Maya C. Flensborg Jensen researches political, organizational, and professional change processes within mental healthcare, disability services, and eldercare. Her work explores how reforms, governance models, and new professional approaches reshape the organization of welfare services and the work of professionals.
A central focus of her research is the introduction of rehabilitation, recovery, and other person-centred approaches that have transformed the framework for welfare practice. She examines how these approaches create new understandings of individuals, professional roles, working methods, and forms of knowledge and power, while also opening up new forms of interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaboration between regions, municipalities, and civil society organizations.
In her recent research, Maya has focused particularly on how ideals of self-determination and shared decision-making, together with standardized methods such as LA2 and COPM, are used to improve the quality of welfare services, support professional development, and enhance citizens' well-being. At the same time, her research demonstrates that these changes create both new opportunities and a range of dilemmas that staff and managers must navigate in everyday practice.
Another key area of research is the organization of community mental health services, including supported housing and community-based support services. She has examined employees' working conditions, the organization of services, and the development of new solutions. She has also researched cross-sectoral collaboration between psychiatric healthcare, community mental health services, municipalities, and civil society organizations, with a particular focus on citizens with complex social and mental health needs.
Finally, Maya conducts research in the field of eldercare, focusing on working life, professionalization, and quality of care. Her work includes issues such as recruitment, the devaluation of care work, relational work, and the development and implementation of professional methods that support a dignified later life.
Maya C. Flensborg Jensen primarily employs qualitative and ethnographic approaches, including individual interviews, focus groups, and observational studies. She also has experience with survey research and literature reviews.
Maya holds an MSc (cand.scient.soc.) in Public Administration and Psychology from Roskilde University and a PhD in Public Organisation and Management from Copenhagen Business School (CBS), awarded in 2017. Before joining VIVE, she worked for several years as a working life consultant at TeamArbejdsliv, where she specialized in the development of working environments, leadership, and organizational change processes.
