Kristen E Mclean
Biographic Data
| ID | 96183 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kristen E Mclean |
| GIVEN NAMES | Kristen E |
| FAMILY NAME | Mclean |
| SIGNATURE | MCLEAN K E |
| AFFILIATIONS | Yale University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3733-6953 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 64 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Covid-19 vaccine anxieties
As COVID-19 spread rapidly during the early months of the pandemic, many communities around the globe anxiously waited for a vaccine. At the start of the pandemic, it was widely believed that Africa would be a significant source of infection, and thus, vaccinating African communities became a primary goal among local and global health authorities. However, when the COVID-19 vaccine became available in March 2021 in Sierra Leone, many people viewe…
Exploring Barriers To Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare for Latina Women in South Carolina
Migrant and minority women in the United States face a high likelihood of experiencing poor reproductive health outcomes. Hispanic/Latina women are an especially high-risk population. Comprehensive and high-quality sexual and reproductive healthcare (SRHC) is desperately needed among this population, yet many Latina women face substantial barriers in accessing care. This study builds upon the three-delays model to better understand why Latina wom…
Ebola lessons
The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted a re-examination of public health preparedness with an emphasis on lessons learned following the West African Ebola epidemic. However, much of this work focuses on technological solutions rather than social learning. Drawing upon anthropological work, this paper examines how Sierra Leoneans prepared for COVID-19 through a lens of "embodied epidemic memory." Findings reveal that while people felt more empowered t…
Navigating the tension between fatherhood ideals and realities of a post-conflict setting
The concept of "fatherhood" in many African countries has traditionally been understood in terms of instrumental support to one's family, most notably, financial provision. However, in Sierra Leone and elsewhere, this narrow understanding of fatherhood is changing as a result of shifting demographic trends and responses to recent crises such as the Ebola pandemic and the aftermath of a civil war. Very little is understood about how male former ch…
Contemplating abortion
Globally, millions of unintended pregnancies result in unsafe abortions each year. In Sierra Leone, abortion-related complications are a major driver of maternal mortality. Despite these costs, women continue to seek unsafe abortions, yet how individuals understand the risks and benefits of pregnancy termination remains under-researched. This study seeks to understand perceptions of abortion by women and men experiencing unplanned pregnancy and t…
More than Disease
When COVID-19 reached Sierra Leone, the government responded by implementing strict containment measures. While the effectiveness of such actions has been debated, the socioeconomic and political implications were undeniable. This qualitative study reveals that people suffered tremendously from economic insecurity, strains on social relationships, and civil rights violations, prompting many to perceive the COVID-19 pandemic as worse than the 2014…
If the Woman Doesn't Prevent, You Will Become Pregnant”
Globally, millions of unintended pregnancies occur each year resulting in a host of social, economic, and health‐related problems. Improving knowledge of and access to family planning services is an effective way to prevent unintended pregnancy, and research suggests that men's involvement promotes greater contraceptive uptake. To explore this issue, we assess contraceptive knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among Sierra Leonean men who experien…
Mental health problems among children in Sierra Leone
Globally, over 13% of children and adolescents are affected by mental disorders, yet relatively little scholarship addresses how risk factors, symptoms, and nosology vary by culture and context, especially in young children living in post-conflict and low-resource settings. To address this gap, we conducted a qualitative study to identify and describe the most salient mental health problems facing children aged 6 to 10 years in Sierra Leone, as w…
Post-crisis masculinities’ in Sierra Leone
Hegemonic representations of African men have focused on the male breadwinner ideal. In today’s neoliberal context, characterized by economic insecurity and social inequality, African men are said to be experiencing a ‘crisis of masculinity,’ demonstrated by displays of violence, dominance, and denial of responsibility. This article builds upon research highlighting emergent masculinities that challenge stereotypical depictions of African men wit…
Men's experiences of pregnancy and childbirth in Sierra Leone
Caregiving in Crisis
In much of the literature on Sierra Leone, young men have been recognized for perpetrating violence or resisting authority. This characterization extended into the Ebola crisis, as young men were depicted as "resisting" public health measures. In contrast, little scholarship has focused on men's roles as caregivers during the epidemic. This article draws on ethnographic research conducted between 2014 and 2016 in eastern Sierra Leone to demonstra…
Violence, Structural and Interpersonal
Anthropologists have made forceful contributions to knowledge on violence and its impact on human wellbeing. They have widened the World Health Organization's threefold typology of violence, with analyses that highlight structural and political violence, insidious forms of everyday violence that engender suffering, and the machinery of war. They have focused attention on visible and invisible forms of violence—the ramifications of power in armed …
Risk Factors for and Consequences of Substance Use in Post-Conflict Liberia
Community-based reports of morbidity, mortality, and health-seeking behaviours in four Monrovia communities during the West African Ebola epidemic
The goal of this study was to assess morbidity, mortality, and health-seeking behaviours during the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Monrovia, Liberia. This study examined commonly reported symptoms of illness, pre-clinical diagnostic practices, typical healthcare-seeking strategies, and health resources available to populations, in order to identify salient needs and gaps in healthcare that would inform local emergency response efforts. Semi-structured in…
Community-Centered Responses to Ebola in Urban Liberia
BACKGROUND: The West African Ebola epidemic has demonstrated that the existing range of medical and epidemiological responses to emerging disease outbreaks is insufficient, especially in post-conflict contexts with exceedingly poor healthcare infrastructures. In this context, community-based responses have proven vital for containing Ebola virus disease (EVD) and shifting the epidemic curve. Despite a surge in interest in local innovations that e…
Scale properties of the Kreyòl Distress Idioms (KDI) screener
Psychiatric instruments have limitations cross-culturally due to variations in conceptualizations and communication of mental distress. We evaluated a locally-developed screening tool for measuring mental distress in rural Haiti. We employed mixed methods to develop the Kreyòl Distress Idioms (KDI) screening tool. We piloted the KDI in an epidemiologic survey (n = 408) and assessed it using principal component analysis and comparison with the Bec…
Reflechi twòp-Thinking Too Much
Suicide in rural Haiti
Reflechi twòp-Thinking Too Much
Suicide in rural Haiti
Post-crisis masculinities’ in Sierra Leone
Hegemonic representations of African men have focused on the male breadwinner ideal. In today’s neoliberal context, characterized by economic insecurity and social inequality, African men are said to be experiencing a ‘crisis of masculinity,’ demonstrated by displays of violence, dominance, and denial of responsibility. This article builds upon research highlighting emergent masculinities that challenge stereotypical depictions of African men wit…
Men's experiences of pregnancy and childbirth in Sierra Leone
Caregiving in Crisis
In much of the literature on Sierra Leone, young men have been recognized for perpetrating violence or resisting authority. This characterization extended into the Ebola crisis, as young men were depicted as "resisting" public health measures. In contrast, little scholarship has focused on men's roles as caregivers during the epidemic. This article draws on ethnographic research conducted between 2014 and 2016 in eastern Sierra Leone to demonstra…
Mental health problems among children in Sierra Leone
Globally, over 13% of children and adolescents are affected by mental disorders, yet relatively little scholarship addresses how risk factors, symptoms, and nosology vary by culture and context, especially in young children living in post-conflict and low-resource settings. To address this gap, we conducted a qualitative study to identify and describe the most salient mental health problems facing children aged 6 to 10 years in Sierra Leone, as w…
Scale properties of the Kreyòl Distress Idioms (KDI) screener
Psychiatric instruments have limitations cross-culturally due to variations in conceptualizations and communication of mental distress. We evaluated a locally-developed screening tool for measuring mental distress in rural Haiti. We employed mixed methods to develop the Kreyòl Distress Idioms (KDI) screening tool. We piloted the KDI in an epidemiologic survey (n = 408) and assessed it using principal component analysis and comparison with the Bec…
Ebola lessons
The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted a re-examination of public health preparedness with an emphasis on lessons learned following the West African Ebola epidemic. However, much of this work focuses on technological solutions rather than social learning. Drawing upon anthropological work, this paper examines how Sierra Leoneans prepared for COVID-19 through a lens of "embodied epidemic memory." Findings reveal that while people felt more empowered t…
Risk Factors for and Consequences of Substance Use in Post-Conflict Liberia
More than Disease
When COVID-19 reached Sierra Leone, the government responded by implementing strict containment measures. While the effectiveness of such actions has been debated, the socioeconomic and political implications were undeniable. This qualitative study reveals that people suffered tremendously from economic insecurity, strains on social relationships, and civil rights violations, prompting many to perceive the COVID-19 pandemic as worse than the 2014…
Suicide in rural Haiti
Reflechi twòp-Thinking Too Much
Community-Centered Responses to Ebola in Urban Liberia
BACKGROUND: The West African Ebola epidemic has demonstrated that the existing range of medical and epidemiological responses to emerging disease outbreaks is insufficient, especially in post-conflict contexts with exceedingly poor healthcare infrastructures. In this context, community-based responses have proven vital for containing Ebola virus disease (EVD) and shifting the epidemic curve. Despite a surge in interest in local innovations that e…
Scale properties of the Kreyòl Distress Idioms (KDI) screener
Psychiatric instruments have limitations cross-culturally due to variations in conceptualizations and communication of mental distress. We evaluated a locally-developed screening tool for measuring mental distress in rural Haiti. We employed mixed methods to develop the Kreyòl Distress Idioms (KDI) screening tool. We piloted the KDI in an epidemiologic survey (n = 408) and assessed it using principal component analysis and comparison with the Bec…
Community-based reports of morbidity, mortality, and health-seeking behaviours in four Monrovia communities during the West African Ebola epidemic
The goal of this study was to assess morbidity, mortality, and health-seeking behaviours during the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Monrovia, Liberia. This study examined commonly reported symptoms of illness, pre-clinical diagnostic practices, typical healthcare-seeking strategies, and health resources available to populations, in order to identify salient needs and gaps in healthcare that would inform local emergency response efforts. Semi-structured in…
Risk Factors for and Consequences of Substance Use in Post-Conflict Liberia
Violence, Structural and Interpersonal
Anthropologists have made forceful contributions to knowledge on violence and its impact on human wellbeing. They have widened the World Health Organization's threefold typology of violence, with analyses that highlight structural and political violence, insidious forms of everyday violence that engender suffering, and the machinery of war. They have focused attention on visible and invisible forms of violence—the ramifications of power in armed …
Post-crisis masculinities’ in Sierra Leone
Hegemonic representations of African men have focused on the male breadwinner ideal. In today’s neoliberal context, characterized by economic insecurity and social inequality, African men are said to be experiencing a ‘crisis of masculinity,’ demonstrated by displays of violence, dominance, and denial of responsibility. This article builds upon research highlighting emergent masculinities that challenge stereotypical depictions of African men wit…
Men's experiences of pregnancy and childbirth in Sierra Leone
Caregiving in Crisis
In much of the literature on Sierra Leone, young men have been recognized for perpetrating violence or resisting authority. This characterization extended into the Ebola crisis, as young men were depicted as "resisting" public health measures. In contrast, little scholarship has focused on men's roles as caregivers during the epidemic. This article draws on ethnographic research conducted between 2014 and 2016 in eastern Sierra Leone to demonstra…
If the Woman Doesn't Prevent, You Will Become Pregnant”
Globally, millions of unintended pregnancies occur each year resulting in a host of social, economic, and health‐related problems. Improving knowledge of and access to family planning services is an effective way to prevent unintended pregnancy, and research suggests that men's involvement promotes greater contraceptive uptake. To explore this issue, we assess contraceptive knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among Sierra Leonean men who experien…
Mental health problems among children in Sierra Leone
Globally, over 13% of children and adolescents are affected by mental disorders, yet relatively little scholarship addresses how risk factors, symptoms, and nosology vary by culture and context, especially in young children living in post-conflict and low-resource settings. To address this gap, we conducted a qualitative study to identify and describe the most salient mental health problems facing children aged 6 to 10 years in Sierra Leone, as w…
Navigating the tension between fatherhood ideals and realities of a post-conflict setting
The concept of "fatherhood" in many African countries has traditionally been understood in terms of instrumental support to one's family, most notably, financial provision. However, in Sierra Leone and elsewhere, this narrow understanding of fatherhood is changing as a result of shifting demographic trends and responses to recent crises such as the Ebola pandemic and the aftermath of a civil war. Very little is understood about how male former ch…
Contemplating abortion
Globally, millions of unintended pregnancies result in unsafe abortions each year. In Sierra Leone, abortion-related complications are a major driver of maternal mortality. Despite these costs, women continue to seek unsafe abortions, yet how individuals understand the risks and benefits of pregnancy termination remains under-researched. This study seeks to understand perceptions of abortion by women and men experiencing unplanned pregnancy and t…
More than Disease
When COVID-19 reached Sierra Leone, the government responded by implementing strict containment measures. While the effectiveness of such actions has been debated, the socioeconomic and political implications were undeniable. This qualitative study reveals that people suffered tremendously from economic insecurity, strains on social relationships, and civil rights violations, prompting many to perceive the COVID-19 pandemic as worse than the 2014…
Ebola lessons
The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted a re-examination of public health preparedness with an emphasis on lessons learned following the West African Ebola epidemic. However, much of this work focuses on technological solutions rather than social learning. Drawing upon anthropological work, this paper examines how Sierra Leoneans prepared for COVID-19 through a lens of "embodied epidemic memory." Findings reveal that while people felt more empowered t…
Covid-19 vaccine anxieties
As COVID-19 spread rapidly during the early months of the pandemic, many communities around the globe anxiously waited for a vaccine. At the start of the pandemic, it was widely believed that Africa would be a significant source of infection, and thus, vaccinating African communities became a primary goal among local and global health authorities. However, when the COVID-19 vaccine became available in March 2021 in Sierra Leone, many people viewe…
Exploring Barriers To Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare for Latina Women in South Carolina
Migrant and minority women in the United States face a high likelihood of experiencing poor reproductive health outcomes. Hispanic/Latina women are an especially high-risk population. Comprehensive and high-quality sexual and reproductive healthcare (SRHC) is desperately needed among this population, yet many Latina women face substantial barriers in accessing care. This study builds upon the three-delays model to better understand why Latina wom…
Sociology (14 works) · Medicine (13 works) · Political science (10 works) · Psychology (10 works) · Sierra leone (10 works) · Socioeconomics (9 works) · Environmental health (8 works) · Psychiatry (7 works) · Migration, Health and Trauma (6 works) · Nursing (6 works)