The Expert is an Assistant Professor in the International Studies Program at the College of Charleston. She received her B.A. and Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) from Emory University and her Ph.D. in Anthropology from Yale University. Her academic areas of specialization include medical anthropology and global health. Over the past ten years she has been engaged in academic and international development work on issues related to youth, gender, mental health, and medical humanitarianism. Her work is primarily situated in Sierra Leone, where she has been conducting research since 2013.
LGBTQ, Child abuse, Sexual abuse/assault, gender-based violence/domestic violence, child soldiers, forced marriage, FGM/FGC, forced conscription/refoulement, ex-combatant reintegration, likelihood of homelessness or destitution, Land Tenure Disputes, Ethnic, religious, or tribal discrimination or persecution, Torture/Risk of political persecution/Risk from state actors, Risk from non-state actors, Healthcare Access/Health systems capacity, Mental Illness, HIV/ AIDS, Specialized medical services: Neurology, Cardiac care, Cancer Treatment, Pulmonary, Disability services
McLean, Kristen E., and Elyse J. Thulin. In Press. “‘If the Woman Doesn’t Prevent, You Will Become Pregnant’: Exploring Male Involvement in Contraceptive Use Following Unplanned Pregnancy in Sierra Leone.” Studies in Family Planning.
McLean, Kristen E. 2020. “Men’s Experiences of Pregnancy and Childbirth in Sierra Leone: Reexamining Definitions of ‘Male Partner Involvement.’” Social Science & Medicine 265: 113479.
McLean, Kristen E. 2020. “‘Post-crisis Masculinities’ in Sierra Leone: Revisiting Masculinity Theory.” Gender, Place & Culture. DOI: 10.1080/0966369X.2020.1825214.
Thulin, Elyse J., Kristen E. McLean, Stephen Sevalie, Adeyinka M. Akinsulure-Smith, and Theresa S. Betancourt. 2020. “Mental Health Problems among Children in Sierra Leone: Assessing Cultural Concepts of Distress.” Transcultural Psychiatry. DOI: 10.1177/1363461520916695.
McLean, Kristen E. 2020. “Active Waithood: Youthmen, Fatherhood, and Men’s Educational Aspirations in Sierra Leone.” In Waithood: Gender, Education, and Global Delays in Marriage and Childbearing, edited by Marcia C. Inhorn and Nancy J. Smith-Hefner. New York: Berghahn Books.
McLean, Kristen E. 2019. “Caregiving in Crisis: Fatherhood Refashioned by Sierra Leone’s Ebola Epidemic.” Medical Anthropology Quarterly 34(2): 227-242.
Zuilowski, Stephanie S., Elyse J. Thulin, Kristen E. McLean, Tia McGill Rogers, Adeyinka Akinsulure-Smith, and Theresa S. Betancourt. 2019. “Parenting and Discipline in Post-conflict Sierra Leone.” Child Abuse & Neglect 97: 104138.
Henderson, Rebecca, and Kristen E. McLean. 2019. “When the Patient Comes Third: The Navigation of Moral and Practical Dilemmas in the Context of Pregnancy and Risk during the 2013-2015 Ebola Epidemic in Sierra Leone.” In Pregnant in the Time of Ebola—Women and their Children in the 2013-2015 West African Epidemic, edited by Sharon A. Abramowitz, Julienne N. Anoko, and David A. Schwartz. Springer Press.