In addition to teaching and doing my doctorate, research is a part of my work as a health scientist. At the Institute of Health and Nursing Science , I primarily work with psychometric methods and approaches from quantitative educational research.
Below you will find my research interests, my publications, current research projects, research training activities, and my voluntary academic engagement.
Research interests
I am interested in the following subject areas, which I would like to explore during my time as a research associate:
Disaster Nursing:
Disaster nursing refers to the professional provision of nursing care in disaster situations. It encompasses the application of nursing knowledge and skills to respond appropriately to the health-related, psychological, and social needs of individuals affected by crises or disasters.
Health Literacy:
“Health literacy comprises people’s knowledge, motivation, and competencies to access, understand, appraise, and apply health information in various forms in order to make judgments and take decisions in everyday life concerning healthcare, disease prevention, and health promotion, with the aim of maintaining or improving quality of life throughout the life course” (Sørensen et al., 2012).
Health Security:
Health security refers to the protection of populations from health threats, particularly those arising from infectious diseases, biological, chemical, or radiological hazards, as well as natural disasters and other crisis situations. Its objective is to prevent or contain the spread of health threats through prevention, surveillance, preparedness, and crisis management.
Scientific publications
Beckert, J., Zeeb, H., De Santis, K. (2024). Disaster Preparedness Evaluation Tool (DPET): Adaptation and psychometric evaluation for nurses in Germany. Pflege, 37(2), 79-87. https://doi.org/10.1024/1012-5302/a000964
Beckert, J., Zeeb, H., De Santis, K. (2023). Disaster Preparedness Evaluation Tool (DPET): Adaptation, validation and psychometric evaluation for the nursing context in Germany. 58th Annual Conference of the German Society for Social Medicine and Prevention DGSMP, 30.08-01.09.2023, Hannover (Poster) https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0043-177067
Research projects
Doctoral project: “Competencies in disaster nursing: development and psychometric evaluation of a self-assessment scale for nurses” (COREtool)
Duration: 06/2024 – 04/2027
In today’s world, it is becoming increasingly important to prepare nurses for their diverse and demanding tasks in emergencies, crises and disasters. The International Council of Nurses (ICN) has defined important core competencies in disaster nursing that every nurse should possess. In Germany, however, little is known about how well nurses assess their own skills in this area. To close this gap, an easy-to-use, scientifically based self-assessment scale is being developed. The aim of this research is to create a German-language scale that helps nurses to realistically assess and improve their skills in disaster nursing.
Project collaboration: “Disaster Health Literacy – Instrument development and pilot survey as part of the HLS-GER3 study” (HLS19-DIS-GER)
Duration: 04/2024 – 06/2026
Disasters of all kinds – from extreme weather events and pandemics to armed conflicts – are becoming increasingly important worldwide and are often associated with specific health hazards for the population. Finding, understanding, assessing and applying information about these health hazards and how to deal with them is of great importance for maintaining safety and health before, during and after a disaster. The project aims to develop a tailored short measurement tool to determine disaster-related health literacy. The instrument is to undergo pilot testing as part of the HLS-GER3 study which is why we are work closely with the team at University Bielefeld on its development.
Presentations
Health Literacy 2025 – A Look Back and a Look Ahead in Berlin: Disaster Health Literacy – Findings from HLS-GER 3 (09 October 2025)
Congress Poverty & Health 2025 in Berlin: Disaster-Related Health Literacy: Why Public Health Nurses Need These Data (17 March 2025)
Guest Lecture, Bachelor’s Programme in Health Sciences, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin: Disaster-Related Health Literacy: Rationale and Development of a Scientific Measurement Instrument (28 January 2025)
Further training
18.02.2026: Focus on Peer Review – Onlince course by Nature Masterclasses (5 WU)
06.03.2025: Participation in the KRITIS expert conference “The German Health System in War and Disaster: A Stress Test for Federalism”, organized by Gesundheitsstadt Berlin Gm b H .
06/2024 – 07/2024: Statistician with R – Online course on DataCamp (70 WU)
03/2023 – 05/2024: Systematic (Scoping) Reviews – 8-part course series of the Charité Medical Library (24 WU)
09.05.2023 – 11.05.2023: Participation in the Forum on Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Health Emergency and Disaster Management (20 WU)
Voluntary commitment
01/2026 – present: German Society for Disaster Medicine
08/2024 – present: Academic Sailing Club
06/2021 – present: German Public Health Association