Center for Public Health (Department of Social and Preventive Medicine)
Position: Associate Professor
T +43 1 40160 34607
ruth.kutalek@meduniwien.ac.at
Keywords
Anthropology, Medical
Research group(s)
- Unit Medical Anthropology and Global Health
Head: Ruth Kutalek
Research Area: Research at the Unit focuses on the socio-cultural implications and perceptions of infectious diseases (Ebola viral disease, Lassa fever, measles, yellow fever), antimicrobial resistance (AMR), nutritional anthropology (e.g. geophagy), issues of access to health care for disadvantaged and vulnerable populations, mental health, representations of human bodies, human-animal-environment interactions, as well as anthropological perspectives in emergency response and humanitarian assistance.
Members:
Research interests
Anthropological perspectives on infectious diseases and in disaster response: Covid-19, Ebola Virus Disease, Lassa fever; occupational situation of health care workers during outbreaks; psycho-social situation of Ebola survivors; health seeking behavior in times of crisis; vaccine hesitancy
Access to health care for vulnerable populations (specifically migrants, refugees, certain ethnic groups)
Health care workers on the move from resource-poor settings (“brain drain”)
Diversity studies: Development of curricula in resource poor settings; transcultural competence in the medical curriculum
Ethnopharmacology: geophagy (consumption of clay) and its implications for public health research in Africa and Asia
Techniques, methods & infrastructure
Qualitative study designs (semi-structured and in-depth interviews; participatory research), Media Analysis, Applied Social Science Methods; Analysis with the software atlas.ti, using different theoretical frameworks, such as feminist and socio-political approaches
Grants
- ISIDORe (2022)
Source of Funding: EU, Horizon Europe
Principal Investigator - CAVE Community Engagement und Vulnerabilitäten in der Bewältigung von Epidemien (2021)
Source of Funding: FFG (Austrian Research Promotion Agency), KIRAS
Coordinator of the collaborative project - Risk factors and work situation of health workers in the COVID-19 epidemic (2020)
Source of Funding: WWTF (Vienna Science and Technology Fund), COVID-19 Rapid Response Call
Principal Investigator - A Global Social Science Network for Infectious Threats and Antimicrobial Resistance – SoNAR-Global (2018)
Source of Funding: EU, Horizon 2020
Principal Investigator
Selected publications
- 2022 Jeleff M, Traugott M, Jirovsky-Platter E, Jordakieva G, Kutalek R. Occupational challenges of health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. A qualitative study. BMJ Open 12:e054516. doi:10.1136/ bmjopen-2021-054516
- 2021 Ecker F, Kutalek R. “I’m not an anti-vaxxer!” Vaccine hesitancy among physicians: A qualitative study. European Journal of Public Health https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckab174
- 2021 Lehner L, Gribi J, Hoffmann K, Paul K, Kutalek R. Beyond the “information deficit model” - Understanding vaccine-hesitant attitudes of midwives in Austria: A Qualitative Study. BMC Public Health 21, 1671; https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-11710-y
- 2020 Kutalek R, Baingana F, Sevalie S, Broutet N, Thorson A: Perceptions on the collection of body fluids for research on persistence of Ebola virus. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0008327
- 2020 Huebl L., Nnyombi A, Walakira E, Kutalek R. Yellow fever vaccine safety perception of pregnant women in emergency response mass vaccination in Uganda. American Journal of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene DOI: https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.19-0439