Eva-Grethe Befus

Eva-Grethe Befus is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Health and Nursing Sciences at the University of Agder (UiA). She is also a doctoral fellow working on mental health and quality of life in children and adolescents as part of the Godt Begynt (Starting Right) research project. Her clinical background includes 25 years of nursing experience in pediatric settings such as Sørlandet Hospital Kristiansand, specializing in oncology, diabetes care, and child maltreatment cases. She holds a Master's degree in Pediatric Nursing (2016) and has worked 25% as a clinician at the Children's Ward since 2020 while pursuing her PhD.

Her research focuses on sociodemographic influences on child health, youth healthcare utilization patterns, and validation of quality-of-life assessment tools. She collaborates with research groups HEIFA (Health and Quality of Life in a Family Perspective) and Q-safe (Patient Safety and Quality in Hospitals). Key publications (2023-2024) analyze associations between socioeconomic status, healthcare access, and mental health outcomes in pediatric populations. Upcoming work includes a 2025 monograph on child quality-of-life metrics in Norway's Agder region.