Petra Suonnansalo

I belong to the Adherence research group, which conducts multidisciplinary and international research on the effects of various interventions on treatment adherence. In my dissertation research, I'm focusing on the lifestyle counselling competence of healthcare professionals. I am also a member of the DigiImpact research group, which develops and evaluates new methodologies and assesses the factors that influence the impact of digital health in acute and critical care. My research interests include lifestyle counselling, digital counselling, the development of healthcare professionals' competence, wellbeing, and health differences, as well as the comprehensive (physical, psychological, spiritual, and social) wellbeing of individuals.

In the Interreg-funded Tech2Heal project (2025-2027), we aim to gain a better understanding of the reasons behind both absenteeism and early retirement driven by poor well-being.

In the "Employment and competence pathways in the Wellbeing Services County of North Ostrobothnia (Pohde)" project, we aim to create new and innovative forms of work. Individually tailored employment and skills development pathways, along with a mentoring program, support unemployed job seekers, immigrants, and people with partial work ability.

In 2022-2023, I worked on the Sote-digiohjaaja project (ESF), which aimed to develop and pilot an education model to support the digital counselling competence of social and healthcare professionals in the Wellbeing Services County of North Ostrobothnia.