Oliver Herber

Chair of Community Health Nursing (CHN)

Prof Herber conducts research in the field of health care research with a particular interest in promoting self-care skills in people with chronic conditions. In 2020, he took over the leadership of the research specialisation Enhancing Self-Care in People with Chronic Conditions and joined the International Centre for Self-Care Research. His methodological expertise includes qualitative meta-summary/meta-synthesis techniques according to Sandelowski & Barroso, qualitative longitudinal research, complex intervention designs with behaviour change and the further development of research methods.

In 2020, Professor Herber became a member of the QUANTUM project (The QUAlitative research Network for Theory Use and Methodology) funded by the Wellcome Foundation. Over the years, Mr Herber has built up a strong and reliable international network in which he researches or participates in scientific activities with scientists from New Zealand, the USA, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK. In 2016, he was appointed Fellow of the European Academy of Nursing Science (FEANS).

(1) Research to improve self-care skills

• The promotion of self-care skills is a central concern of nursing and a key concept of disease management in many chronic diseases. People with chronic illnesses, their carers and relatives are seen as co-producers of health. The aim of the research specialisation is to conduct patient-centred research from the perspective of chronically ill people in order to investigate the various aspects of self-care that are important for people's lives. In this way, a sound evidence base for the improvement of self-care competence is to be created.
• Key contributions to self-care literacy research: development of the ACHIEVE manual based on the COM-B behavioural model, which includes various self-care measures. These include adherence to prescribed medication, increasing physical activity, improving dietary habits and recognising early warning signs of deteriorating health. In addition, Prof Herber has developed a new situation-specific theory on barriers and facilitators to self-care in patients with heart failure.

(2) Further development of research methods

• Development of the QUANTUM typology and the QUNATUM wheel, an interactive resource for novice researchers to improve the visibility and description of theories in qualitative research.
• Development of the PAGER framework to improve the reporting and utility of scoping reviews in health and social research. The PAGER framework has been incorporated into the specific guidelines for the submission of scoping reviews to the Journal of Clinical Nursing ( JCN ).
   

Jürgen Drebes, M. A.
Academic staff member

Dr Maria Paula Valk-Draad 
Research assistant

Dr Julia Söhngen
Research assistant

Claudia Kuhr
Assistance

Training and studies

2021
Obtaining a full professorship (W3) for Community Health Nursing at the Private Witten/Herdecke University

2020
Postdoctoral qualification (academic with postdoctoral lecturing qualification; PD) at the Medical Faculty of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
Title of the habilitation thesis: Supporting self-care in patients with chronic conditions

2005 - 2009
Doctoral studies for the degree of Doctor rerum medicinalium (Dr. rer. medic.) with highest honours (summa cum laude) at the Private Witten/Herdecke University
Title of doctoral thesis: Enhancement of self-care agency in patients with leg ulceration as the aim of the tandem practice model

2002 - 2005
Bachelor of Science in Nursing (B. Sc. N) at the Private Witten/Herdecke University
Title of Bachelor's thesis: Clinical and psychosocial aspects of epidermolysis bullosa

2001
Master of Community Health (MCommH) at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, University of Liverpool, Great Britain
Title of Master's thesis: Pyrethroid-impregnated curtains for Chagas' disease control in Trujillo, Venezuela

1994 - 1997
Training as a nurse at the nursing school of St Joseph's Hospital, Wiesbaden.

Appointments

since 2021
Professor and Chair of Community Health Nursing and Head of the Enhancing Self-Care in People with Long Term Conditions research programme at the School of Nursing Science at the private Witten/Herdecke University

2016 - 2021
Full-time academic staff member at the Institute for General Practice (ifam) at the Medical Faculty of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

2015 - 2016
Full-time Lecturer (Teaching & Research) at the Medical Faculty of the University of Birmingham (Russell Group), England

2013 - 2015
Full-time research assistant at the Institute for General Practice (ifam) of the Medical Faculty of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

2009 - 2013
Full-time Lecturer (Research only) at the Medical Faculty of the University of Dundee, Scotland

2008 - 2009
Academic staff member of the BMBF-funded research project "Patient preferences in the presentation of information on the effects and undesirable side effects of drugs" at the Chair of Clinical Pharmacology at the Private Witten/Herdecke University

2005 - 2007
Academic staff member in the BMBF-funded research project "Empowering patients with leg ulcers for self-care: Tandem practices as a model of interdisciplinary support" at the Medical Faculty of the Private Witten/Herdecke University

2004 - 2005
Study assistant in the research project "Pain-free hospital"; initiated by the German Society for Interdisciplinary Clinical Medicine (DGIKM) and the German Society for the Study of Pain (DGSS) at the Private Witten/Herdecke University

2003 - 2004
Student assistant at the Private Witten/Herdecke University; focus: Extensive literature analysis on the topic of epidermolysis bullosa as commissioned work for DEBRA Germany with subsequent book publication: Clinical and psychosocial aspects of epidermolysis bullosa

1998 - 2000
Hospital administrator of Sichili Mission Hospital in Sichili, Zambia, Africa with the Steyler Mission; participation in quarterly District Integrated Meetings to acquire knowledge on hospital budgeting; participation in national immunisation days in rural health centres; implementation and monitoring of a malaria control programme according to WHO guidelines, including community-based production of insecticide-impregnated bed nets and environmental management tasks

1997 - 1998
Health and nursing officer at the interdisciplinary intensive care unit of St. Josefs-Hospital, Wiesbaden
 

Module coordinator for the following modules in the Master's programme in Community Health Nursing:

• Module 3: Understanding cases and acting professionally
• Module 4: Planning and applying target group-specific interventions
• Module 5: Justifying and reflecting on requirements for practice disciplines
• Module 6: Planning, implementing and applying health research
• Module 8: Carrying out a research project, writing a cumulative Master's thesis

In teaching, Prof. Herber is recognised as an Associate of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA) in the UK and completed the Professional Teaching Competence for Higher Education certificate at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf in 2018.
 

• Community Health Nursing
• Self-care skills for chronic diseases
   

Memberships

• DGP (German Society for Nursing Science)
• NMC (Nursing and Midwifery Council)
• EANS (European Academy of Nursing Science)
• NRW Chamber of Nursing

Awards and honours

• 2016: Appointed Fellow of the European Academy of Nursing Science (FEANS). Fellows are individuals with an established career in nursing research who have made a significant contribution to the advancement of nursing science in Europe through scholarship and research
• 2010: Prize of the Wittener Universitätsgesellschaft e. V. as part of the Private Witten/Herdecke University for the best doctoral thesis in all disciplines in 2009, prize money: € 2,000