PD. Dr. Shannon A. McMahon (she/her)
RESEARCH GROUP LEADER
Shannon A. McMahon is a global health scientist trained in qualitative and quantitative research methods. Shannon’s team examines the interplay of health interventions and local contexts to learn how people make decisions related to careseeking for their health. The team then draws upon these insights to better design, implement and holistically evaluate health interventions. Methodologically, Shannon places an emphasis on advancing qualitative and design techniques. Her team has developed or advanced techniques including epistemic interviewing, researcher debriefings and document reviews. Shannon also enjoys pulling from approaches that are relatively underused in public health research, but have proven insightful in other fields such as journaling, Kano models, bodystorming and artefact-driven dialogue. Shannon teaches courses on qualitative methods, mixed methods research, public health anthropology, and academic writing. Before embarking on a career in public health, Shannon worked as a journalist in Washington DC, Oregon and California. Along with disseminating information to fellow scientists via academic publications, she also seeks to engage policymakers and to reach lay audiences via information briefs, blogs, newspaper op-eds and media commentaries.
Education
2023: Habilitation in Heidelberg Institute of Global Health
2011-2015: PhD at Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, USA
2008-2010: Master of Health Science at Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, USA
2006-2007: Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar in International Relations and Islamic Studies at Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey
2001-2002: Certificat d’Etude Politiques Européennes in Political Science at L’Institut d’Etudes Politiques, Sciences-Po of Strasbourg, France
1999-2004: B.Sc. in Print Journalism at Department of Communications, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA
Contributions
Projects & Grants
Klinikpartnerschaften – Partner stärken Gesundheit (GIZ)
NCD-PTISA: Transfer und Umsetzung der NCD-Politik in Südafrika (DFG)
BUKLOD: Bridging the gap, Upgrading the technical Know-hows and Leveraging research Outputs and its Dissemination within the Philippines (RITM) and Germany (HIGH) (GLOHRA)
Global Health Academy: A flipped class for Qualitative Research in Global Health: Theory, Methods, Analysis, Write-Up (GLOHRA)
GLOHRA Impact Booster to extend social science and community-based insights on digital health engagement in Uganda (GLOHRA)
Baden Württemburg International „Forschungsstipendium für Herrn Prof. Kenneth Ngure” (Baden-Württemberg, Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst)
Human centered design to adapt and inform an integrated chronic disease management program in Uganda using mobile payment services (GLOHRA)
Hospital Partnerships Program – Addressing Gender-Based Violence in Tanzania (GIZ)
SALUBONG: Building Vaccine Confidence in the Philippines (Gates Foundation)
Expansion of HIV Testing in Swaziland; Factors Underpinning Success (WHO)
Local perspectives of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis in Eswatini (Olympia Morata Fund of Heidelberg University)
Qualitative Research to examine an Ebola Treatment and Prevention Program in Sierra Leone (International Rescue Committee)
Jigiya; Mixed Methods Evaluation of the Food for Education Program in Mali (Catholic Relief Services)
Faaba; Mixed Methods Evaluation of the livestock and foods program in Mali (Catholic Relief Services)
Preventing HIV in newborns and infants: the experience of mothers in rural Tanzania (National Institutes of Health)
Evaluation of Community Case Management in Sierra Leone (UNICEF)
Publications
Wachinger J, Donald M, Reñosa C, Endoma V, Aligato MF, Landicho-Guevarra J,… McMahon SA. Bargaining and gendered authority: a framework to understand household decision-making about childhood vaccines in the Philippines. BMJ Global Health. 2022 Sep 1;7(9):e009781.
Wachinger J, Kibuuka Musoke D, Oldenburg CE, Bärnighausen T, Ortblad KF, McMahon SA. “But i gathered my courage”: HIV self-testing as a pathway of empowerment among Ugandan female sex workers. Qualitative health research. 2021;31(3):443–57.
Reñosa MD, Mwamba C, Meghani A, West NS, Hariyani S, Ddaaki W, Sharma A, Beres LK, McMahon SA. Selfie consents, remote rapport, and Zoom debriefings: collecting qualitative data amid a pandemic in four resource-constrained settings. BMJ global health. 2021 Jan;6(1):e004193. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2020-004193. This paper demonstrates our expertise in novel qualitative data collection techniques and provided guidance in remote data collection, drawing from implementation research from four different countries.
Berner-Rodoreda A, Bärnighausen T, Eyal N, Sarker M, Hossain P, Leshabari M, Metta E, Mmbaga E, Wikler D, McMahon SA. “Thought provoking”,“interactive”, and “more like a peer talk”: Testing the deliberative interview style in Germany. SSM-Qualitative Research in Health. 2021 Dec 1;1:100007. doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmqr.2021.100007. Here we tested the development of an interview style, identified as part of the previous work above. We intend to again test this interview style in the context of the given work.
Isler J, Sawadogo NH, Harling G, Bärnighausen T, Adam M, Sié A, McMahon SA. ‘If he sees it with his own eyes, he will understand’: how gender informed the content and delivery of a maternal nutrition intervention in Burkina Faso. 2020. Health Policy and Planning. 2020;35(5):536–45. This paper outlines how we adjusted a health intervention to align with gendered expectations of health interventions implementers and recipients.
Dalglish SL, Khalid H, McMahon SA. Document analysis in health policy research: the READ approach. Health policy and planning. 2020;35(10):1424–31.
Adam M, McMahon SA, Prober C, Bärnighausen T. Human-Centered Design of Video-Based Health Education: An Iterative, Collaborative, Community-Based Approach. J Med Internet Res. 2019 Jan 30;21(1):e12128. doi.org/10.2196/13604. This paper outlines how to undertake human centered design research related to mobile health technologies in global health.
Isler J, Sawadog, NH, Harling G, Bärnighausen T, Adam M, Kagoné M, Sié A, Greuel M, & McMahon SA. Iterative Adaptation of a Mobile Nutrition Video-Based Intervention Across Countries Using Human-Centered Design: Qualitative Study. JMIR MHealth and UHealth. 2019 7(11), e13604. doi.org/10.2196/13604. This paper outlines process components that facilitated uptake of an mHealth technology thereby bolstering intervention performance over the long term (in South Africa).
Berner-Rodoreda A, Bärnighausen T, Kennedy C, Brinkmann S, Sarker M, Wikler D, Eyal N, McMahon SA. From Doxastic to Epistemic: A Typology and Critique of Qualitative Interview Styles. Qualitative Inquiry. 2018 Nov 28. doi.org/10.1177/1077800418810724. This paper provides a holistic overview of interview styles, which will inform the nature of our interviewing techniques within the study at hand.
McMahon SA, Winch PJ. Systematic debriefing after qualitative encounters: an essential analysis step in applied qualitative research. BMJ Global Health. 2018 Sep 1;3(5):e000837. doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2018-000837. This seminal paper has guided the process of qualitative data collection and timely qualitative data analysis in the field of global health research.
Gabrysch S, McMahon SA, Siling K, Kenward MG, Campbell OMR. Autonomy dimensions and care seeking for delivery in Zambia; the prevailing importance of cluster-level measurement. Sci Rep. 2016 Mar 2;6(1):22578. doi.org/10.1038/srep22578. This paper outlines novel quantitative techniques to capture insights on gender roles within healthcare seeking.
Full list of publications: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Shannon-Mcmahon-7