Dr Alice MacLean

Research Fellow

Institute for Social Marketing Stirling

Dr Alice MacLean

Contact details

About me

Alice MacLean is a research fellow at the Institute for Social Marketing and Health, specialising in qualitative research with interests in experiences of health and illness; gender and help-seeking across the life course; and health and behaviour change within families.

Since joining ISMH in 2021, Alice has worked on a range of qualitative projects with her main focus being on two projects devised to explore experiences of Long Covid. One a CSO-funded study designed to amplify the voices of those with lived experience of Long Covid to improve understanding, support, treatment, and education in relation to the illness. The other is an NIHR-funded study, led by colleagues at the University of Oxford, exploring the experiences of Long Covid within families, including the experiences of children and young people with Long Covid.

Alice is also interested in behaviour change and has been involved in the development and evaluation of behaviour change interventions delivered in professional sports settings and secure institutions. Currently, Alice is a member of the qualitative process evaluation team on the Game of Stones trial.

Alice was based at the MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit (University of Glasgow) between 2010 and 2019, working on a range of projects initially in the Gender and Health programme and subsequently in the Improving Health in Settings and Organisations programme. Between 2007 and 2010, Alice worked at the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships (University of Edinburgh) as research fellow on a qualitative longitudinal study which explored children’s and parents’ experiences of working parenthood. Prior to that, Alice conducted her PhD research, a qualitative exploration of gender differences in symptom reporting among children and young people, at the MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit.

Qualitative explorations of lived experiences of health and illness; gender differences and similarities in accounts of help-seeking for illness; the impact of illness on identity; mental health in children and young people; links between gender identities and health behaviours; health behaviour change within couples and families; work-life balance and working parenthood.

Research projects (1)

Long Covid and Critical Service Occupations: impact on Employees and Organisations
PI: Dr Alice MacLean
Funded by: Chief Scientist Office
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Outputs (37)

Research Report

Game of Stones NIHR Synopsis

Macaulay L, O'Dolan C, Dombrowski S, Swingler J, Cotton S, Avenell A, Bowers D, Getaneh A, Gray CM, Hunt K, Kee F, MacLean A, Torrens C, van der Pol M & Hoddinott P (2025) Game of Stones NIHR Synopsis. National Institute for Health Research.

Article

Rethinking ‘recovery’: A comparative qualitative analysis of experiences of Intensive Care with COVID and Long Covid in the United Kingdom

MacLean A, Driessen A, Hinton L, Nettleton S, Wild C, Anderson E, Brown A, Hoddinott P, O'Dwyer C, Ziebland S & Hunt K (2025) Rethinking ‘recovery’: A comparative qualitative analysis of experiences of Intensive Care with COVID and Long Covid in the United Kingdom. Health Expectations, 28 (2), Art. No.: e70253. https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.70253

Preprint

Men with long-term conditions in the Game of Stones text messaging and financial incentives trial: an explortory mixed methods study

Macaulay L, O’Dolan C, Swingler J, Torrens C, MacLean A, Turner K, Avenell A, Cotton S, Dombrowski SU, Gray CM, MacLennan G, Hunt K, Kee F, McKinley MC & Hoddinott P (2024) Men with long-term conditions in the Game of Stones text messaging and financial incentives trial: an explortory mixed methods study. https://www.medrxiv.org/. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.13.24318555

Preprint

Long-term Effects of Text Messages with Financial Incentives for Men with Obesity: Two-year Follow-up of the Game of Stones trial

Dombrowski SU, Hoddinott P, Swingler J, Macaulay L, O’Dolan C, Cotton S, Avenell A, Getaneh AM, Gray CM, Hunt K, Kee F, MacLean A, McKinley MC, Torrens C & van der Pol M (2024) Long-term Effects of Text Messages with Financial Incentives for Men with Obesity: Two-year Follow-up of the Game of Stones trial. https://www.medrxiv.org/. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.12.24318921

Preprint

Secondary analysis of the Game of Stones trial of text messages with financial incentives for men with obesity

Dombrowski SU, Hoddinott P, Macaulay L, O’Dolan C, Swingler J, Cotton S, Avenell A, Getaneh AM, Gray C, Hunt K, Kee F, MacLean A, McKinley MC, Torrens C & Marjon vdP (2024) Secondary analysis of the Game of Stones trial of text messages with financial incentives for men with obesity [Secondary analysis: The Game of Stones trial]. https://www.medrxiv.org/. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.19.24319336

Article

Negotiation of collective and individual candidacy for long Covid healthcare in the early phases of the Covid-19 pandemic: Validated, diverted and rejected candidacy

Maclean A, Hunt K, Brown A, Evered JA, Dowrick A, Fokkens A, Grob R, Law S, Locock L, Marcinow M, Smith L, Urbanowicz A, Verheij N & Wild C (2023) Negotiation of collective and individual candidacy for long Covid healthcare in the early phases of the Covid-19 pandemic: Validated, diverted and rejected candidacy. SSM - Qualitative Research in Health, 3, Art. No.: 100207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmqr.2022.100207

Article

Long-term weight loss trajectories following participation in a randomised controlled trial of a weight management programme for men delivered through professional football clubs: a longitudinal cohort study and economic evaluation

Gray CM, Wyke S, Zhang R, Anderson AS, Barry S, Boyer N, Brennan G, Briggs A, Bunn C, Donnachie C, Grieve E, Kohli-Lynch C, Lloyd SM, McConnachie A, McCowan C, MacLean A, Mutrie N & Hunt K (2018) Long-term weight loss trajectories following participation in a randomised controlled trial of a weight management programme for men delivered through professional football clubs: a longitudinal cohort study and economic evaluation. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 15 (1), Art. No.: 60. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-018-0683-3

Article

'Coz football is what we all have': masculinities, practice, performance and effervescence in a gender-sensitised weight-loss and healthy living programme for men

Bunn C, Wyke S, Gray C, MacLean A & Hunt K (2016) 'Coz football is what we all have': masculinities, practice, performance and effervescence in a gender-sensitised weight-loss and healthy living programme for men. Sociology of Health and Illness, 38 (5), pp. 812-828. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.12402

Book Chapter

Responsibility, Work and Family Life: Children’s and Parents’ Experiences of Working Parenthood

Harden J, MacLean A, Backett-Milburn K, Cunningham-Burley S & Jamieson L (2014) Responsibility, Work and Family Life: Children’s and Parents’ Experiences of Working Parenthood. In: Holland J & Edwards R (eds.) Understanding Families Over Time: Research and Policy. Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 124-141. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137285089_7

Conference Abstract

Can professional rugby clubs attract English male rugby supporters to a healthy lifestyle programme: the Rugby Fans in Training (RuFIT) study 2013-14

Gray CM, Brennan G, MacLean A, Mutrie N, Hunt K & Wyke S (2014) Can professional rugby clubs attract English male rugby supporters to a healthy lifestyle programme: the Rugby Fans in Training (RuFIT) study 2013-14. European Journal of Public Health, 24 (supplement 2), Art. No.: cku166-074. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/cku166.074

Article

How robust is the evidence of an emerging or increasing female excess in physical morbidity between childhood and adolescence? Results of a systematic literature review and meta-analyses

MacLean A, Sweeting H, Egan M, Der G, Adamson J & Hunt K (2013) How robust is the evidence of an emerging or increasing female excess in physical morbidity between childhood and adolescence? Results of a systematic literature review and meta-analyses. Social Science and Medicine, 78 (1), pp. 96-112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.11.039

Article

Comparing the effectiveness of using generic and specific search terms in electronic databases to identify health outcomes for a systematic review: A prospective comparative study of literature search methods

Egan M, MacLean A, Sweeting H & Hunt K (2012) Comparing the effectiveness of using generic and specific search terms in electronic databases to identify health outcomes for a systematic review: A prospective comparative study of literature search methods. BMJ Open, 2 (3). https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2012-001043

Book Chapter

Unfamiliar places and other people's spaces: reflections on the practical challenges of researching families in their homes

MacLean A (2011) Unfamiliar places and other people's spaces: reflections on the practical challenges of researching families in their homes. In: Jamieson L, Simpson R & Lewis R (eds.) Researching Families and Relationships: Reflections on Process. Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 56-58. https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9780230252448