Lara Foley
Biographic Data
| ID | 130004 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Lara Foley |
| GIVEN NAMES | Lara |
| FAMILY NAME | Foley |
| SIGNATURE | FOLEY L |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Cambridge |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3028-7340 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 38 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 118 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 38 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1998 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
The value of adding ‘grey literature’ in evidence synthesis for equity-driven global health: A case study from Small Island Developing States
Grey literature, defined as evidence ‘not controlled by commercial publishers’, can enhance the comprehensiveness, timeliness and balance of evidence reviews. It may be particularly important in global health research, where funding inequities and under-representation of local expertise in peer-reviewed research articles—often published by commercial publishers for substantial fees—can lead to evidence gaps in systematic reviews. However, searchi…
Assessment of individualised dynamic environmental exposures within The World Avatar
The environment in which people spend their lives influences their health behaviours and health outcomes. Traditional studies often use fixed descriptions and ad hoc analyses to characterise environmental exposures at static locations, relating a single environmental factor to one health aspect, even though both the environment and the exposures of people who move through it are dynamic. We introduce a digital twinning approach that semantically …
Examining food sharing practices in Caribbean Small Island Developing States and their potential for improving health outcomes, through a system-informed lens
Food sharing is an important part of food practices in many settings and contributes to food access and diversity. Food sharing has long been embedded in Caribbean culture, reflecting values of community, care, and social cohesion. These practices are undergoing shifts influenced by various socio-political, economic, and environmental factors. Contemporary trends suggest a decline in food sharing, with increased sharing of convenience-oriented fo…
Urban public space initiatives and health in Africa: A mixed-methods systematic review
Public space initiatives (PSIs) in African cities can significantly promote health and social well-being, yet their implementation and impact are unknown across the continent. There is a substantial gap in literature on PSIs in African countries, with most studies concentrated in wealthier cities and lacking comprehensive assessments of long-term health impacts. The objective of this study was to synthesise evidence on the typology, location, fea…
An exploratory case study of food sharing practices in Caribbean countries through a transition lens using intergenerational dyad interviews
BACKGROUND: Caribbean populations face complex health issues related to diet and food security as they undergo a rapid nutrition transition, resulting in some of the world's highest number of premature deaths from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Despite policy efforts to promote local and regional food consumption, reliance on food imports remains high with many Caribbean countries importing more than 80% of their food from larger economies. Pre…
Clustering of diet and physical activity behaviours in adolescents across home and school area-level deprivation in Cameroon, South Africa, and Jamaica
An inverse clustering of sedentary behaviour duration and eating habits remained consistent across different strata for at least two sites, suggesting that interventions to reduce sedentary time could have a ripple effect on multiple NCD risk factors in adolescence
Virtual Assessment of Physical Activity–Related Built Environment in Soweto, South Africa: What Is the Role of Contextual Familiarity
Understanding how urban environments shape physical activity is critical in rapidly urbanizing countries such as South Africa. We assessed the reliability of virtual audits for characterizing urban features related to physical activity in Soweto, South Africa. We used the Microscale Audit of Pedestrian Streetscapes Global tool to characterize pedestrian-related features from Google Street View images in four neighborhoods of Soweto. Neighborhoods…
Socioeconomic inequalities in food purchasing practices and expenditure patterns: Results from a cross-sectional household survey in western Kenya
Introduction Socioeconomic inequalities contribute to poor health. Inequitable access to diverse and healthy foods can be a risk factor for non-communicable diseases, especially in individuals of low socioeconomic status. We examined the extent of socioeconomic inequalities in food purchasing practices, expenditure, and consumption in a resource-poor setting in Kenya. Methods We conducted a secondary analysis of baseline cross-sectional data from…
Gender differences in active travel in major cities across the world
There is lack of literature on international comparison of gender differences in the use of active travel modes. We used population-representative travel surveys for 19 major cities across 13 countries and 6 continents, representing a mix of cites from low-and-middle income (n = 8) and high-income countries (n = 11). In all the cities, females are more likely than males to walk and, in most cities, more likely to use public transport. This relati…
Association of Perceived Neighbourhood Walkability with Self-Reported Physical Activity and Body Mass Index in South African Adolescents
Adolescence is a life stage critical to the establishment of healthy behaviours, including physical activity (PA). Factors associated with the built environment have been shown to impact PA across the life course. We examined the sociodemographic differences in, and associations between, perceived neighbourhood walkability, PA, and body mass index (BMI) in South African adolescents. We recruited a convenience sample (n = 143; 13-18 years; 65% fem…
Participatory prioritisation of interventions to improve primary school food environments in Gauteng, South Africa
Prioritising evidence-based, feasible and important interventions underpinned by behaviour change theories is an important step towards enhanced policy making and resource allocation to tackle South Africa's childhood obesity epidemic effectively
Comparing travel behaviour characteristics and correlates between large and small Kenyan cities (Nairobi versus Kisumu)
Understanding urban travel behaviour is crucial for planning healthy and sustainable cities. Africa is urbanising at one of the fastest rates in the world and urgently needs this knowledge. However, the data and literature on urban travel behaviour, their correlates, and their variation across African cities are limited. We aimed to describe and compare travel behaviour characteristics and correlates of two Kenyan cities (Nairobi and Kisumu). We …
Foodscapes, finance, and faith: Multi-sectoral stakeholder perspectives on the local population health and wellbeing in an urbanizing area in Kenya
Introduction: Rapid urbanization (growth of cities) can upset the local population's health and wellbeing by creating obesogenic environments which increase the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). It is important to understand how stakeholders perceive the impact of urbanizing interventions (such as the construction of a new hypermarket) on the health and wellbeing of local populations. Because low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) lac…
Comparison of household socioeconomic status classification methods and effects on risk estimation: Lessons from a natural experimental study, Kisumu, Western Kenya
FW and CHV assessments are community-driven methods for SES classification. Compared to MCA, these approaches appeared biased towards low or middle SES households and not sensitive to high household SES. The three methods did not differ in risk estimation for diabetes and hypertension. A mix of approaches and further evaluation to refine SES classification methodology is recommended
Navigating the local foodscape: Qualitative investigation of food retail and dietary preferences in Kisumu and Homa Bay Counties, western Kenya
This study demonstrated that understanding dietary preferences are complex. Future interventions should not only consider intrapersonal and interpersonal influences when aiming to promote healthy eating among communities but also need to target the community and macro environments. This means that nutrition promotion strategies should focus on multiple levels of influence that broaden options for interventions. However, government interventions i…
Children's experiences of the journey between home and school: A qualitative synthesis using meta-ethnography
This paper uses meta-ethnography to synthesise qualitative and ethnographic studies of children's (aged 5-13) experiences of socio-material environments on their school journey. Most of the 21 papers (18 studies) identified from the systematic search were from high-income countries and used self-report qualitative methods. Our synthesis shows children can feel vulnerable, but also negotiate journeys and manage risks, enjoy shared and solitary mob…
Socioeconomic and gendered inequities in travel behaviour in Africa: Mixed-method systematic review and meta-ethnography
Foodwork in the United Kingdom from 1983 to 2014: A compositional data analysis of repeat cross-sectional time use surveys
BACKGROUND: While foodwork (tasks required to access food, including home food preparation) in the UK declined toward the end of the 20th century, it is not known whether this trend has continued into the 21st century. While evidence suggests many people feel they lack the time to cook, it is not known whether this is attributable to increasing demands on their time. METHODS: Analysis of repeat cross-sectional data from three UK time use surveys:…
Sharing believable stories: A qualitative study exploring the relevance of case studies for influencing the creation of healthy environments
Case study examples can inform policy recommendations and action to create healthy environments. This qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews with nine cross-sectoral stakeholders in England, explored the role of context in case study examples. We found that case studies can not only be a 'practical example' but also used as a 'believable story' with the power to influence decision-making. Case studies may be deemed believable if simi…
Making sense of the evidence in population health intervention research: Building a dry stone wall
To effectively tackle population health challenges, we must address the fundamental determinants of behaviour and health. Among other things, this will entail devoting more attention to the evaluation of upstream intervention strategies. However, merely increasing the supply of such studies is not enough. The pivotal link between research and policy or practice should be the cumulation of insight from multiple studies. If conventional evidence sy…
The global diet and activity research (GDAR) network: A global public health partnership to address upstream NCD risk factors in urban low and middle-income contexts
Implications of Covid-19 control measures for diet and physical activity, and lessons for addressing other pandemics facing rapidly urbanising countries
At the time of writing, it is unclear how the COVID-19 pandemic will play out in rapidly urbanising regions of the world. In these regions, the realities of large overcrowded informal settlements, a high burden of infectious and non-communicable diseases, as well as malnutrition and precarity of livelihoods, have raised added concerns about the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in these contexts. COVID-19 infection control measures have b…
Local walking and cycling by residents living near urban motorways: Cross-sectional analysis
Our findings suggest that associations between living near a motorway and local walking and cycling behaviour may vary by the characteristics of the motorway, and by whether the behaviour is for travel or recreation. The lack of associations seen in the study area with no motorway suggests a threshold effect whereby beyond a certain distance from a motorway, additional distance makes no difference
Activity spaces in studies of the environment and physical activity: A review and synthesis of implications for causality
Activity spaces are increasingly used to understand how people interact with their environment and engage in activity but their use may raise challenges regarding causal inference. We conducted a systematic review of findings and the methodological, analytical and conceptual issues relevant to causal inference. Studies were included if they comprised a spatial summary of locations visited, assessed any part of the causal pathway between the envir…
Longitudinal association between change in the neighbourhood built environment and the wellbeing of local residents in deprived areas: An observational study
Overall, we found some evidence that living in neighbourhoods experiencing higher levels of physical change worsened wellbeing in local residents. However, we found a stronger negative relationship in those with lower financial security and a positive relationship in those with higher financial security. This is one of few studies exploring the longitudinal relationship between the environment and health
Medicine as discursive resource: Legitimation in the Work Narratives of Midwives
This article examines the work narratives of midwives practicing in the United States, specifically in the State of Florida. We focus analytic attention on how the discourse of medicine is used as a resource in constructing a sense of legitimation for midwifery. Data are drawn from in-depth interviews with 26 direct-entry, licensed midwives and certified nurse-midwives. Historically, social scientific literature on midwifery has placed a midwifer…
White Privilege, Color Blindness, and Services to Battered Women
White privilege is a system of benefits, advantages, and opportunities experienced by White persons in our society simply because of their skin color. In this article, the authors present the results of a descriptive, exploratory study of White privilege in battered women's shelters in the Deep South. Based on a qualitative analysis, the authors show how White privilege is intricately connected to executive directors' claims of color blindness, t…
"Doing "Real Family Values: The Interpretive Practice of Families in the GLBT Movement
This article considers how a social movement group in the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) movement engages in discursive contention with the Religious Right over the meaning of traditional family values. By utilizing an understanding of framing as interpretive practice, we return to a more active conceptualization of framing and illustrate how the meaning making of PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), though…
A Research Note on Post-Dating Relationships: The Social Embeddedness of Redefining Romantic Couplings
This is an exploratory, descriptive study of relationship redefinition. Using symbolic interaction theory, this paper examines the contours of post-dating relationships, asking the following questions: 1) how do people orient themselves to one another after a dating reltaionship ends?; and, 2) what is the power dynamic between one's social network and his or her post-dating relationship? Using a snowball sample (N = 30), interview data are analyz…
Midwives, Marginality, and Public Identity Work
Because midwifery in the United States is an occupation at the margins of medicine, midwives must frequently negotiate competing identity claims. This article examines the public identity work of a group of midwives by focusing on two important tools they use to accomplish this work: boundary negotiation and impression management. Drawing on data from in-depth interviews with twenty-six licensed, nurse, and empirical midwives in the state of Flor…
Midwifery as established sect: An Expanded Application of the Church-Sect Continuum
Based on church–sect theory, this paper asserts that midwifery is much like an established sect in relation to its church equivalent: Western medicine. We find that midwifery can endure in this form – as both protest movement and established institution – because of its ability to maintain its central oppositional values while being accepted as a legitimate, if marginalized, profession. Using interview data from 25 Florida midwives, we draw an an…
The Dating Game: An Exercise Illustrating the Concepts of Homogamy, Heterogamy, Hyperogamy, and Hypogamy
Sharing believable stories: A qualitative study exploring the relevance of case studies for influencing the creation of healthy environments
Case study examples can inform policy recommendations and action to create healthy environments. This qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews with nine cross-sectoral stakeholders in England, explored the role of context in case study examples. We found that case studies can not only be a 'practical example' but also used as a 'believable story' with the power to influence decision-making. Case studies may be deemed believable if simi…
Experiences of connectivity and severance in the wake of a new motorway: Implications for health and well-being
Comparing travel behaviour characteristics and correlates between large and small Kenyan cities (Nairobi versus Kisumu)
Understanding urban travel behaviour is crucial for planning healthy and sustainable cities. Africa is urbanising at one of the fastest rates in the world and urgently needs this knowledge. However, the data and literature on urban travel behaviour, their correlates, and their variation across African cities are limited. We aimed to describe and compare travel behaviour characteristics and correlates of two Kenyan cities (Nairobi and Kisumu). We …
A Research Note on Post-Dating Relationships: The Social Embeddedness of Redefining Romantic Couplings
This is an exploratory, descriptive study of relationship redefinition. Using symbolic interaction theory, this paper examines the contours of post-dating relationships, asking the following questions: 1) how do people orient themselves to one another after a dating reltaionship ends?; and, 2) what is the power dynamic between one's social network and his or her post-dating relationship? Using a snowball sample (N = 30), interview data are analyz…
The Dating Game: An Exercise Illustrating the Concepts of Homogamy, Heterogamy, Hyperogamy, and Hypogamy
Medicine as discursive resource: Legitimation in the Work Narratives of Midwives
This article examines the work narratives of midwives practicing in the United States, specifically in the State of Florida. We focus analytic attention on how the discourse of medicine is used as a resource in constructing a sense of legitimation for midwifery. Data are drawn from in-depth interviews with 26 direct-entry, licensed midwives and certified nurse-midwives. Historically, social scientific literature on midwifery has placed a midwifer…
White Privilege, Color Blindness, and Services to Battered Women
White privilege is a system of benefits, advantages, and opportunities experienced by White persons in our society simply because of their skin color. In this article, the authors present the results of a descriptive, exploratory study of White privilege in battered women's shelters in the Deep South. Based on a qualitative analysis, the authors show how White privilege is intricately connected to executive directors' claims of color blindness, t…
"Doing "Real Family Values: The Interpretive Practice of Families in the GLBT Movement
This article considers how a social movement group in the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) movement engages in discursive contention with the Religious Right over the meaning of traditional family values. By utilizing an understanding of framing as interpretive practice, we return to a more active conceptualization of framing and illustrate how the meaning making of PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), though…
Midwives, Marginality, and Public Identity Work
Because midwifery in the United States is an occupation at the margins of medicine, midwives must frequently negotiate competing identity claims. This article examines the public identity work of a group of midwives by focusing on two important tools they use to accomplish this work: boundary negotiation and impression management. Drawing on data from in-depth interviews with twenty-six licensed, nurse, and empirical midwives in the state of Flor…
Virginity Lost: An Intimate Portrait of First Sexual Experiences - Edited by Laura M. Carpenter
Feasibility, design and conduct of a pragmatic randomized controlled trial to reduce overweight and obesity in children: The electronic games to aid motivation to exercise (eGame) study
An overview of the eGAME study is presented, providing an example of a large, pragmatic randomized controlled trial in a community setting. Reflection is offered on key issues encountered during the course of the study. In particular, investigation into the feasibility of the proposed intervention, as well as robust testing of proposed study procedures is a critical step prior to implementation of a large-scale trial
Midwifery as established sect: An Expanded Application of the Church-Sect Continuum
Based on church–sect theory, this paper asserts that midwifery is much like an established sect in relation to its church equivalent: Western medicine. We find that midwifery can endure in this form – as both protest movement and established institution – because of its ability to maintain its central oppositional values while being accepted as a legitimate, if marginalized, profession. Using interview data from 25 Florida midwives, we draw an an…
Screen-time Weight-loss Intervention Targeting Children at Home (SWITCH): A randomized controlled trial study protocol
ACTRN12611000164998
Screen Time Weight-loss Intervention Targeting Children at Home (SWITCH): Process evaluation of a randomised controlled trial intervention
The trial was registered in the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (no. ACTRN12611000164998 ); registration date: 10/02/2011
Effects of living near a new urban motorway on the travel behaviour of local residents in deprived areas: Evidence from a natural experimental study
We evaluated the effects of a new motorway built through deprived neighbourhoods on travel behaviour in residents. This natural experiment comprised a longitudinal cohort (n=365) and two cross-sectional samples (baseline n=980; follow-up n=978) recruited in 2005 and 2013. Adults from one of three study areas - surrounding the new motorway (South), an existing motorway (East), or no motorway (North) - completed a previous day travel record. Adjust…
Longitudinal association between change in the neighbourhood built environment and the wellbeing of local residents in deprived areas: An observational study
Overall, we found some evidence that living in neighbourhoods experiencing higher levels of physical change worsened wellbeing in local residents. However, we found a stronger negative relationship in those with lower financial security and a positive relationship in those with higher financial security. This is one of few studies exploring the longitudinal relationship between the environment and health
Experiences of connectivity and severance in the wake of a new motorway: Implications for health and well-being
Local walking and cycling by residents living near urban motorways: Cross-sectional analysis
Our findings suggest that associations between living near a motorway and local walking and cycling behaviour may vary by the characteristics of the motorway, and by whether the behaviour is for travel or recreation. The lack of associations seen in the study area with no motorway suggests a threshold effect whereby beyond a certain distance from a motorway, additional distance makes no difference
Activity spaces in studies of the environment and physical activity: A review and synthesis of implications for causality
Activity spaces are increasingly used to understand how people interact with their environment and engage in activity but their use may raise challenges regarding causal inference. We conducted a systematic review of findings and the methodological, analytical and conceptual issues relevant to causal inference. Studies were included if they comprised a spatial summary of locations visited, assessed any part of the causal pathway between the envir…
Making sense of the evidence in population health intervention research: Building a dry stone wall
To effectively tackle population health challenges, we must address the fundamental determinants of behaviour and health. Among other things, this will entail devoting more attention to the evaluation of upstream intervention strategies. However, merely increasing the supply of such studies is not enough. The pivotal link between research and policy or practice should be the cumulation of insight from multiple studies. If conventional evidence sy…
The global diet and activity research (GDAR) network: A global public health partnership to address upstream NCD risk factors in urban low and middle-income contexts
Implications of Covid-19 control measures for diet and physical activity, and lessons for addressing other pandemics facing rapidly urbanising countries
At the time of writing, it is unclear how the COVID-19 pandemic will play out in rapidly urbanising regions of the world. In these regions, the realities of large overcrowded informal settlements, a high burden of infectious and non-communicable diseases, as well as malnutrition and precarity of livelihoods, have raised added concerns about the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in these contexts. COVID-19 infection control measures have b…
Sharing believable stories: A qualitative study exploring the relevance of case studies for influencing the creation of healthy environments
Case study examples can inform policy recommendations and action to create healthy environments. This qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews with nine cross-sectoral stakeholders in England, explored the role of context in case study examples. We found that case studies can not only be a 'practical example' but also used as a 'believable story' with the power to influence decision-making. Case studies may be deemed believable if simi…
Foodscapes, finance, and faith: Multi-sectoral stakeholder perspectives on the local population health and wellbeing in an urbanizing area in Kenya
Introduction: Rapid urbanization (growth of cities) can upset the local population's health and wellbeing by creating obesogenic environments which increase the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). It is important to understand how stakeholders perceive the impact of urbanizing interventions (such as the construction of a new hypermarket) on the health and wellbeing of local populations. Because low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) lac…
Comparison of household socioeconomic status classification methods and effects on risk estimation: Lessons from a natural experimental study, Kisumu, Western Kenya
FW and CHV assessments are community-driven methods for SES classification. Compared to MCA, these approaches appeared biased towards low or middle SES households and not sensitive to high household SES. The three methods did not differ in risk estimation for diabetes and hypertension. A mix of approaches and further evaluation to refine SES classification methodology is recommended
Navigating the local foodscape: Qualitative investigation of food retail and dietary preferences in Kisumu and Homa Bay Counties, western Kenya
This study demonstrated that understanding dietary preferences are complex. Future interventions should not only consider intrapersonal and interpersonal influences when aiming to promote healthy eating among communities but also need to target the community and macro environments. This means that nutrition promotion strategies should focus on multiple levels of influence that broaden options for interventions. However, government interventions i…
Children's experiences of the journey between home and school: A qualitative synthesis using meta-ethnography
This paper uses meta-ethnography to synthesise qualitative and ethnographic studies of children's (aged 5-13) experiences of socio-material environments on their school journey. Most of the 21 papers (18 studies) identified from the systematic search were from high-income countries and used self-report qualitative methods. Our synthesis shows children can feel vulnerable, but also negotiate journeys and manage risks, enjoy shared and solitary mob…
Socioeconomic and gendered inequities in travel behaviour in Africa: Mixed-method systematic review and meta-ethnography
Medicine (22 works) · Sociology (21 works) · Geography (15 works) · Political science (13 works) · Psychology (13 works) · Urban Transport and Accessibility (12 works) · Environmental health (11 works) · Public health (11 works) · Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet (10 works) · Biostatistics (9 works)