Edwin Wouters

Edwin Wouters is professor in medical sociology at the Centre for Population, Family & Health of the University of Antwerp (Belgium) – he is currently also the Head of the Department of Sociology of this institution.

His research addresses the social aspects of TB and HIV care both in high- and low and middle-income settings – especially focusing on the roles of social support (or the lack thereof due to stigma) in and the organization (different care models) of health care. In recent years, he is also increasingly studying (1) double HIV-TB stigma, (2) syndemics involving TB and/or HIV and (3) MDR/XDR TB stigma. In terms of methodology, he is specialized in scale techniques (developing and validating measurement scales) as well as in trial design, execution and analysis. He has led several large-scale cluster randomized controlled trials on HIV and TB care in sub-Saharan Africa. Edwin also holds an adjunct appoint at the Centre for Health Systems Research & Development of the University of the Free State (South Africa).

Language spoken: English, French, Dutch, German

Methods used: Quantitative methods: (1) Scale development and testing (factor analysis, structural equation modeling), (2) trial design and analyses, (3) all common quantitative analysis techniques. Qualitative: (1) abductive analysis, (2) realist evaluation, (3) ethnography.