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Staff Profile

Dr Lorraine McSweeney

Post Doctoral Research Associate

  • Address: Population Health Sciences
    Faculty of Medical Sciences
    Â鶹´«Ã½
    William Leech Building
    R. 1.151
    Framlington Place
    Â鶹´«Ã½ upon Tyne
    NE2 4HH
    UK
Background

Summary

I am a qualitative post doctoral Research Associate based within the Population Health Sciences Institute in the Faculty of Medical Sciences /medical-sciences/research/institutes/population-health/

My PhD was a mixed methods feasibility study to determine which behaviour change strategies to improve diet, physical activity and sedentary behaviours in preschool children aged 3-5 years would be acceptable to nursery practitioners and parents.

I am a member of the Population Health Sciences Institute and work across a number of research themes including: Nutrition, Exercise and Metabolism - Faculty of Medical Sciences - Â鶹´«Ã½ (ncl.ac.uk); Public Health and Health Inequalities - Faculty of Medical Sciences - Â鶹´«Ã½ (ncl.ac.uk); and Centre for Healthier Lives - Centre for Healthier Lives - Â鶹´«Ã½ (ncl.ac.uk) 

I work on several projects including, NIHR Funded Evaluation of the Government's Tier 2 Weight Management Services, NIHR funded MapMe2 study, and NIHR funded UNFAIR. I also contribute to The School Foods Architecture study, and have conducted qualitative research with The Hospital food environment.

My research interests include obesity, behaviour change interventions, health behaviours and qualitative research.


  • Research Income



  • Dr Claire Madigan, Professor Amanda Daley, Dr Charlotte Albury, Dr Mackenzie Fong, Professor Ashley Adamson, Dr Charlotte Rothwell, Dr Lorraine McSweeney, Mrs Alison Stanley, Miss Henrietta Graham. The Regain Project, NIHR, Nov 2023 - Oct 2025. £169,671.00
  • Dr Mackenzie Fong, Professor Ashley Adamson, Dr Lorraine McSweeney, Ms Claire Matthews, Mr Jamie Blackshaw, Ms Margie van Dijk, Mr Scott Lloyd, Professor Paul Aveyard, Professor Susan Jebb, Dr John Barber. Evaluation of Tier2 Weight Management Services, North East Commissioning Service. Nov 2021 - May 2023. £71,947.71
  • Professor Ashley Adamson, Alison Gahagan, Dr Angela Jones, Professor John Matthews, Dr Laura Basterfield, Dr Elizabeth Evans, Dr Lorraine McSweeney, Loretta Solars, Professor Louisa Ells, Professor Martin Tovey. Can embedding the MapMe intervention, a tool to improve parental acknowledgement and understanding of childhood overweight and obesity, in the National Child Measurement Programme lead to improved child weight outcomes at one year? NIHR. March 2020 - February 2024. £1,774489.00
  • Dr Lorraine McSweeney, Dr Suzanne Spence, Dr Julia Allan, James Callaghan, Paula Coulson. Â鶹´«Ã½ Hospitals NHS staff advisory and PPI groups for staff hospital food environment intervention. Â鶹´«Ã½ Hospitals Trust Fund. April 2022.                       £2240.00
  • Dr Lorraine McSweeney, Dr Wendy Wrieden, Dr Suzanne Spence, Dr Catherine Haighton, Mrs Julie Anderson. Parental perceptions of the hospital food environment: a qualitative interview study. Fuse Pump Prime Research Funds Oct 2016- Oct 2017.                                                                                        £4760.19 
  • Dr Suzanne Spence, Prof A Adamson, Dr W Wrieden, & Dr L McSweeney, Prof J Matthews, Dr L Panzone, J Reilly, J MacMorran, R Rigby, D Stobbs, G Battista, M Lamb, Prof D Just. An evaluation of food choice architecture on food and drink consumption in 11-16y olds in North East England: a pilot study. Academy of Medical Sciences Springboard - Health of the Public 2040 Award March 2017. £38,691.37






 


Research

Current work includes:

  • NIHR Funded Evaluation of the Government's Tier 2 Weight Management Services
  • MapMe2: The refinement and development of the MapMe childhood weight management tool. (Public Involvement and Community Engagement).
  • The Regain Project.

Previous work includes:

  • UNFAIR: Understanding Factors that explain Avoidable hospital admission Inequalities: To explore and develop an understanding of how local areas address health inequalities with a focus on avoidable emergency admissions
  • Commissioning early intervention parent-infant services to increase access, improve outcomes and decrease inequalities: co-development of a commissioning support tool: This study will inform commissioning of infant mental health services through co-development of a commissioning support tool. Ultimately the aim is to increase access; improving outcomes and decreasing inequalities.
  • LITMUS: a pioneering European research project aiming to lead to new diagnostic tests to assess patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and identify those most at risk for developing severe inflammation and liver scarring.
  • The NAtional Trial of Tonsillectomy in Adults: a clinical and cost effectiveness study (NATTINA). A multicentre, randomised, controlled trial with feasibility study and internal pilot. NATTINA is looking to determine the cost effectiveness and efficiency of tonsillectomy versus conservative therapy (delayed surgery) in adults with recurrent acute tonsillitis over a 24 months follow-up period with an embedded qualitative study.
  • Parental perceptions of the hospital food environment – a qualitative interview study to determine whether hospital shops and outlets cater for families whose children visit or are in hospital.
  • Early Life and Adolescence Programme (ELAP) - is a research programme within Fuse which includes research on pregnancy, infancy, preschool and school years, adolescence and the transition to independence
  • GestationaL Obesity Weight-management: Implementation of National Guidelines (GLOWING) - Use of a theory-based intervention to facilitate the implementation of maternal obesity management guidelines in order to: Change midwives behaviour in clinical practice and improve obese pregnant women’s weight related behaviours (and postnatal).

 


Teaching

MSc in Public Health and Health Services Research (HSC8042): 

  • Public Health Intervention Assignment Marking (2016, 2017, 2018

MSc Dietetics

  • Healthcare staff perspectives of the hospital food environment: a systematic narrative review (2022 -2023)


Food & Human Nutrition/Food Marketing and Nutrition (UG) Hons projects:

  • Nutritional Adequacy of the Hospital Food Environment and Possible Interventions to Improve Staff and Visitor Dietary Intake: A Systematic Review (2020 - 2021)
  • Patient and Public Involvement: How does it shape the MapMe2 Study? (2020 -2021)
  • ‘Assessment of MenuCal as a tool for calorie and allergen labelling in independent food outlets in the North East of England’ (2017-2018)
  • ‘An Investigation of Drink Availability for Visitors and Outpatients in a Large Hospital in North East England’ (2016-2017)
  • ‘Sources of Non-milk Extrinsic Sugars in the diets of 11-12 year old children in Northumberland, and perceptions of school food policies that aim to reduce Non-milk Extrinsic Sugar intake in young adolescents’ (2015-2016)


Assignment marking (2020, 2021, 2023)





Publications

  • Articles

    • Barrett S, Haffner SJP, McSweeney L, Rothwell C, Fong M, Jebb SA, Indulkar T, Taylor K, Adamson AJ, Heath L, Aveyard P. . BMC Public Health 2026, 26(1), 638.
    • McSweeney L, Lally J, Parbery-Clark C, Murrell K, Thomson RG, Sowden S. . BMC Health Services Research 2025, 25, 810.
    • Doward LC, Breckons M, Balp M-M, Twiss J, Vale L, McSweeney L, Brass CA, Anstee QM, Sanyal AJ. . Journal of Patient-Reported Outcomes 2025, 9(1), 76.
    • Evans EH, Jones CM, Adamson A, Jones AR, Basterfield L, Greca JPA, Sermin-Reed L, Patterson M, McSweeney L, Dhami R, Ells L, Gahagan A, Robinson T, Shahrokhabadi MS, Teare D, Tovee MJ, Araujo Soares V. . British Journal of Health Psychology 2025, 30(1), e12784.
    • McSweeney L, Sewornu A, Goffe L, Arnott B, Adamson A. . Frontiers in Public Health 2025, 13, 1494180.
    • McSweeney L, Buczkowska M, Denning L, Elcock M, Spence S. . Public Health Nutrition 2025, 21(8), e66.
    • McSweeney L, Bateson K, Hamilton W, Arnott B. . BMC Health Services Research 2025, 25, 1020.
    • McSweeney L, Rothwell C, Adamson A, Barrett S, Mathews C, Lloyd S, Fong M. . Clinical Obesity 2024, e12723.
    • Parbery-Clark C, McSweeney L, Lally J, Sowden S. . BMC Public Health 2024, 24(1), 2168.
    • Parbery-Clark C, Nicholls R, McSweeney L, Sowden S, Lally J. . Health Expectations 2024, 27(1), e13860.
    • Spence S, McSweeney L, Woodside JV, Schliemann D. . BMC Public Health 2024, 24, 719.
    • Fong M, McSweeney L, Adamson A, Mathews C, Lloyd S, Rothwell C. . Clinical Obesity 2024, 14(2), e12629.
    • Wilson JA, Fouweather T, Stocken DD, Homer T, Haighton C, Rousseau N, O'Hara J, Vale L, Wilson R, Carnell S, Wilkes S, Morrison J, Ah-See K, Carrie S, Hopkins C, Howe N, Hussain M, Lindley L, MacKenzie K, McSweeney L, Mehanna H, Raine C, Whelan RS, Sullivan F, von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff A, Teare D. . Health Technology Assessment 2023, 27(31).
    • Wilson JA, O'Hara J, Fouweather T, Homer T, Stocken DD, Vale L, Haighton C, Rousseau N, Wilson R, McSweeney L, Wilkes S, Morrison J, MacKenzie K, Ah-See K, Carrie S, Hopkins C, Howe N, Hussain M, Mehanna H, Raine C, Sullivan F, von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff A, Teare MD. . The Lancet 2023, 401(10393), 2051-2059.
    • Spence S, Matthews JNS, McSweeney L, Adamson AJ, Bradley Jennifer. . Nutrients 2022, 14(13), 2626.
    • McSweeney L, Arnott B, Jones A, Gain G, Jenkins J, Andras A, Adamson A. . Perspectives in Public Health 2022, 142(4), 224-230.
    • Richardson S, McSweeney L, Spence S. . Nutrients 2022, 14, 1566.
    • Spence S, Matthews JNS, McSweeney L, Rowland MK, Orango P, Adamson AJ. . Public Health Nutrition 2021, 24(10), 3167-3175.
    • McSweeney L, Breckons M, Fattakhova G, Oluboyede Y, Vale L, Ternent L, Balp MM, Doward L, Brass CA, Beyer F, Sanyal A, Anstee QM. . JHEP Reports 2020, 2(3), 100099.
    • McSweeney L, Bradley J, Adamson AJ, Spence S. . Nutrients 2019, 11(11), 2746.
    • McSweeney L, Spence S, Anderson J, Wrieden W, Haighton C. . PLOS ONE 2018, 13(11), E0205416.
    • McSweeney LA, Wilson JA, Wilkes S, Haighton CA. . Family Practice 2018, 35(5), 633-637.
    • McSweeney LA, Rousseau NS, Wilson JA, Wilkes S, Haighton CA. . Clinical Otolaryngology 2017, 42(2), 301-306.
    • McSweeney L, Araujo-Soares V, Rapley T, Adamson A. . BMC Public Health 2017, 17, 248.
    • McSweeney LA, Rapley T, Summerbell CD, Haighton CA, Adamson AJ. . BMC Public Health 2016, 16, 841.
    • McSweeney LA, O'Hara JT, Rousseau NS, Stocken DD, Sullivan F, Vale L, Wilkes S, Wilson JA, Haighton CA. . Clinical Otolaryngology 2016, 42(3), 578-583.
    • McSweeney L, Rapley T, Adamson A. . Journal of Nutrition and Health Sciences 2015, 2(4), 406.
    • McSweeney LA, Rousseau NS, Wilson JA, Wilkes S, Haighton CA. Patient, GP and Otolaryngologist views of recurrent sore throat, tonsillitis and its management: a qualitative interview study. 2015. In Preparation.

  • Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

    • McSweeney L, Jones A, Basterfield L, Adamson A. . In: Society for Social Medicine and Population Health. 2023, Â鶹´«Ã½ upon Tyne: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
    • McSweeney L, Jones A, Basterfield L, Adamson A. . In: Society for Social Medicine and Population Health Annual Scientific Meeting. 2023, Â鶹´«Ã½ upon Tyne: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
    • McSweeney L, Bradley J, Adamson A, Spence S. . In: 6th UK Congress on Obesity 2019. 2019, Leeds: Association for the Study of Obesity.
    • Spence S, Matthews JNS, McSweeney L, Rowland M, Orango P, Adamson AJ. . In: Public Health Science. 2019, London: The Lancet Publishing Group.
    • McSweeney L, Spence S, Anderson J, Wrieden W, Haighton C. . In: 5th UK Congress on Obesity 2018. 2018, Â鶹´«Ã½: Nature Publishing Group.
    • McSweeney LA, Summerbell CD, Rapley T, Adamson AJ. Can nursery schools help prevent childhood obesity?. In: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NUTRITION SOCIETY. 2011, EDINBURGH BLDG, SHAFTESBURY RD, CB2 8RU CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND: CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS.
    • McSweeney LA, Stamp E, Jones AR, Parkinson KN, Adamson AJ. Parenting styles, child and mother dietary behaviour: are there relationships. In: Nutrition Society Summer Meeting. 2010, Edinburgh: Proceedings of the Nutrition Society.

  • Report

    • de Aguiar Greca JP, Andrew M, Spence S, Pennington L, Woodside JV, McSweeney L, Tanner L. . Figshare, 2024.