About
Tonje Gundersen is a researcher at NOVA, Section for Research on Childhood, Family and Child Welfare. She holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Oslo (2012). Her dissertation was about the challenges parents of children with rare diagnoses may face and their coping strategies. Her fields of research are disability, child welfare services and family, user experiences and welfare state services. Her research portfolio ranges from evaluations of crisis centres, Barnahus and various government grant schemes to research on young people who have experience from child welfare services and people with disabilities experience of violence. From 2020 to 2024 she has been involved in a research programme on family counselling and led a project about youth with substance abuse challenges in residential care and alternative arrangements for your unable to live in ordinary residential care settings. She has extensive project management experience and was for four years (2013-2017) head of the section for Research on Childhood, Family and Child welfare.
Fields of study
Academic disciplines
Subject areas
Violence Child care Disability Parenthood Human service organization
Administrative field of work
Contract work Personell administration Project management Research communication Research strategy Research collaboration Research quality Competence development
Research projects
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Against All Odds?
Why do some care leavers end up doing well as young adults, against all odds? What does "doing well" mean to young women and men, with majority backgrounds? These are questions we seek to investigate in this project.
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Child Welfare Institutions for Young People with Drug Addiction and Separate Institutions for One Single Young Person
The project investigate the child welfare institutions for young people with drug addiction and separate institutions for one single young person.
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Consequences of the Pandemic for Living Conditions and Equality
In this project we will investigate the consequences of the pandemic for living conditions for children and young people, equality in families and for individuals, including children and adults with disabilities.
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Evaluation of Norwegian Barnahus
This project is a national evaluation of the Norwegian Barnahus model.
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Family Counselling: Equal Services for a Diverse Population?
The researchers investigate what it implies for the family services to provide equal services in different local contexts, and what kind of challenges the services experience when trying to provide equal services.
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The Pilot Project (Los-prosjektet) – an evaluation of state subsidies to municipalities targeting young people at risk of dropping out of school.
This evaluation will investigate how municipalities who have been granted subsidies to establish the Pilot Project in their community have organized the project.
Publications and research
Scientific publications
Gundersen, Tonje
; Tveito, Siri Berg
(2022).
Barnevernets oppfølging av fosterforeldrenes egne barn.
Tidsskriftet Norges Barnevern.
Vol. 99.
https://doi.org/10.18261/tnb.99.2-3.3
Gundersen, Tonje
(2021).
Embedded in relations—Interactions as a source of agency and life opportunities for care-experienced young adults.
Children & society.
https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12434
Gundersen, Tonje
;
Jessen, Jorunn Theresia
(2020).
Fosterforeldres egne barn: Hvordan synes de det er å ha fostersøsken?.
Tidsskriftet Norges Barnevern.
Vol. 97.
https://doi.org/10.18261/ISSN.1891-1838-2020-03-04
Bakketeig, Elisiv
; Boddy, Janet;
Gundersen, Tonje
; Fidelma, Hanrahan; Østergaard, Jeanette
(2020).
Deconstructing doing well; what can we learn from care experienced young people in England, Denmark and Norway?.
Children and Youth Services Review.
Vol. 118.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105333
Gundersen, Tonje
; Vislie, Camilla Cecilie
(2019).
Voldsutsatte med funksjonsnedsettelser - individuelle og strukturelle barrierer mot å søke hjelp.
Skjørten, Kristin; Bakketeig, Elisiv; Bjørnholt, Margunn; Mossige, Svein (Ed.).
Vold i nære relasjoner: Forståelser, konsekvenser og tiltak. p. 159-177.
Universitetsforlaget.
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.18261/978821503
Neumann, Cecilie Elisabeth Basberg
;
Gundersen, Tonje
(2018).
Care parading as service: Negotiating recognition and equality in user-controlled personal assistance.
Gender, Work & Organization.
https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12297
Neumann, Cecilie Elisabeth Basberg ; Gundersen, Tonje (2016). Personlig assistanse - omsorg eller service?. Neumann, Cecilie Elisabeth Basberg; Olsvold, Nina; Thagaard, Tove (Ed.). Omsorgsarbeidets sosiologi. p. 131-160. Fagbokforlaget.
Kynø, Nina Margrethe
; Ravn, Ingrid Helen; Lindemann, Rolf; Smeby, Nina Aarhus; Torgersen, Anne M;
Gundersen, Tonje
(2013).
Parents of preterm-born children; sources of stress and worry and experiences with an early intervention programme - a qualitative study.
BMC Nursing.
https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6955-12-28
Gundersen, Tonje
(2012).
Human Dignity at Stake - how parents of disabled children experience the welfare system.
Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research.
Vol. 14.
https://doi.org/10.1080/15017419.2011.592955
Gundersen, Tonje
(2011).
'One wants to know what a chromosome is': the internet as a coping resource when adjusting to life parenting a child with a rare genetic disorder.
15 p.
Sociology of Health and Illness.
Vol. 33.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2010.01277.x
