Dr Rachel O'Donnell

I am an Associate Professor at the Institute for Social Marketing and Health at the University of Stirling, specialising in qualitative research. My current areas of research interest include the design and delivery of interventions to support families to create a smoke-free home, alcohol licensing and availability, and no- and low-alcohol products. I am ISMH's public involvement lead, actively working in partnership with members of the public to plan, manage, design and input to research projects we conduct, to maximise relevance to end users and increase research impact.

I currently lead a CSO funded pilot RCT exploring the use of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) to create smoke-free homes. I also co-lead the Smoke-free Homes International Network (SHINE) - an initiative aimed to foster multidisciplinary collaborations on future smoke-free homes research, policy and practice internationally.

I am a Senior Editor for the International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research, the official journal of the Kettil Bruun Society for Social and Epidemiological Research on Alcohol (KBS).

My current research focuses on the development of intervention methods to encourage behaviour change aimed at creating a smoke-free home. I have been involved in interventions utilising a) various forms of personalised air quality feedback; b) a theory-driven approach incorporating intervention mapping; and c) the use of nicotine replacement therapy for use instead of smoking indoors. I am also interested in the use of empowering approaches to health behaviour change which, in the context of creating a smoke-free home, recognise the stigma and guilt often experienced by smoking parents. I am a qualitative researcher and I have a longstanding interest in developing and conducting research working with disadvantaged, vulnerable populations.  I am also interested in gender-based approaches to health behaviour change, which acknowledge the role that gender plays in creating and maintaining change.

I contribute to teaching on the University of Stirling Masters in Public Health. I have also developed and delivered online training on qualitative research methods for a number of international research projects based at the University of Stirling, and I have previously taught on the Qualitative Research Methods module of the Masters In Public Health at the University of Edinburgh.