Grete Mehus

Grete Mehus is Professor of Health Sciences at UiT The Arctic University of Norway's Institute of Health and Care Sciences (IHO) in Hammerfest, where she serves as Research Group Leader for Rural and Remote Nursing and Healthcare. Her work integrates academic research with practical nursing to address healthcare disparities in Northern Norway's remote regions, with particular focus on Sámi populations and rural communities.

Her research centers on culturally safe healthcare practices, examining challenges in health, living conditions, and quality of life for Northern Norway's residents—especially Finnmark's population and Sámi patients' healthcare experiences. Key areas include Sámi nursing, indigenous nursing education, and rural healthcare delivery, utilizing qualitative methods to explore cultural safety, language barriers, and traditional knowledge integration. Her work addresses systemic issues like interpreter access, cultural load on indigenous staff, and mobile population care needs.

Mehus leads the Rural and Remote Nursing and Healthcare research group and contributes to the Sami Nursing I, II, and III projects, which develop national guidelines for Sámi nursing education. Her recent publications reveal strong thematic trends: 71% focus on Sámi healthcare (language rights, cultural safety, indigenous knowledge), 57% address rural/remote challenges (acute care, palliative services, municipal coordination), and 43% explore cultural interventions (yoik therapy, informal caregiving). She actively investigates inter-municipal collaboration for reindeer-herding Sámi and promotes decolonizing approaches in nursing education.

Based in Hammerfest, Mehus teaches scientific theory and qualitative research methods for the Nursing BSc program while maintaining clinical connections through her prior intensive care nursing experience in Finnmark. Her research directly informs policy development for indigenous healthcare services across Sápmi.