Under construction…please send rebecca.sear@lshtm.ac.uk an email if you’d like to be added to the network
Here’s a list of researchers and public health practitioners interested in including ‘grandmothers’ (=older women) into public health and policy. More broadly, who are interested in extending the focus of public health and policy beyond a simplistic idea of the male-breadwinning nuclear family, to understanding and incorporating the collaborative roles of mothers, fathers, children, extended kin and other individuals in family life.
Judi Aubel, Executive Director of The Grandmother Project – Change through Culture, an NGO focused on promoting the health, well-being and rights of women, children and adolescents in lower income contexts, through grandmother inclusive and intergenerational programmes. Key publications: here, here and here.
Dixon Chibanda, LSHTM, developed ‘The Friendship Bench‘ which involves lay health workers (often ‘grandmothers’) providing therapy in the community to improve mental health. @DixonChibanda Ted talk. Key publications: here and here.
David Coall, Edith Cowan University, interdisciplinary researcher using perspectives and methods from human evolutionary ecology, biological anthropology, psychology and sociology to investigate intergenerational influences on health; significant research focus on grandparents. @DavidCoall. Key publication here
Natalia Concha, LSE, explores the psychosocial and sociocultural dimensions of maternal trajectories in Colombia beyond heteronormative assumptions, where grandmothers play a central role in mothering. She also works on youth developmental trajectories shaped by adversity and conflict. @nataliaconar
Kenda Cunningham, Helen Keller International, Suaahara II Sr. Technical Advisor; interested in implementation and research in Nepal focusing on the use of a family approach for health- and nutrition- related programming. Key publication here.
Candace Currie, Professor of Global Adolescent Health, Glasgow Caledonian University, research focusses on socioeconomic and gender inequalities, and in pubertal development and its impact on adolescent health and wellbeing. @candacecurrie
Emily Emmott, UCL, research programme around extended and institutional child-rearing systems (such as parenting, grand-parenting, schooling and social care provisions) and child/adolescent development. @Emily_Emmott
Anushé Hassan, LSHTM, exploring links between family structure, parental & alloparental care provision and children’s wellbeing in northwestern Tanzania. @anushehassan
Stephanie Martin, University of North Carolina, currently examining interventions to increase fathers, grandmothers, and other family members support for infant care and feeding in Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zambia; support exclusive breastfeeding among women working in the informal sector in urban Tanzania; and improve adolescent nutrition in an informal settlement in Kenya. Key publication here
Abigail Page, LSHTM, research programme seeks to uncover the structure of childcare in a hunter-gatherer community in the Philippines, the Agta. In a community where mothers have a lot of children quickly, and lots of people help looking after and provisioning these children, Abigail explores the consequences of this childcare from fathers, siblings and other juveniles and grandmothers on mothers workload and maternal and child health outcomes. @abbeyepage Key publications: here
Mira Schneiders, University of Oxford, research programme explores the role of family caregivers in providing long-term care for older people in low-resource settings. Of particular interest to her are the ethical dimensions and impact of being a caregiver and of receiving caregiver support
Rebecca Sear, LSHTM, research programme on how grandmothers and other extended family members influence demographic and health outcomes. @RebeccaSear Key publications: here and here.