Miss Jennifer McKell

Research Fellow 1

Institute for Social Marketing University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA

Miss Jennifer McKell

About me

Jennifer is a graduate of the University of Glasgow where she completed a MA (Hons) degree in Politics (2003) and later an MSc in Social Science Research (2007). Jennifer joined ISM in December 2010 as a research assistant, after previously holding the same position in the Centre for Drug Misuse Research (CDMR) at the University of Glasgow. At CDMR, Jennifer assisted with projects that estimated the prevalence of problematic drug use, and qualitative research in to the experiences and perspectives of people with drug and alcohol problems in relation to the UK benefit system and employment. Promoted to research fellow in 2013, Jennifer is a qualitative researcher with experience of carrying out research across various public health topics including tobacco, e-cigarettes, alcohol and cancer prevention. She also led the Scottish arm of an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded study (2012-2015), led by colleagues at the University of Bath, that investigated the experiences of adults bereaved as a result of drug or alcohol use.

Jennifer has been substantially involved in research into smoking cessation in pregnancy and in particular the impact of using financial incentives to encourage smoking cessation in pregnant women. She currently manages the process evaluation of the Cessation in Pregnancy Incentives Trial (CPIT), led by the University of Glasgow, a phase 3 multi centre trial of financial incentives to promote smoking cessation in pregnancy. In 2019, she will start work on an evaluation of the Financial Incentives to Prevent Postpartum return to Smoking trial (FIPPS), led by Prof Michael Ussher, a feasibility study examining the impact of using financial incentives to help women avoid returning to smoking in the 12 months following the birth of their baby.

Jennifer, alongside Martine Stead (ISM Deputy Director), is also currently working on an evaluation of the ActWELL study led by the University of Dundee. The ActWELL study is examining the impact of using lifestyle coaches to help women, recruited via breast screening, to reach weight loss targets via increased physical activity and dietary changes with the aim of reducing risk of breast cancer. The evaluation will include the perspectives of mammographers involved in recruiting for ActWELL, lifestyle coaches and study participants.

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