Staff Member Biography

Laura Macdonald

position: Research Assistantprogrammes: Neighbourhoods and Health, Social and Spatial Patterning of Health

Contact Details

email:
phone: 0141 357 3949

Address

MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit
4 Lilybank Gardens
Glasgow G12 8RZ

Biography and Interests

Laura Macdonald graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1999 with an M.A. (Hons) in Sociology, and went on to do a postgraduate course in Information Technology at Paisley University. She began working for the Social and Public Health Sciences Unit in February 2001 as a Research Assistant within the Social and Spatial Patterning team (now known as Neighbourhoods and Health), investigating the processes by which features of the local social and physical environment might influence health and the ability to lead a healthy life.

Laura has been involved in the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) software to map features of the local environment within Glasgow and surrounding areas, and her current research interests include exploring the association between proximity to certain types of amenity and health behaviours (e.g. distance to alcohol outlets and alcohol consumption, distance to food retailers and obesity/diet, distance to green space or vacant land and physical activity); and the association between neighbourhood deprivation and the density of specific amenities.

Publications

Macdonald L, Ellaway A, Ball K, Macintyre S. Is proximity to a food retail store associated with diet and BMI in Glasgow, Scotland? BMC Public Health 2011; 11:464.

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Ellaway A, Macdonald L, Forsyth A, Macintyre S. The distribution and characteristics of alcohol outlets across Glasgow, Scotland and associations with area deprivation (abstract from the 3rd European Public Health Conference, Amsterdam 2010). European Journal of Public Health 2010; 20:1.

Ellaway A, Macdonald L, Forsyth A, Macintyre S. The socio-spatial distribution of alcohol outlets in Glasgow City. Health & Place 2010; 16:167-72.

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Macdonald L, Ellaway A, Macintyre S. Proximity to food retail stores and associations with dietary intake and BMI (abstract from the 3rd European Public Health Conference, Amsterdam 2010). European Journal of Public Health 2010; 20:1.

Wilson K, Eyles J, Ellaway A, Macintyre S, Macdonald L. Health status and health behaviours in neighbourhoods: A comparison of Glasgow, Scotland and Hamilton, Canada. Health and Place 2010; 16:331-8.

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Macdonald L, Ellaway A, Macintyre S. The food retail environment and area deprivation in Glasgow City. International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity 2009; 6:52.

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Macintyre S, MacDonald L, Ellaway A. Do poorer people have poorer access to local resources and facilities? The distribution of local resources by area deprivation in Glasgow, Scotland. Social Science & Medicine 2008; 67:900-14.
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Macintyre S, Macdonald L, Ellaway A. Lack of agreement between measured and self-reported distance from public green parks in Glasgow, Scotland. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 2008; 5:26.
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Macdonald L, Ellaway A. The socio-spatial distribution of alcohol outlets in Glasgow City using a range of geographic scales. Glasgow: MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit Working Paper 19, 2008.

Benzeval M, Green M, Ferrell C, Macdonald L, Wilson R, Der G, Ellaway A, Hunt K, Sweeting H, West P, Macintyre S. West of Scotland Twenty-07 Study: Health in the Community: Wave 5 fieldwork Protocol. Glasgow: MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit Working Paper no. 20, 2007.

Macdonald L, Cummins S, Macintyre S. Neighbourhood fast food environment and area deprivation- substitution or concentration? Appetite 2007; 49:251-254.
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Macintyre S, McKay L, Ellaway A. Lay concepts of the relative importance of different influences on health; are there major socio-demographic variations? Health Education Research: Theory and Practice 2006; 21:731-739.

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Cummins S, McKay L, Macintyre S. McDonald's restaurants and neighborhood deprivation in Scotland and England. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 2005; 29:308-310.

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Macintyre S, McKay L, Cummins S, Burns C. Out-of-home food outlets and area deprivation: Case study in Glasgow, UK. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 2005; 2.16.
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Macintyre S, McKay L, Ellaway A. Are rich people or poor people more likely to be ill? Lay perceptions, by social class and neighbourhood, of inequalities in health. Social Science & Medicine 2005; 60:313-317.

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Macintyre S, McKay L, Ellaway A. Who is more likely to experience common disorders: men, women, or both equally? Lay perceptions in the West of Scotland. International Journal of Epidemiology 2005; 34:461-466.

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Ellaway A, McKay L, Macintyre S, Kearns A, Hiscock R. Are social comparisons of homes and cars related to psychosocial health? International Journal of Epidemiology 2004; 33:1065-1071.

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Macintyre S, McKay L, Der G, Hiscock R. Socio-economic position and health: What you observe depends on how you measure it. Journal of Public Health Medicine 2004; 25:288-294.
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Ellaway A, Macintyre S, McKay L. The historical specificity of early life car ownership as an indicator of socio-economic position. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health 2003; 57:277-278.
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Macintyre S, Ellaway A, Hiscock R, Kearns A, Der G, McKay L. What features of the home and the area might help to explain observed relationships between housing tenure and health? Evidence from the West of Scotland. Health and Place 2003; 9:207-218.
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McKay L, Macintyre S, Ellaway A. Migration and health: a review of the international literature. Glasgow: MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, Occasional Paper 12, 2003.