Deborah McLellan, PhD, MHS interview

What was your motivation for joining TReND? How did you learn about it?

I have worked for twenty years in the tobacco control movement and many of those years I have focused on women and tobacco issues. Through that work I learned that issues of gender, race/ethnicity, and class were not adequately addressed by mainstream tobacco control researchers and policymakers. My interest was piqued by the opportunity to participate in a research network that would think outside the box on issues that were dear to me. I learned about TReND through my friend and colleague, Pebbles Fagan.

As someone who has background in policymaking and government, specifically in women’s health, do you feel that the recommendations in the report “Women, Tobacco and Cancer: An Agenda for the 21st Century” (2004) have been implemented to the fullest extent?

We have only begun to scratch the surface.

What other steps should be taken to reduce tobacco disparities among women and girls in the U.S.?

In response, I draw upon the work of two mentors, Lorraine Greaves and Hilary Graham, who have contributed to my thinking. First, we need to move beyond a parochial focus on tobacco use and improve the social and living conditions in which many women and girls live. Although researchers, clinicians, and policymakers may define people as “smokers” and “nonsmokers,” smoking is usually part of a constellation of behaviors and social conditions that women may experience. I’m persuaded by Graham’s research which speaks both to “biographies of disadvantage” that influence women’s smoking across the lifecourse, and the need to target interventions for smokers and the social conditions in which they live. Second, to assist us in better understanding the influence of social conditions and the role of the lifecourse, longitudinal surveys should be funded and conducted to incorporate questions about health behaviors and measures of wealth. In addition to quantitative surveys, qualitative research is necessary to understand nuanced experiences of gender, diversity, and social condition. And finally, gender and diversity based analyses should be conducted before policies are passed.

Do you feel that more collaboration is needed with women’s groups and other stakeholders? What kinds of cooperative efforts would be the most effective to reach this population?

Yes, more collaboration is necessary. If we broaden our agenda to address improvements in education, working conditions, and financial security, women’s groups and other stakeholders will be more interested in working with us. The tobacco control movement, as a whole, has always been too focused on its own agenda, and unwilling to work on collaborators’ issues. This is critical to true collaboration.