Golla

Health promotion and prevention

The research focus “health promotion and prevention” deals with the development and impact of preventive and health-promoting measures at all levels of health, whereby particular importance is attached to building health literacy, children and adolescents growing up healthy and the promotion of psychosocial health, and application-oriented research takes place in different settings.

This includes:

• Development and evaluation of preventive and health-promoting interventions for children and adolescents in the school setting
• Development and evaluation of preventive and health-promoting interventions for women in the reproductive phase and families, with special attention to diverse gender and family constellations
• Development of violence prevention tools for the therapeutic context
• Research on measures to promote personal health competence and create health-competent organisations and social settings
• Research of the therapeutic effect of healing and spa forests and the development of interventions in nature-based settings 

Contact person: Gerhard Tucek