Prof. Dr. Isabel Baumann

Work at ZHAW

Position

Professorship in Public Health, Member of the Work Council of the School of Health Sciences

Focus

Health and employment; Labor market and social policy, public health; Retirement; Heat events and health; Health Promotion and primary prevention; Social inequality

Teaching

• Course "Quantitative research methods", Bachelor studies in Health promotion and primary prevention
• Course "Health Systems and Digital Health", Bachelor studies in Biomedical Laboratory Diagnostics

Experience

Teaching assistant and PhD student
University of Lausanne, Institute of Social Sciences
10 / 2010 - 08 / 2015

Education and Continuing education

Education

• PhD / Social Sciences
  University of Lausanne
  10 / 2010 - 08 / 2015
• Licence/MA / Social Sciences
  University of Fribourg
  10 / 2003 - 02 / 2009

Continuing Education

• Good Clinical Practice
  UZS
  03 / 2025
• CAS Higher Education and Training
  ZHAW
  07 / 2020

Network

Membership of networks

• Centre interfacultaire de gérontologie et d'études des vulnérabilités (CIGEV), Université de Genève
• LIVES Centre - Swiss Centre of Expertise in Life Course Research
• Swiss Platform Ageing Society
• Public Health Switzerland

ORCID digital identifier

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-8813-9722

Projects

• Home care workers’ health risks of exposure to heat waves / Co-project leader / ongoing
• Understanding the trajectories and work experiences of Swiss healthcare professionals: a sequential explanatory mixed methods study / Team member / ongoing
• Literature review on risk and protective factors for the mental (ill) health of youth / Team member / completed
• Why do some older workers with adverse health conditions remain in the labor force while others exit early? / Co-project leader / completed
• Health inequalities and the prolongation of working life / Project leader / completed
• The impact of delayed retirement on health outcomes / Project leader / completed
• Digital Parent Advisor / Team member / completed
• Evaluation Via Pilot-Project Fall Prevention / Team member / completed

Publications

Articles in scientific journal, peer-reviewed

• Fortunato, R. et al. (2026) 'Occupational heat strain among home health care workers : a cross-sectional study', BMC Public Health, 26(1), p. 2690. doi: 10.1186/s12889-026-28969-8.
• Gerosa, T. et al. (2025) 'An app-based intervention to protect home care workers from heat-related health risks : protocol for a randomized controlled trial', INQUIRY. doi: 10.1177/00469580251405766.
• Baumann, I. et al. (2025) 'Multidimensional health patterns and labor market participation among older workers : evidence from a European six-year follow-up study', PLOS ONE, 20(10), p. e0333659. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0333659.
• Cabib, I. et al. (2025) 'Gendered employment trajectories and later life health in liberal regime countries : a quantitative study in the United States, England, Switzerland and Chile', Health Policy, 152(105216). doi: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2024.105216.
• Gut, V., Feer, S. and Baumann, I. (2024) 'A resource-oriented perspective on the aging workforce – exploring job resource profiles and their associations with various health indicators', BMC Public Health, 24(2559). doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-20098-4.
• Henning, G., Baumann, I. and Huxhold, O. (2023) 'Historical and cross-country differences in life satisfaction across retirement in Germany and Switzerland from 2000 to 2019', The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 78(8), pp. 1365–1374. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbad066.
• Oesch, D. et al. (2023) 'Employment and well-being after plant closure : survey evidence from Switzerland on the mid and long run', Economic and Industrial Democracy, 45(4), pp. 964–986. doi: 10.1177/0143831X231209825.
• Burkhalter, D. et al. (2022) 'Financial reasons for working beyond the statutory retirement age : risk factors and associations with health in late life', International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(17), p. 10505. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191710505.
• Baumann, I. et al. (2022) 'Interprofessional collaboration in fall prevention : insights from a qualitative study', International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(17), p. 10477. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191710477.
• Baumann, I. et al. (2022) 'Part-time work and health in late careers : evidence from a longitudinal and cross-national study', SSM - Population Health, 18. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2022.101091.
• Baumann, I. et al. (2022) 'Do cognitively stimulating activities affect the association between retirement timing and cognitive functioning in old age?', Ageing & Society, 42(2), pp. 306–330. doi: 10.1017/S0144686X20000847.
• Baumann, I., Froidevaux, A. and Cabib, I. (2022) 'Health among workers retiring after the state pension age : a longitudinal and comparative study', BMC Geriatrics, 22(984). doi: 10.1186/s12877-022-03690-4.
• Feer, S. et al. (2022) 'Health and labor force participation among older workers in Switzerland : a growth curve analysis', European Journal of Ageing, 19(4), pp. 1395–1406. doi: 10.1007/s10433-022-00716-z.
• Baumann, I. and Madero-Cabib, I. (2021) 'Retirement trajectories in countries with flexible retirement policies but different welfare regimes', Journal of Aging & Social Policy, 33(2), pp. 138–160. doi: 10.1080/08959420.2019.1685358.
• Eyjólfsdóttir, H. S. et al. (2021) 'How to measure retirement age? : a comparison of survey and register data', Journal of Population Ageing, 14(2), pp. 143–161. doi: 10.1007/s12062-019-09254-6.
• Madero-Cabib, I., Corna, L. and Baumann, I. (2020) 'Aging in different welfare contexts : a comparative perspective on later-life employment and health', The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 75(7), pp. 1515–1526. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbz037.
• Baumann, I. et al. (2020) 'Parents' health information seeking behaviour : does the child's health status play a role?', BMC Family Practice, 21(266). doi: 10.1186/s12875-020-01342-3.
• Juvalta, S. et al. (2020) 'Electronic health literacy in Swiss-German parents : cross-sectional study of eHealth literacy scale unidimensionality', Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(3), p. e14492. doi: 10.2196/14492.
• Eyjólfsdóttir, H. S. et al. (2019) 'Prolongation of working life and its effect on mortality and health in older adults : propensity score matching', Social Science & Medicine, 226, pp. 77–86. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.02.026.
• Jaks, R. et al. (2019) 'Parental digital health information seeking behavior in Switzerland: a cross-sectional study', BMC Public Health, 19(225). doi: 10.1186/s12889-019-6524-8.
• Karayannis, N. V. et al. (2019) 'The impact of social isolation on pain interference : a longitudinal study', Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 53(1), pp. 65–74. doi: 10.1093/abm/kay017.
• Baumann, I. et al. (2018) 'Employment prospects of young adults with mental disorders', Swiss Journal of Sociology, 44(2), pp. 259–280. doi: 10.1515/sjs-2018-0012.

Books, peer-reviewed

Baumann, I. (2016) The plight of older workers : labor market experience after plant closure in the Swiss manufacturing sector. Cham: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-39754-2.

Book chapters, peer-reviewed

• Froidevaux, A. et al. (2017) 'Retirement planning : how to deal with different adjustment trajectories?', in Ertelt, B.-J. and Scharpf, M. (eds) Berufliche Beratung Älterer [career guidance for older people]. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, pp. 25–53. doi: 10.3726/b11357.
• Baumann, I. et al. (2016) 'How to survey displaced workers in switzerland : ways of addressing sources of bias', in Oris, M. et al. (eds) Surveying human vulnerabilities across the life course. Cham: Springer, pp. 159–176. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-24157-9.

Written conference contributions, peer-reviewed

• Fortunato, R. et al. (2025) 'Heat protection strategies at the workplace : evidence from a Swiss survey on home care workers', in Swiss Public Health Conference (SPHC), Lugano, Switzerland, 10-11 September 2025.
• Fortunato, R. et al. (2025) 'Home care workers' perceived heat strain at work', in Swiss Public Health Conference (SPHC), Lugano, Switzerland, 10-11 September 2025. Winterthur: ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-34831.
• Fortunato, R. et al. (2025) 'Home care workers' perceived heat strain at work', in Beat the Heat Conference, Allschwil, Switzerland, 28 August 2025. Winterthur: ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-34830.
• Feer, S. et al. (2021) 'Health status and labour force participation among older workers in Switzerland : a growth curve analysis', in European Journal of Public Health. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckab165.314.
• Baumann, I. et al. (2021) 'Does gradual retirement have health benefits? : evidence from a comparative study', in 2nd Conference of the Swiss Society of Health Economics, online, 15 January 2021.
• Feer, S. et al. (2019) 'Health status and labour force participation among older workers in Switzerland : a multilevel for growth analysis', in IAGG-ER, Gothenburg, Sweden, 23-25 May 2019.
• Baumann, I. et al. (2018) 'Retirement age and cognitive functioning in old age : the role of occupational and leisure activities', in Nordic Gerontology Congress, Oslo, Norway, 2-4 May 2018.
• Juvalta, S. et al. (2018) 'Digital health literacy of Swiss-German parents : results from DIGE, a study on parental utilization of digital child health information', in 11th European Public Health Conference, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 28 November - 1 December 2018.
• Baumann, I. et al. (2018) 'The role of cognitively stimulating activities in explaining the association between retirement timing and cognitive functioning in old age', in Swiss Public Health Conference 2018, Neuchâtel, 7-8 November 2018.
• Dratva, J. et al. (2018) '"Dear Internet, what should I do when…?" : parents' digital media behaviour when searching for information on children's health in Switzerland', in European Journal of Public Health. Oxford University Press, p. 489. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/cky218.233.
• Dratva, J. et al. (2018) 'Digital health literacy of Swiss-German parents', in European Journal of Public Health. Oxford University Press, p. cky218.232. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/cky218.232.
• Baumann, I. et al. (2016) 'Labor market integration of adolescents with mental disorders', in LacOSA International Conference on Sequence Analysis and Related Method,s Lausanne, 8-10 June 2016.

Other publications

• Fortunato, R. et al. (2026) 'The effect of ambient temperature and an app-based heat intervention on stress in home health care workers', in Beat the Heat Conference, Bern, Switzerland, 9 September 2026. Winterthur: ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences.
• Dey, M. et al. (2025) Schutz- und Risikofaktoren für die psychische Gesundheit von Heranwachsenden : eine Literaturübersicht zur internationalen und Schweizer Forschung. Winterthur: ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-34648.
• Baumann, I. (2025) Gesundheit der arbeitenden Bevölkerung über 65 : eine vergleichende Perspektive.
• Baumann, I. et al. (2024) 'Recherche participative sur la transition de la vie professionnelle à la retraite', in Maeder, P. et al. (eds) Innovation et intervention sociales. Seismo, pp. 110–111. doi: 10.33058/seismo.20764.
• Feer, S., Nicoletti, C. and Baumann, I. (2024) Gesundheitsförderung und Prävention bei älteren Arbeitnehmenden : Modul für die Führungsweiterbildung der SVA. ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften. doi: 10.60877/q4v2-vt83.
• Baumann, I. and Feer, S. (2023) 'Wenn die Gesundheit nicht mitspielt', Gerontologie CH : Praxis + Forschung, 2023(1), pp. 8–9. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-27150.
• Baumann, I. and Feer, S. (2023) 'Quand la santé se dégrade', Gerontologie CH : Praxis + Forschung, 2023(1), pp. 8–9. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-30710.
• Baumann, I. et al. (2023) 'Does raising retirement age affect retirees' health? : evidence from a Swiss reform', in Epidemiology Symposium 'Causality to Get Population Health Sciences Right', EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland, 29 March 2023.
• Hofmann, R. and Baumann, I. (2022) 'Ist die Flexibilisierung des Rentenalters das Allheilmittel?', Impact, (56), pp. 48–49. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-24747.
• Baumann, I. et al. (2022) 'Financial reasons for retiring after the statutory retirement age and health: evidence from Switzerland', in Epi Unit Meeting, Stress Research Institute, Stockholm University, Sweden, 2. May 2022.
• Baumann, I. (2020) 'Hürden bei der Stellensuche im Alter von über 50 Jahren', Die kirchliche Fachstelle bei Arbeitslosigkeit : Jahresbericht 2019, pp. 12–17. Available at: https://www.dfa.ch/contentpics/File/Jahresberichte%20DFA/DFA_Jahresbericht_2019_web.pdf.
• Suter, J. and Baumann, I. (2020) 'BGM mit Fokus auf Mitarbeitende 50+ : die Weiterbeschäftigung bringt Vorteile für alle', personalSCHWEIZ, pp. 24–25.
• Baumann, I. and Madero-Cabib, I. (2020) 'Gesunde Rentner im Arbeitsmarkt von Chile bis Dänemark', Schweizer Personalvorsorge, 2020(5), pp. 91–95. Available at: https://vps.epas.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/vps/shop/spv/SPV_0520.pdf.
• Baumann, I. and Steiger-Sackmann, S. (2019) 'Eine Verlängerung des Arbeitslebens muss attraktiv gestaltet werden', Neue Zürcher Zeitung, p. 12. Available at: https://www.nzz.ch/meinung/eine-verlaengerung-des-arbeitslebens-muss-attraktiv-gestaltet-werden-ld.1521279.
• Baumann, I., Garcia, V. and Metz, F. (2018) 'Heat, greed and human need : climate change, capitalism and sustainable wellbeing. Gough, Ian. Cheltenham, Edward Elgar Publishing (2017), 264 p., ISBN 978-1-785-36512-6', Swiss Political Science Review, 25(1), pp. 95–100. doi: 10.1111/spsr.12336.
• Baumann, I. (2018) 'Barrieren für die Arbeitsmarktpartizipation älterer Arbeitnehmender', Angewandte GERONTOLOGIE Appliquée, 3(4), pp. 20–22. doi: 10.1024/2297-5160/a000063.
• Wieber, F. et al. (2017) Evaluation "Via-Pilotprojekt Sturzprävention" [Evaluation Via pilotproject on fall prevention]. Winterthur: ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften. Available at: https://gesundheitsfoerderung.ch/assets/public/documents/de/5-grundlagen/publikationen/gfia/faktenblaetter/Faktenblatt_024_GFCH_2017-10_-_Sturzpraevention_bei_Personen_mit_erhoehtem_Sturzrisiko.pdf.

Oral conference contributions and abstracts

• Dratva, J. et al. (2026) 'Multi-level determinants of mental health in young people : an umbrella review', in European Journal of Public Health. Oxford University Press, p. ckag169.700. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.700.
• Baumann, I. et al. (2026) 'Measuring the effect of heat on cognition : methodological challenges and solutions', in Swiss Public Health Conference (SPHC), Lucerne, Switzerland, 2-3 September 2026.
• Baumann, I. (2024) 'Gesundheitliche Aspekte im Zusammenhang mit der steigenden Arbeitsmarktbeteiligung älterer Arbeitnehmender', in Schwerpunkt Angewandte Gerontologie: Arbeiten jenseits der 65: Motive, Anreize und Hürden, online, 25. September 2024.
• Gut, V. et al. (2023) 'The role of multidimensional health patterns over time in older workers" labor force participation', in European Journal of Public Health. Oxford University Press, p. ii532. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckad160.1335.
• Baumann, I. (2021) 'Older workers' health in the context of the prolongation of working life : a comparative perspective', in Colloquium 'Current Sociological Research', Universität Zürich, online, 16. November 2021.
• Baumann, I. (2021) 'Studying flexible retirement and health : challenges and insights from an international perspective', in Finnish Centre for Pensions Research Webinar : Extending working lives and healthy ageing – What role for flexible retirement?, 19 April 2021. Available at: https://www.etk.fi/en/topical-issues/extending-working-lives-and-healthy-ageing-what-role-for-flexible-retirement/.
• Froidevaux, A., Baumann, I. and Madero-Cabib, I. (2020) 'Let's not forget the macro-level factors! : how older workers' interlocked employment and health trajectories are shaped by welfare regimes and the social norm for working longer', in 1st Careers Division of the Academy of Management Community Conference, Vienna, Austria, 14-15 February 2020.
• Baumann, I. and Madero-Cabib, I. (2019) 'Retirement trajectories in countries with flexible retirement policies but different welfare state contexts', in International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics European Region Congress 2019 (IAGG-ER), Gothenburg, Sweden, 23-25 May 2019.
• Juvalta, S. et al. (2019) 'Health information seeking behaviour of Swiss German parents', in Annual Congress of the Swiss Society of Paediatrics SSP, Bellinzona, 6 - 7 June 2019.
• Juvalta, S. et al. (2019) 'Application of the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS) in a sample of Swiss parents', in Swiss Public Health Conference 2019 : Child and Adolescent Public Health, Winterthur, 28.-29. August 2019.
• Baumann, I. et al. (2017) 'Interprofessional collaboration in fall prevention', in European Journal of Public Health, p. 410. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckx186.024.

Research data

Robin, Dominik; Baumann, Isabel; Jaks, Rebecca; Juvalta, Sibylle; Dratva, Julia, 2019. Replication data for: Parental digital media behaviour when searching for information on children’s health in Switzerland. Harvard Dataverse.

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