Dr Yvonne Cunningham
- Affiliate (School of Health & Wellbeing)
- Associate (School of Social & Political Sciences)
email:
Yvonne.Cunningham@glasgow.ac.uk
Research Institute of Health & Wellbeing, 1 Horselethill Road
Biography
Dr Yvonne Cunningham is a research associate in General Practice and Primary Care.
Since joining the Institute of Health and Wellbeing (IHW) in April 2015, she has worked on CRUK and CSO-funded projects about media representations of cancer and lung cancer symptom recognition and help-seeking, a Scottish Government funded evaluation of new ways of working in NHS Ayrshire and Arran, an evaluation of a volunteering programme operated by the Mental Health Foundation, a CSO-funded project to investigate the perspectives of health professionals and patients on reducing anticholinergic burden by stopping or switching medications, an evaluation of a school-based intervention to reduce salt intake in Malawi, and a Versus Arthritis-funded study: Multimorbidity in arthritis and persistent muscoskeletal pain (MAP).
Since August 2021 she has been working on the process evaluation of an RCT about Long Covid: Remote Diet Intervention to REduce long Covid symptoms Trial.
Dr Cunningham also has a strong interest in public engagement and patient and public involvement in research and is a member of the IHW Public Engagement and Knowledge Exchange Group.
She previously worked as a part-time lecturer in the School of Communications, Dublin City University and as a science communication researcher, evaluator and trainer.
She gained a PhD in communications in 2014 for her research about audiences for science on television, and has carried out research on FP-7 funded projects on European audiences for science programmes on television and radio (Audio Visual Science Audiences, AVSA), Monitoring Policy and Research Activities on Science in Society in Europe (MASIS) and Platform of Local Authorities and Communicators Engaged in Science (PLACES). She also works as an evaluator, and has been involved in projects to evaluate the Festival of Curiosity in Dublin, the Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin and the Science in the City festival run as part of the Euroscience Open Forum held in Dublin in 2012. She has also worked with the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) to research stakeholder and public attitudes to radiation, and to facilitate stakeholder mapping processes to identify key influencers for achieving the goals of the National Radon Control Strategy.
Dr Cunningham holds a BSc in Applied Science from the Dublin Institute of Technology and before becoming an academic, spent ten years working as a technical writer, editor and sub-editor in the electronics, financial and educational publishing industries.
Research interests
- Experiences of people with long-term illnesses
- Qualitative methods
- Media representations of health and illness
- Public participation in research
- Evaluation of public engagement programmes
Publications
2025
Combet, E. et al. (2025) Remotely delivered weight management for people with long COVID and overweight: the randomized wait-list-controlled ReDIRECT trial. Nature Medicine, (doi: 10.1038/s41591-024-03384-x) (PMID:39779922) (Early Online Publication)
2024
Haag, L. et al. (2024) Baseline characteristics in the Remote Diet Intervention to REduce long-COVID Symptoms Trial (ReDIRECT). NIHR Open Research, 4, 7. (doi: 10.3310/nihropenres.13522.1) (PMID:39145102) (PMCID:PMC11320183)
2023
Phiri, N. et al. (2023) Development and piloting of a primary school-based salt reduction programme: formative work and a process evaluation in rural and urban Malawi. PLoS Global Public Health, 3(8), e0000867. (doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0000867) (PMID:37647266) (PMCID:PMC10468067)
Haag, L. et al. (2023) The remote diet intervention to reduce Long COVID symptoms trial (ReDIRECT): protocol for a randomised controlled trial to determine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a remotely delivered supported weight management programme for people with Long COVID and excess weight, with personalised improvement goals. NIHR Open Research, 2, 57. (doi: 10.3310/nihropenres.13315.2) (PMID:37881302) (PMCID:PMC10593354)
2021
Cunningham, Y. et al. (2021) Understanding stakeholder views regarding the design of an intervention trial to reduce anticholinergic burden: a qualitative study. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 12, 608208. (doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.608208) (PMID:34867311) (PMCID:PMC8633300)
2019
Cunningham, Y., Wyke, S. , Blyth, K. G. , Rigg, D., Macdonald, S. , Macleod, U., Harrow, S., Robb, K. A. and Whitaker, K. L. (2019) Lung cancer symptom appraisal among people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a qualitative interview study. Psycho-Oncology, 28(4), pp. 718-725. (doi: 10.1002/pon.5005) (PMID:30693608) (PMCID:PMC6492269)
Jani, B. et al. (2019) Evaluation of New Models of Primary Care in Scotland: Lanarkshire Case Study. [Research Reports or Papers]
2018
Macdonald, S. , Cunningham, Y., Patterson, C. , Robb, K. , Macleod, U., Anker, T. and Hilton, S. (2018) Mass media and risk factors for cancer: the under-representation of age. BMC Public Health, 18, 490. (doi: 10.1186/s12889-018-5341-9) (PMID:29695238) (PMCID:PMC5918870)
2017
Cunningham, Y. (2017) Science for jobs: audience views of television science. In: Trench, Brian, Murphy, Padriag and Fahy, Declan (eds.) Little Country, Big Talk: Science Communication in Ireland. The Pantaneto Press with Celsius group: Dublin, pp. 115-130. ISBN 9780992941147
2016
Lehmkuhl, M., Boyadjieva, P., Cunningham, Y., Karamanidou, C. and Mörä, T. (2016) Audience reach of science on television in 10 European countries: an analysis of people-meter data. Public Understanding of Science, 25(2), pp. 223-235. (doi: 10.1177/0963662514536295) (PMID:24928569)
Cunningham, Y., MacDonald, S. , Robb, K. , MacLeod, U., Anker, T. and Hilton, S. (2016) Representations of Ageing as a Risk Factor for Cancer in UK Newspapers. 48th BSA Medical Sociology Annual Conference, Birmingham, UK, 7-9 Sept 2016.
Articles
Combet, E. et al. (2025) Remotely delivered weight management for people with long COVID and overweight: the randomized wait-list-controlled ReDIRECT trial. Nature Medicine, (doi: 10.1038/s41591-024-03384-x) (PMID:39779922) (Early Online Publication)
Haag, L. et al. (2024) Baseline characteristics in the Remote Diet Intervention to REduce long-COVID Symptoms Trial (ReDIRECT). NIHR Open Research, 4, 7. (doi: 10.3310/nihropenres.13522.1) (PMID:39145102) (PMCID:PMC11320183)
Phiri, N. et al. (2023) Development and piloting of a primary school-based salt reduction programme: formative work and a process evaluation in rural and urban Malawi. PLoS Global Public Health, 3(8), e0000867. (doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0000867) (PMID:37647266) (PMCID:PMC10468067)
Haag, L. et al. (2023) The remote diet intervention to reduce Long COVID symptoms trial (ReDIRECT): protocol for a randomised controlled trial to determine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a remotely delivered supported weight management programme for people with Long COVID and excess weight, with personalised improvement goals. NIHR Open Research, 2, 57. (doi: 10.3310/nihropenres.13315.2) (PMID:37881302) (PMCID:PMC10593354)
Cunningham, Y. et al. (2021) Understanding stakeholder views regarding the design of an intervention trial to reduce anticholinergic burden: a qualitative study. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 12, 608208. (doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.608208) (PMID:34867311) (PMCID:PMC8633300)
Cunningham, Y., Wyke, S. , Blyth, K. G. , Rigg, D., Macdonald, S. , Macleod, U., Harrow, S., Robb, K. A. and Whitaker, K. L. (2019) Lung cancer symptom appraisal among people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a qualitative interview study. Psycho-Oncology, 28(4), pp. 718-725. (doi: 10.1002/pon.5005) (PMID:30693608) (PMCID:PMC6492269)
Macdonald, S. , Cunningham, Y., Patterson, C. , Robb, K. , Macleod, U., Anker, T. and Hilton, S. (2018) Mass media and risk factors for cancer: the under-representation of age. BMC Public Health, 18, 490. (doi: 10.1186/s12889-018-5341-9) (PMID:29695238) (PMCID:PMC5918870)
Lehmkuhl, M., Boyadjieva, P., Cunningham, Y., Karamanidou, C. and Mörä, T. (2016) Audience reach of science on television in 10 European countries: an analysis of people-meter data. Public Understanding of Science, 25(2), pp. 223-235. (doi: 10.1177/0963662514536295) (PMID:24928569)
Book Sections
Cunningham, Y. (2017) Science for jobs: audience views of television science. In: Trench, Brian, Murphy, Padriag and Fahy, Declan (eds.) Little Country, Big Talk: Science Communication in Ireland. The Pantaneto Press with Celsius group: Dublin, pp. 115-130. ISBN 9780992941147
Research Reports or Papers
Jani, B. et al. (2019) Evaluation of New Models of Primary Care in Scotland: Lanarkshire Case Study. [Research Reports or Papers]
Conference or Workshop Item
Cunningham, Y., MacDonald, S. , Robb, K. , MacLeod, U., Anker, T. and Hilton, S. (2016) Representations of Ageing as a Risk Factor for Cancer in UK Newspapers. 48th BSA Medical Sociology Annual Conference, Birmingham, UK, 7-9 Sept 2016.
