Gloria D. Sclar, PhD, MPH

Research Program Manager

Research Interests

  • Behavior change and psychosocial factors
  • Program design and evaluation
  • Mixed methods

Gloria Sclar is a public health researcher with a focus on behavior change and environmental health. She received an MPH in Global Health from Emory University and her PhD in Psychology from the University of Zürich. As a mixed methods researcher, Gloria enjoys exploring research questions from both qualitative and quantitative angles.

Gloria was introduced to the field of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and qualitative methods during her graduate program at Emory. For her Master’s thesis, she led qualitative research that explored the experience of puberty for middle schoolers in Tajikistan while working with Save the Children, and then used the findings to design puberty education materials.

After graduating from Emory, Gloria remained on the staff of Emory’s Department of Environmental Health for six years. She led nine systematic reviews to inform the WHO’s first-ever Guidelines on Sanitation and Health. She then transitioned to working on WASH behavior change studies in Ethiopia and India. Along the way, she gained experience in managing multi-country teams; leading qualitative formative research to understand health behaviors; working with NGOs to translate research findings into behavioral programs; designing surveys and managing large-scale data collection; conducting process evaluations to asses program delivery; and presenting findings to stakeholders to inform policy. For her doctoral work, Gloria led a cluster randomized controlled trial that evaluated the impact of a behavior change program on improving child feces management practices among caregivers in rural Odisha, India. Through this work, Gloria gained quantitative analytical skills in mixed effects and population average models, as well as conditional process modeling.

Sclar, G.D., Routray, P., Udaipuria, S., Portela, G., Koehne III, W.J., Nagel, C.L., Sola, S., & Caruso, B.A. (2022). Mixed methods process evaluation of a sanitation behavior change intervention in rural Odisha, India. Global Implementation Research & Practice. (accepted)

Sclar, G.D., Bauza, V., Mosler, H.-J., Bisoyi, A., Chang, H.H., & Clasen, T.F. (2022) Study design and rationale for a cluster randomized trial of a safe child feces management intervention in rural Odisha, India. BMC Public Health, 22(1).

Caruso, B.A., Sclar, G.D., Routray, P., Nagel, C.L., Majorin, F., Sola, S., Koehne III, W.J. & Clasen, T. (2022). Effect of a low-cost behaviour change intervention on latrine use and safe child faeces disposal in rural Odisha, India: a cluster-randomized controlled trial. The Lancet Planetary Health. (accepted)

Sclar, G. D. & Mosler, H.-J. (2021). Caregiver social support and child toilet training in rural Odisha, India: What types of support facilitate training and how? Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, org/10.1111/aphw.12311.

Bauza, V., Sclar, G.D., Owens, A., Bisoyi, A., Ghugey, A. & Clasen, T. (2021) Experience of the COVID-19 pandemic in rural Odisha, India: knowledge, preventative actions, and impacts on daily life.International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(6).

Salinger, A.P., Sclar, G.D., Dumpert, J., Bun, D., Clasen, T. & Delea, M.G. (2020). Sanitation and Collective Efficacy in Rural Cambodia: The Value Added of Qualitative Formative Work for the Contextualization of Measurement Tools. Interntional Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(1).

Goddard, F.G.B., Delea, M.G., Sclar, G.D., Woreta, M., Zewudie, K. & Freeman, M. (2018). Quantifying user preferences for sanitation construction and use: Application of discrete choice experiments in Amhara, Ethiopia. Tropical Medicine & International Health, 23(12), 1364-1373.

Caruso, B.A., Ellis, A., Sclar, G., Girod, C., Penakalapati, G., Sahin, M. & Cavill, S. (2018). Building Qualitative Research Capacity Among Interdisciplinary Teams to Investigate Girls’ Challenges With Menstruation: Process and Lessons Learned From a 14-Country E-Course. Pedagogy in Health Promotion, 5(4), 283-292.

Sclar, G.D., Penakalapati, G., Caruso, B.A., Rehfuess, E.A., Garn, J.V., Alexander, K.T., Freeman, M.C., Boisson,S., Medlicott, K., & Clasen, T. (2018). Exploring the relationship between sanitation and mental and social wellbeing: A systematic review and qualitative synthesis. Social Science and Medicine, 217, 121-134.

Sclar, G.D., Garn, J.V., Penakalapati, G., Alexander, K. T, Krauss, J., Freeman, M.C., Boisson, S., Medlicott, K.O.& Clasen, T. (2017). Effects of sanitation on cognitive development and school absence: A systematic review. International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, 220, 917-927.