Katja Gillander Gådin

Katja Gillander Gådin serves as Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at Mid Sweden University in Sundsvall. Her academic career spans over two decades with a consistent focus on gendered aspects of health, particularly examining violence, harassment, and mental health among youth populations.

Her research interests center on youth mental health, school health promotion, gendered violence, sexual harassment, and participatory action research methodologies. Dr. Gillander Gådin has developed significant expertise in examining both online and offline forms of violence, with particular attention to how technology has transformed sexual harassment and victimization patterns among adolescents. Her work consistently applies a gender perspective to understand social determinants of health and the psychosocial environment, with special emphasis on how gendered conditions impact health outcomes.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a strong trend toward examining polyvictimization patterns among youth, particularly the co-occurrence of cyber and in-person bullying and sexual harassment. Her research increasingly employs advanced statistical methods like latent class analysis to identify victimization patterns and their associations with mental health outcomes. There's also a notable international dimension to her work, with collaborations extending to low and middle-income countries examining gender-based violence attitudes across cultural contexts.

Dr. Gillander Gådin's methodological approach combines quantitative techniques with qualitative and participatory methods, particularly photovoice, which empowers participants to document their experiences through visual media. Her work with rural populations in Sweden highlights the importance of context in understanding gendered violence, while her hospitality industry research demonstrates the continuation of gender-based harassment into adult workplaces.

Her research program has generated substantial output across multiple publication types including journal articles, book chapters, conference presentations, and research reports, demonstrating both academic rigor and practical application to real-world health promotion challenges.