Katharina Block
Biographic Data
| ID | 115953 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Katharina Block |
| GIVEN NAMES | Katharina |
| FAMILY NAME | Block |
| SIGNATURE | BLOCK K |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Melbourne |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0560-4148 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 85 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 268 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 85 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Wastewater-based epidemiology for public health – benefits and trade-offs of different molecular methods for the generation of actionable data in a small-town context
Background Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is a promising complement to traditional surveillance systems, yet its practical utility and performance in real-world public health settings remain insufficiently characterized. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility and added value of WBE for monitoring infectious disease dynamics at the regional level, with a particular focus on jointly identifying, together with public health authorities, ac…
Hospital-based services for survivors of sexual violence in Ethiopia
BACKGROUND: Internationally, investment in hospital-based services for sexual violence is increasing. However, service providers, including in low-income countries such as Ethiopia, report discrepancies between the profile of survivors seeking help and those identified in population-based studies. Research on this remains limited. METHODS: An explanatory mixed-method study design was employed, analysing 5 years' of retrospective records of 2283 w…
Social Capital Development via Sport for Migrant Women and Girls
This article examines social capital development for migrant background women and girls via sports participation in Australia. The social networks of migrants can be disrupted by the migration experience. Sport is often touted as a site in which to rebuild and diversify local social connections and acquire associated social capital. However, culturally and racially minoritized women and girls from migrant backgrounds are often excluded from the s…
Unmet need for health care services among Rohingya Refugees living in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char in Bangladesh
Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh face major healthcare challenges, and access to services to those relocated to Bhasan Char is a growing global concern. This study explores the prevalence of unmet healthcare needs across physical and mental health conditions among Rohingya refugees, compare variations between camps in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char, and identifies key determinants of unmet healthcare needs overall and by camp location. We analyzed da…
Reproductive Coercion and Abuse Among Forcibly Displaced Populations Worldwide
Reproductive coercion and abuse (RCA) is a significant public health issue, with high prevalence expected in forcibly displaced populations. Despite its severe health impacts, studies on the extent, determinants, and impacts of RCA in forcibly displaced populations are notably lacking. This systematic review examines forcibly displaced women’s experiences of RCA, its perpetrators, associated factors, and health consequences. We conducted a system…
Impacts of coercive control on children
Coercive control refers to a pattern of abusive behaviors, and is the underlying dynamic of domestic, family, and sexual violence. Little is known about the experiences and impacts of coercive control on children from culturally and racially minoritized migrant backgrounds. This research was conducted in Victoria, Australia, and aimed to explore mothers’ perceptions of how their partners’ use of coercive control impacted children and family funct…
The Need for an Interpersonal and Institutional Ethic of Care when Working Alongside Lived Experience Researchers
Lived experience (LE) researchers are often lay people who work alongside academics to undertake research within their own communities, particularly in the fields of health and social inquiry. High-quality and rigorous LE research can lead to local, national and international policy and practice impacts; however, if managed poorly, the involvement of LE researchers has the potential to be extractive, inequitable and disempowering. There is a need…
Sport as a social capital intervention promoting health and well-being for migrant youth in Australia
Social capital is a critical determinant of health, yet few intervention studies have explored how social capital might be generated for those with constrained social networks. This study aimed to assess the well-being and social impacts of a sports participation intervention for culturally and racially marginalized (CARM) migrant young people in Australia. We report findings from a mixed methods participatory action research project, Count Me In…
The role of public health professionals in addressing the health and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza
box The population of Gaza is experiencing a health and humanitarian crisis
Did Descriptive and Prescriptive Norms About Gender Equality at Home Change During the Covid-19 Pandemic? A Cross-National Investigation
Using data from 15 countries, this article investigates whether descriptive and prescriptive gender norms concerning housework and child care (domestic work) changed after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results of a total of 8,343 participants ( M = 19.95, SD = 1.68) from two comparable student samples suggest that descriptive norms about unpaid domestic work have been affected by the pandemic, with individuals seeing mothers’ relative to fa…
The sexual abuse of adolescent boys in humanitarian emergencies
An increasing amount of evidence indicates that adolescent boys may be exposed to child sexual abuse in humanitarian emergencies. However, there is currently limited understanding of risk factors for adolescent boys' exposure to sexual abuse in emergency settings and how humanitarian organisations are responding. In this study, we examined sexual abuse against adolescent boys in the 2017 Rohingya refugee crisis and potential risk factors in this …
Me, myself, and my stereotypes
Communion–defined as a focus on caring for and connecting with others–is a fundamental value associated with well-being. Yet, men tend to identify with communion significantly less than women do. Although implicit gender stereotypes have been implicated in women’s lower STEM self-concepts, there has been no parallel examination of whether implicit stereotypes constrain men’s lower communal self-concepts. The current research tested whether automa…
I Wish I Had a House Like This’ Reimaging Home
The relationship between refugee housing and well‐being extends beyond basic shelter, encompassing social, cultural and spatial dimensions. This study explores how housing is experienced and understood by former‐refugees not merely as a physical structure but as a site of meaning, identity and belonging. Drawing on Massey's relational theory of space and a multidimensional understanding of belonging, this research examines the housing aspirations…
Equivocal Justice
Little is known about how migrant and refugee women who experience family violence interact with the Australian justice system. Drawing on interviews with survivors and service providers and a focus group discussion ( n = 73), this paper explores how survivors view and engage with Australian legal interventions. We found the legal system to be an unreliable site for migrant and refugee women; it was capable of both perpetuating violence through i…
It’s Really Important that we Listen to Them”
Purpose The evidence base for what works to engage men and boys in primary prevention of family violence is limited. We consider strategies for engaging men from immigrant communities in family violence prevention in Victoria, Australia. Methods Drawing on interviews/focus groups and progress reports from five organizations running family violence prevention initiatives in immigrant communities, we explore how interventions with men and boys from…
Who cares about caring? Gender stereotypes about communal values emerge early and predict boys’ prosocial preferences
Communal values (i.e., valuing care for and connection with others) are important to individual well-being and societal functioning yet show marked gender differences, with girls valuing communion more than boys do. We examined whether endorsement of gender stereotypes associating communal values more with girls than with boys relate to children's own communal values and interests, potentially giving rise to gender differences in preferences. We …
Why Do Women Care More & Men Couldn't Care Less
The health and well-being of society are sustained by a combination of paid and unpaid care work. Yet caregiving roles and occupations are overwhelmingly occupied by women. We outline evidence for five key sociocultural barriers to men's engagement in the care economy. These include prevalent cultural stereotypes that men are inherently less caring, despite little evidence for gender differences in caregiving abilities. Rather, men are socialized…
The gender gap in the care economy is larger in highly developed countries
Despite the growing demand for care economy employees (e.g., nurses, teachers, and social workers), men remain underrepresented in these careers. While economically developed countries support more equal rights for women and men, their labor markets are highly gender segregated (Charles, 1992, 2003). We conducted a focused investigation of this paradoxical pattern in the care economy, testing whether gender gaps in care economy career interest ar…
At Risk of Statelessness
Lebanon has many migrant domestic workers, most of whom are women. While migrant domestic workers’ contracts prohibit pregnancy and childbearing, a substantial number of women give birth in Lebanon, and their children are at risk of statelessness. Through our examination of nationality laws and birth registration regulations, and their implementation in both Lebanon and migrants’ origin countries, this article offers an intersectional, gender ana…
Prevalence and factors associated with psychosocial distress and trauma among Rohingya refugees living in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char in Bangladesh
Psychosocial distress is significantly higher among Rohingya refugees in Bhasan Char than in Cox's Bazar, highlighting the need for targeted mental health support in isolated settings
Not settlement but movement
Harnessing Capital
Housing and wellbeing
Housing experiences upon settlement can shape refugee mental health and wellbeing; however, little is known of how housing precarity evolves as refugees establish their new lives and how it affects their wellbeing. We use longitudinal data (Building a New Life in Australia, n = 2,399) over five years (2013-18) to identify refugee housing trajectories in relation to housing precarity (measured by unaffordability, unsuitability, and insecurity) and…
(Re)construction of Identity and resilience among Afghan and Hazara adolescents following forced migration
This paper explores [re]construction of a sense of identity and resilience among Hazara and Afghan adolescents from refugee backgrounds following migration to Australia. We conducted a qualitative study involving ten adolescents and six parents. Findings demonstrated that adolescents perceived themselves as resilient with a sense of agency and determination core to this identity. Our analysis also showed the substantial influence of seeking and f…
The dispositif of a closed future and the paradoxical effects of the eco-emancipatory project
We analyze paradoxes of a dispositif of a closed future generated by the successes of the eco-emancipatory project (EEP). The current anticipation of an impending climate catastrophe fosters a societal regime that prioritizes preemptive actions, closing the future to alternative paths. By applying Foucault's concept of the dispositif, we examine how this regime paradoxically leads to the revival of nuclear power, which not only contradicts those …
Addressing Ethical and Methodological Challenges in Research with Refugee-background Young People
Ethical complexities associated with research involving vulnerable and marginalized population groups are well recognized, while practical solutions to these challenges are somewhat less well described. In this article we focus on strategies for addressing interrelated practical, methodological and ethical issues which may arise during research with refugee-background participants considered vulnerable. The article draws on a study exploring the …
Supporting schools to create an inclusive environment for refugee students
In a context of increasing numbers of refugees and asylum seekers globally, recognition of the importance of the school environment for promoting successful settlement outcomes and inclusion for refugee-background young people is growing. Yet schools may be poorly equipped to recognise and respond to the multiple challenges faced by children and young people who must learn a new language while grappling with unfamiliar educational and social syst…
Promoting Social Inclusion through Sport for Refugee-Background Youth in Australia
Sports participation can confer a range of physical and psychosocial benefits and, for refugee and migrant youth, may even act as a critical mediator for achieving positive settlement and engaging meaningfully in Australian society. This group has low participation rates however, with identified barriers including costs; discrimination and a lack of cultural sensitivity in sporting environments; lack of knowledge of mainstream sports services on …
Engendering Identity
Do people care if men don't care about caring? The asymmetry in support for changing gender roles
The effect of group involvement on post-disaster mental health
Spaces of well‐being and regional settlement
Regionalisation is a hallmark of Australia's approach to international migration, reflecting governments' growing concern with where new arrivals live. Residence in regional Australia is encouraged (mandated, for some visas) in response to urban population pressures alongside rural population and economic decline. Parallel to regionally focused visa schemes exists a pattern of voluntary urban‐to‐rural migration among some international migrants. …
Between ‘here’ and ‘there’
The purpose of this article is to investigate how (dis)connection with place influences immigrant and refugee women’s experiences of family violence in regional/remote and metropolitan southern Australia. We draw on research from the ASPIRE project (Analysing Safety and Place in Refugee Experience) in the states of Victoria and Tasmania. A participatory research approach was used to interview immigrant and refugee women who had experienced violen…
Structural and Symbolic Violence Exacerbates the Risks and Consequences of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence for Forced Migrant Women
While much attention is focused on rape as a weapon of war, evidence shows that forced migrant women and girls face increased risks of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) both during and following forced displacement. In this paper, we argue that gendered forms of structural and symbolic violence enable and compound the harms caused by interpersonal SGBV against forced migrant women and girls. These forms of violence are encountered in multip…
Immobilisation of migrant domestic worker women and their children born in Lebanon
While scholars of migration have drawn our attention to the plight of children 'left behind' when their mothers migrate, children born to migrant women in destination countries have received far less consideration. In destinations such as Lebanon, migrant domestic worker employment - and right to residency - is governed by the kafala, or sponsorship, system which prohibits pregnancy and childbirth. Despite this prohibition, considerable numbers o…
Climate change in sociology
Since Lever-Tracy's call for stronger sociological engagement with climate change in 2008, the number of climate-related contributions to leading sociological journals has increased. Yet, they still represent a small percentage of contributions overall. Reviewing the 37 articles published in eight top-ranked sociology journals until 2018, the authors of the present article identify five main subfields of research: (a) reflections on the role of t…
The role of the natural environment in disaster recovery
Social Identity Threat in Response to Stereotypic Film Portrayals
Disadvantaged ethnic groups are often portrayed stereotypically in film, but little is known about how such portrayals affect members of those groups. Two experiments examined the affective and attitudinal reactions of Mexican and European Americans to stereotypic film clips of Latinos. Results of Study 1 revealed that stereotypic films cue negative affect among Mexican Americans, regardless of the realism of the portrayals. In Study 2, both Mexi…
Volunteering in a School Kitchen Garden Program
This paper reports on the evaluation of a kitchen garden program in primary schools in Victoria, Australia. It focuses on the motivations, impacts, and issues associated with volunteering in the program. The study revealed that volunteers are drawn from a range of sources, including: families of current and former students, former teachers, local residents, clients of aged care and/or disability services, other schools and communities, local univ…
Addressing alcohol and other drug use among young people from migrant and ethnic minority backgrounds
Young people from migrant and ethnic minority backgrounds are recognised as emerging priority populations for reducing alcohol and other drug (AOD)-related harms in Australia. Limited research has investigated how service providers address AOD challenges in migrant communities. In this qualitative study, we interviewed 15 service providers from AOD, migrant support, community and other health services in a diverse region of Melbourne. Interviews …
Stressors and Supports in Postdisaster Recovery
Many studies show that long-term poor mental health outcomes for disaster-affected people are predicted by postdisaster stressors. Despite this finding, existing recovery frameworks vary in how these stressors are conceptualised. This paper examines community members’ subjective perceptions of what they found problematic and useful in their recoveries after the Australian 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, and considers them in the light of these fra…
Why Do Women Care More & Men Couldn't Care Less
The health and well-being of society are sustained by a combination of paid and unpaid care work. Yet caregiving roles and occupations are overwhelmingly occupied by women. We outline evidence for five key sociocultural barriers to men's engagement in the care economy. These include prevalent cultural stereotypes that men are inherently less caring, despite little evidence for gender differences in caregiving abilities. Rather, men are socialized…
Developing social capital through sport? The case for an intersectional lens
This commentary paper draws on existing theory and literature to explore the application of an intersectional lens to research regarding social capital development through sport. Sport is frequently endorsed as a site to facilitate social capital development for those from newly arrived and migrant backgrounds due to its potential to diversify social networks. However, systemic discrimination has marginalized and minoritized groups of people base…
Gender Gap in Parental Leave Intentions
Despite global commitments and efforts, a gender‐based division of paid and unpaid work persists. To identify how psychological factors, national policies, and the broader sociocultural context contribute to this inequality, we assessed parental‐leave intentions in young adults (18–30 years old) planning to have children (N = 13,942; 8,880 identified as women; 5,062 identified as men) across 37 countries that varied in parental‐leave policies and…
It's about Building a Network of Support
Refugees face a heightened risk of sexual and gender-based violence during conflict, transit and in countries of refuge. Despite long-term impacts on survivors, scholarship regarding effective responses remains limited. This paper presents a qualitative thematic analysis from in-depth interviews with 22 Australian service providers. Using a socio-ecological intersectional framework it explores the challenges faced in supporting survivors while hi…
Von der Umwelt zur Welt
Umwelt« ist zu einem inflationär gebrauchten Schlagwort geworden, das auch die wissenschaftliche Debatte anführt, da es Aufklärung und Lösung verspricht. Eine wissenschaftstheoretische Auseinandersetzung mit der Umweltsoziologie, die hierbei wesentlich präsent ist, scheint also geboten. Katharina Block rückt dabei die Frage nach anthropologischen Verkürzungen, die mit dem Umweltbegriff systematisch einhergehen, in den Fokus und schafft im Gegenzu…
Conceptualising Post-Disaster Recovery
In the disaster literature, psycho-social recovery is conceptualised typically as the alleviation of traumatic stress, with the alleviation of disaster-related grief as a less prominent part of this. Yet, incorporating grief understandings into recovery conceptualisations post disaster is important. This paper explores these conceptualisations by analysing participants' bereavement experiences following the Black Saturday bushfires. It draws on d…
Gender-based violence, religion and forced displacement
Introduction This paper examines the relationship between gender-based violence (GBV) and religion in a range of forced displacement contexts. While it has been acknowledged that religion frequently shapes experiences of GBV survivors, little is known about the influences of religion on GBV experiences in forced displacement and its potential role in strengthening interventions. Methods Utilizing empirical evidence from 58 interviews from the SER…
At Risk of Statelessness
Lebanon has many migrant domestic workers, most of whom are women. While migrant domestic workers’ contracts prohibit pregnancy and childbearing, a substantial number of women give birth in Lebanon, and their children are at risk of statelessness. Through our examination of nationality laws and birth registration regulations, and their implementation in both Lebanon and migrants’ origin countries, this article offers an intersectional, gender ana…
Harnessing Capital
Deep structure and controversy
In Australia, fluoridation was first endorsed as an effective, safe and equitable means of improving population oral health over fifty years ago. However, recent opposition to attempts to introduce the measure in several regional Victorian towns has demonstrated that it remains a highly controversial health policy. This paper investigates the history of the Victorian fluoridation debate within a national and international context. It finds that a…
Volunteering in a School Kitchen Garden Program
This paper reports on the evaluation of a kitchen garden program in primary schools in Victoria, Australia. It focuses on the motivations, impacts, and issues associated with volunteering in the program. The study revealed that volunteers are drawn from a range of sources, including: families of current and former students, former teachers, local residents, clients of aged care and/or disability services, other schools and communities, local univ…
Addressing Ethical and Methodological Challenges in Research with Refugee-background Young People
Ethical complexities associated with research involving vulnerable and marginalized population groups are well recognized, while practical solutions to these challenges are somewhat less well described. In this article we focus on strategies for addressing interrelated practical, methodological and ethical issues which may arise during research with refugee-background participants considered vulnerable. The article draws on a study exploring the …
Beyond Bushfires
Conducting the study over five years and focussing on the role of social networks will provide new insights into the interplay between individual and community factors and their influence on recovery from natural disaster over time. The study findings will thereby expand understanding of long term disaster recovery needs for individuals and communities
Working better together
Inter-agency partnerships are critical for addressing the interrelated circumstances associated with the social and health determinants of health inequalities. However, there are many challenges in evaluating partnership processes and outcomes. We discuss a mixed methods study that explored partnership processes in an innovative program that aims to promote social and economic inclusion for young newly arrived refugees. A theoretically informed e…
Political reflexivity in post-bushfire research
Purpose – Post-disaster research presents particular challenges for the qualitative researcher due to the wider contextual demands of media attention, public debates and intense scrutiny of policy and service delivery. It highlights the importance of reflexive practice to identify and address any unintended influences on the research processes and outcomes. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper the au…
Supporting schools to create an inclusive environment for refugee students
In a context of increasing numbers of refugees and asylum seekers globally, recognition of the importance of the school environment for promoting successful settlement outcomes and inclusion for refugee-background young people is growing. Yet schools may be poorly equipped to recognise and respond to the multiple challenges faced by children and young people who must learn a new language while grappling with unfamiliar educational and social syst…
An Underexamined Inequality
Social psychological research has sought to understand and mitigate the psychological barriers that block women’s interest, performance, and advancement in male-dominated, agentic roles (e.g., science, technology, engineering, and math). Research has not, however, correspondingly examined men’s underrepresentation in communal roles, traditionally occupied by women (e.g., careers in health care, early childhood education, and domestic roles includ…
The Long Way Toward Cooperation
To better understand why cooperation between health care professionals is still often problematic, we carried out 25 semistructured face-to-face expert interviews with physicians and nurses in different rural and urban areas in northern Germany. Using Mayring's qualitative content analysis method to analyze the data collected, we found that doctors and nurses interpreted interprofessional conflicts differently. Nursing seems to be caught in a par…
Aspire
Findings from this two-year study will be disseminated to communities, service providers and policy-makers, providing evidence to inform culturally-appropriate prevention and support interventions, and building local communities' awareness and capacity to respond to violence against immigrant and refugee women
Promoting appreciation of cultural diversity and inclusion with the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present emergent findings from an evaluation of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden (SAKG) Program showing that the program promoted appreciation of cultural diversity and inclusion of culturally diverse groups. Design/methodology/approach – The findings reported here are from the qualitative component of a mixed-method, nonrandomized, pre- and post-comparison evaluation study. Focus groups and intervi…
Engendering Identity
Conceptualising Post-Disaster Recovery
In the disaster literature, psycho-social recovery is conceptualised typically as the alleviation of traumatic stress, with the alleviation of disaster-related grief as a less prominent part of this. Yet, incorporating grief understandings into recovery conceptualisations post disaster is important. This paper explores these conceptualisations by analysing participants' bereavement experiences following the Black Saturday bushfires. It draws on d…
Social Identity Threat in Response to Stereotypic Film Portrayals
Disadvantaged ethnic groups are often portrayed stereotypically in film, but little is known about how such portrayals affect members of those groups. Two experiments examined the affective and attitudinal reactions of Mexican and European Americans to stereotypic film clips of Latinos. Results of Study 1 revealed that stereotypic films cue negative affect among Mexican Americans, regardless of the realism of the portrayals. In Study 2, both Mexi…
Von der Umwelt zur Welt
Umwelt« ist zu einem inflationär gebrauchten Schlagwort geworden, das auch die wissenschaftliche Debatte anführt, da es Aufklärung und Lösung verspricht. Eine wissenschaftstheoretische Auseinandersetzung mit der Umweltsoziologie, die hierbei wesentlich präsent ist, scheint also geboten. Katharina Block rückt dabei die Frage nach anthropologischen Verkürzungen, die mit dem Umweltbegriff systematisch einhergehen, in den Fokus und schafft im Gegenzu…
Promoting Social Inclusion through Sport for Refugee-Background Youth in Australia
Sports participation can confer a range of physical and psychosocial benefits and, for refugee and migrant youth, may even act as a critical mediator for achieving positive settlement and engaging meaningfully in Australian society. This group has low participation rates however, with identified barriers including costs; discrimination and a lack of cultural sensitivity in sporting environments; lack of knowledge of mainstream sports services on …
Ökologie der Subjekte
Should I Stay or Should I Go
Gender stereotypes that associate science and technology to men more than women create subtle barriers to women's advancement in these fields. But how do stereotypic associations, when internalized by women, relate to their own sense of fit and organizational commitment? Our research is the first to demonstrate that, among working engineers, women's own gender stereotypic implicit associations predict lower organizational commitment. In a sample …
The MuSeS project
BACKGROUND: Violence against women is a major human rights and public health issue globally. The experience of violence affects women across Australia, including the large number of migrant and refugee women who permanently or temporarily resettle in the country. Many women who experience violence find it difficult to access support, and evidence suggests women who have resettled in Australia face additional barriers to violence-specific services…
The role of the natural environment in disaster recovery
Between ‘here’ and ‘there’
The purpose of this article is to investigate how (dis)connection with place influences immigrant and refugee women’s experiences of family violence in regional/remote and metropolitan southern Australia. We draw on research from the ASPIRE project (Analysing Safety and Place in Refugee Experience) in the states of Victoria and Tasmania. A participatory research approach was used to interview immigrant and refugee women who had experienced violen…
Machina Sapiens
Do people care if men don't care about caring? The asymmetry in support for changing gender roles
The effect of group involvement on post-disaster mental health
Relationale Phänomenologie
Sociology (51 works) · Political science (49 works) · Psychology (45 works) · Social Psychology (32 works) · Medicine (27 works) · Migration, Health and Trauma (27 works) · Refugee (23 works) · Gender Studies (20 works) · Law (20 works) · Social Psychology (20 works)