Julie McLellan

Julie was my first Stage 2 trainee and I’m delighted that she’s now qualified as a Health Psychologist!

Background

Julie McLellanI graduated from the University of Glasgow in 2010 with a BSc (Hons) in Psychology. I completed an MSc in Health Psychology at the University of St Andrews in 2011 and an MSc in Psychological Therapy in Primary care at the Universities of Dundee and Stirling in 2014. I qualified as a Health Psychologist in 2017 and I am currently undertaking my PhD at the University of Stirling.

Current research

The development of an intervention to support midwives in helping patients address multiple health behaviours in pregnancy

Approximately 750,000 women give birth in the UK each year. Each woman attends, on average, 8 antenatal health appointments during her pregnancy. Maternity care is an opportunity in which to encourage women to make behavior changes which have a positive impact on their health and that of their unborn baby. For uncomplicated pregnancies, midwives are the primary health care professional responsible for addressing a range of Public Health issues.

The promotion of maternal health behaviours often requires change in maternity healthcare professionals’ behaviours, while some practices are already being implemented and need to be maintained.  Little evidence exists on how to promote, support and sustain evidence-based maternity health care professionals’ behaviours. Interventions that support midwives in their practice to directly promote health behaviour change has the potential to impact multiple behaviours beneficial for maternal and child health in pregnancy and beyond.

The overall aim of my PhD is to work in partnership with midwives to co-design a feasible intervention which will aim to support the delivery of health behavior change practice and consequently support mothers to change health behaviours in pregnancy.

Publications

  • Dombrowski, S. U., Campbell, P., Frost, H., Pollock, A., McLellan, J., MacGillivray, S., & Presseau, J. (2016). Interventions for sustained healthcare professional behaviour change: a protocol for an overview of reviews. Systematic Reviews, 5(1), 173.
  • Jardine, E. E., McLellan, J., & Dombrowski, S. U. (2016). Is being resolute better than being pragmatic when it comes to breastfeeding? Longitudinal qualitative study investigating experiences of women intending to breastfeed using the Theoretical Domains Framework (Forthcoming/Available Online), Journal of Public Health.
  • Laidlaw, A., McLellan, J., & Ozakinci, G. (2016). Understanding undergraduate student perceptions of mental health, mental well-being and help-seeking behaviour. Studies in Higher Education, 41 (12), 2156-2168.
  • McLellan, J., & Laidlaw, A. (2013). Perceptions of postnatal care: factors associated with primiparous mothers perceptions of postnatal communication and care. BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 13(1), 227.
  • McLellan, J., & Dale, H. (2013). Can technology be effective in interventions targeting sexual health and substance use in young people; a systematic review. Health Technology, 3(3)195–203.

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