Barbara Mullan

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Verified

Barbara verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

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• PhD
• Professor at Curtin University

Objectives: Full adherence is imperative to ensure the prevention of unintended pregnancies, which have serious health and financial impacts on women. Previous research has identified the importance of cues (habit-based) and providing information from a credible source (non-habit-based) in facilitating adherence. Design: A 6 week experiment was dev...

Measurement error undermines the accuracy of dietary intake data. The 24-hour dietary recall (24HR) is the standard data collection method in nutrition surveillance. Several neurocognitive processes underpin the act of recall, and individuals differ in their performance of these processes. This study aimed to investigate whether variation in neuroc...

Promoting wellbeing for youth is a global health priority and young people with chronic conditions demonstrate disproportionately low wellbeing compared to their peers. However, wellbeing is variably defined, and little is understood as to what wellbeing means for this population. The aim of this study was to develop a conceptualisation of wellbein...

Many of the leading causes of death in the world are preventable (WHO, 2022). Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes and communicable diseases such as influenza and COVID-19 are easily preventable through lifestyle changes, as has been highlighted in Chapter 27 and Chapter 28. Behaviours such as smoking, alcoho...

Introduction. The handover of patient medicine information at discharge from hospitals to primary care clinicians is inconsistent and contributes to fragmented care and medicine safety risks. This study forms the stakeholder engagement phase of a trial to improve medication handover and reduce medication-related hospital readmissions. Aim. To iden...

Objective: Paranoid ideation underlies numerous psychological disorders and has debilitating effects on daily life. Deficits in neurocognition are highlighted as a contributing factor to paranoid-related disorders, but the impact on the symptom-level experience of paranoid ideation is unclear. This study aimed to employ a dimensional approach to u...

Objectives The objective of this paper was to examine the predictors of breastfeeding exclusivity at two time‐points (6 and 26 weeks postpartum) using a dyadic mother–father extended model of the theory of planned behaviour. Design/Method A sample of 1139 first‐time Australian mother–father dyads completed measures of each of the Theory of Planned...

Background: Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) account for a significant proportion of sugar in the diet of children and are directly associated with obesity in this group. While there have been many studies on adolescent SSB consumption, few studies have examined the predictors of SSB consumption in primary-school-aged children. The aim of this stud...

Background General practitioners (GP) and community pharmacists need information about hospital discharge patients’ medicines to continue their management in the community. This necessitates effective communication, collaboration, and reliable information-sharing. However, such handover is inconsistent, and whilst digital systems are in place to tr...

A behavior’s complexity may impact habit formation, with implications for habit-based public health and environmental intervention designs. However, there are varying conceptualizations of behavioral complexity, hindering the synthesis of findings. To develop a unified definition, the aim of this study was to explore perceptions of behavioral compl...

Food banks are providing crucial relief as food insecurity increases worldwide. While these services are essential for vulnerable populations, there is variability in foods available and users may experience poor nutritional quality, and an overabundance of discretionary foods, contributing to public health risks including overnutrition and obesity...

A behavior’s complexity may impact habit formation, with implications for habit-based public health and environmental intervention designs. However, there are varying conceptualizations of behavioral complexity, hindering synthesis of findings. To develop a unified definition, the aim of this study was to explore perceptions of behavioral complexit...

Background Technology-assisted 24-h dietary recalls (24HRs) have been widely adopted in population nutrition surveillance. Evaluations of 24HRs inform improvements, but direct comparisons of 24HR methods for accuracy in reference to a measure of true intake are rarely undertaken in a single study population. Objectives To compare the accuracy of e...

Background The use of education alone as a technique to change behavior in interventions is usually insufficient, particularly in health interventions. Behavior change techniques have been shown to be effective in fostering positive changes in health behaviors such as diet and physical activity. The upskilling of health professionals can increase p...

Objective The aim of this study was to determine the unique and shared contributions of various positive psychology constructs (gratitude, optimism, hope, self-compassion, self-efficacy, and emotion regulation) to wellbeing and distress outcomes in young people living with a diverse range of chronic health conditions. Methods and Measures 169 Aust...

Sleep hygiene behaviours are recommendations given to both clinical and non-clinical populations with a focus on modifying behaviours to maximise sleep outcomes. However, methodological issues present in sleep hygiene research make it difficult to conclusively determine the impact of each behaviour. This study aimed to address these issues by adopt...

Background: Sleep hygiene behaviours are a suggested set of behaviours people can engage in to improve sleep. However, there are numerous issues relating to the measurement of sleep hygiene, primarily, the lack of consensus as to which behaviours impact sleep and should therefore be included in scales. Method: Cross-sectional correlational metho...

Safe food-handling knowledge and behaviour are low across the general population. This raises concerns about whether individuals at higher risk of food poisoning have sufficient safe food-handling knowledge and engage in safe food-handling practices. The aim of this study was to explore safe food-handling knowledge, behaviour, and related psycholog...

Discretionary foods account for over a third of the average adult's total daily energy intake. But its excess consumption is a risk factor for obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and other diet-related diseases. This study aimed to use temporal self-regulation theory (intention, past behaviour, habit, self-regulatory capacity) and food reward sensitivity to...

Purpose Safe food-handling media campaigns have been successful at improving some safe food-handling behaviours among consumers. However, little is known about whether specific mechanisms of change, such as habit and perceived risk, can improve the effectiveness of safe food-handling campaign materials. Consequently, this study aims to determine if...

BACKGROUND Providing education alone in interventions is insufficient for changing behaviour, particularly in health interventions. The upskilling of health professionals can increase capability and motivation towards eliciting change in clients’ behaviours. To date, dietitians have received limited training in this area and have expressed a need f...

The increasing impact of chronic disease, including cancer and heart disease on mortality signifies a need for the upskilling of health professionals in health behaviour change. Solely providing education and information to patients is generally not sufficient to change behaviour, and for any change to be sustained. The nature of pharmaceutical pra...

Background: There is no known risk-free level of alcohol use in pregnancy. Despite this, many still believe that occasional drinking is safe. To-date, there is limited evidence of the influences on women's decisions about low to moderate alcohol use in pregnancy. The aim of this study was to explore alcohol use intentions during pregnancy, using va...

Background: Self-regulation predicts optimal adjustment, wellbeing and interpersonal functioning. Aspects of self-regulation are differentially important across behaviour types, but this is not well understood. Further, the diverse abilities and measures considered dispute the underlying constructs and assessment methods. This study aims to explore...

To date, few interventions have been developed to target pre-drinking specifically. An online, theory-based intervention by Caudwell et al. (2018) showed reductions in pre-drinking alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm, albeit independent of the intervention component/s used. Information about feasibility and acceptability of pre-drinking in...

Reducing individual fossil fuel use is an important component of climate change mitigation, but motivating behaviour change to achieve this is difficult. Protection motivation theory (PMT) is a psychological framework that outlines the conditions under which people are more likely to be persuaded to take a specific response or action. This experime...

Background: There is a limited understanding of what specific mental health symptoms are associated to alcohol involvement. It is important to understand how the severity of different mental health dimensions may differ, and distinguish between, levels of alcohol involvement. Objectives: (a) explore for differences in severity of mental health symp...

Objectives: Breastfeeding has a number of benefits for both mothers and their infants. Research has examined the psychosocial influences on breastfeeding, yielding important findings in relation to particular constructs that play a significant role in this vital health behaviour. One such construct is subjective norms. However, there are mixed fin...

In Australia, food poisoning affects over 4.1 million people annually, with most cases occurring in domestic (i.e., household) environments. Strategies aimed at improving safe food-handling among the community have begun being implemented across Australia. Recently, the ‘Play it Food Safe’ mass media campaign by the Western Australian Department of...

Plastic pollution is an acute issue, with single-use plastic contributing to it significantly. It is beneficial for the planet if we engage in more sustainable behaviors, such as using reusable items instead of single-use ones, thus reducing plastic pollution. We implemented an intervention to increase the use of reusable coffee cups, by employing...

Background Rates of noncommunicable diseases continue to rise worldwide. Many of these diseases are a result of engaging in risk behaviors. Without lifestyle and behavioral intervention, noncommunicable diseases can worsen and develop into more debilitating diseases. Behavioral interventions are an effective strategy to reduce the burden of disease...

Many aspects of society changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, many individuals experienced the introduction of travel bans and restrictions, COVID-19 related anxiety, greater risk to their health and an increased need for adaptive coping. Research has shown health-related quality of life was negatively affected during the time. However...

Objective This study explored whether exposure to either an ‘ambiguous consumption’ prototype (no amount of alcohol specified) or a ‘small consumption’ prototype (‘small’ amount of alcohol specified) had an impact on prototype perceptions of, and willingness to use, small amounts of alcohol during pregnancy. Method Participants were 140 women livi...

Purpose: Temporal self-regulation theory was developed to address an observed intention-behaviour gap across behaviours. However, a synthesis of studies has not yet been conducted to investigate the theory's utility to explain behaviour and bridge the intention-behaviour gap. This review aimed to evaluate the predictive ability of temporal self-re...

Background The diet of toddlers is often not in accordance with dietary recommendations, putting them at risk of poor health outcomes later in life. Parents can struggle to provide their toddler with a healthy diet and interventions are needed. Helping parents to form healthy feeding habits may facilitate healthy feeding behaviours. Therefore, the...

Objective Despite being aware of the positive health-related outcomes of physical activity, many people remain inactive. The aim of this study is to apply a combination of constructs from the health action process approach and self-determination theory, as well as habit and morningness/eveningness, to predict physical activity engagement. Methods...

The effectiveness of the tailored feedback in digital interventions may be limited by the quality of the dietary assessment (DA) upon which it is based. This study systematically reviewed studies reporting the protocols for DA methods used to inform tailored feedback in digital weight loss interventions. The search included: PubMed - National Libra...

Demographic and psychosocial factors concerning dietary assessment error have been explored, but few studies have investigated the perceived problems experienced when completing dietary recalls. The aim of this research was to (i) compare the perceived problems encountered in two commonly used self-administered 24-hour dietary recall (24HR) program...

Background: A healthy parental feeding program consisting of six sequential modules was developed to improve parental feeding behaviours. The six modules focusing on various parental feeding behaviours were found to be moderately effective in changing behaviour. In this study, one of those modules (the self-efficacy module) was systematically adapt...

The relationships between temporal self-regulation theory (TST) constructs (intention, behavioural prepotency and self-regulatory capacity) and medication adherence should be established before further applying the theory to adherence. Searches of PsychINFO, Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL and Web of Science were conducted in 2019 (updated November 2021)....

In recent years, there has been debate about the optimal conceptualisation of psychopathology. Structural models of psychopathology have been developed to counter issues, including comorbidity and poor diagnostic stability prevalent within the traditional nosological approach. Regardless of the conceptualisation of psychological dysfunction, defici...

Media campaigns aim to improve safe food handling behaviours; however, their efficacy is still being determined. As safe egg handling behaviours are among the more difficult safe food handling behaviours to change, media campaigns may benefit from the addition of behaviour change techniques to campaigns to improve efficacy. Thus, the aim of this st...

The prevalence of childhood obesity remains high, even among young children under 5 years of age. As parents are usually the key providers of food within the home for young children, it is important to understand influences on parental snack and beverage provision. Previous research in this domain is yet to investigate the role of both rational and...

Purpose The prevalence of foodborne illness remains high in Australia. In response, government initiatives have been implemented to inform consumers of ways to safely handle food. The aim of this study was to examine the accuracy of prompted and unprompted recall of messages from a safe food-handling media campaign in Western Australia, and whether...

Improving dietary reporting among people living with obesity is challenging as many factors influence reporting accuracy. Reactive reporting may occur in response to dietary recording but little is known about how image-based methods influence this process. Using a 4-day image-based mobile food record (mFR TM ), this study aimed to identify demogra...

Purpose Foodborne illness remains high globally, with the majority of cases occurring in the domestic environment. Research in the safe food-handling domain is limited by the absence of an up-to-date and suitable measure of safe food-handling knowledge for use among consumers, with previous measures limited by questionnaire design features that inc...

Behavioural theories, predictions, and interventions should be relevant to complex, real-world health behaviours and conditions. Habit theory and habit formation interventions show promise for predicting and promoting, respectively, longer-term behaviour change and maintenance than has been attained with theories and interventions focused only on d...

Neurocognitive deficits have been consistently associated with a wide range of psychopathology and are proposed to not only be a consequence of the development of psychopathology but also directly involved in its aetiology. However, there is no clear understanding of what neurocognitive processes are particularly important to mental health. In this...

Neurocognitive deficits have been consistently associated with a wide range of psychopathology and are proposed to not only be a consequence of the development of psychopathology, but also directly involved in its aetiology. However, there is no clear understanding of what neurocog-nitive processes are particularly important to mental health. In th...

The incidence of food poisoning remains high in Australia, particularly in Queensland and Western Australia. A recent safe food-handling media campaign was piloted in Busselton, Western Australia, and was found to lead to improvements in half of the safe food-handling behaviours targeted; however, safe food-handling knowledge did not increase. Cons...

Objective Rigid plastics are accepted by Australian recycling facilities but soft forms are not. Further, single-use soft plastic may only be used once but can take 400 years to break down. As only 12% of plastic is recycled, increasing recycling of soft plastic will decrease negative environmental impacts. This study aims to assess the applicabili...

Objective Habitual behaviours are triggered automatically, with little conscious forethought. Theory suggests that making healthy behaviours habitual, and breaking the habits that underpin many ingrained unhealthy behaviours, promotes long-term behaviour change. This has prompted interest in incorporating habit formation and disruption strategies i...

Objective We aimed to determine what older adults perceive to be need-supportive behaviours of peer walk leaders, drawing primarily from Self-Determination Theory (SDT). Design Experienced peer leaders (n = 13; Mage = 73.23, SD = 6.55) and walkers (n = 17; Mage = 72.88, SD = 5.79) were recruited from existing walking groups. Individuals who express...

Sugar sweetened beverage consumption is related to adverse health outcomes such as obesity and Type 2 diabetes. The present research further examined the utility of the temporal self-regulation theory in predicting sugar sweetened beverage consumption. In addition, the research aimed to identify salient cues that trigger intake. Two-hundred and eig...

Objective Interventions to address alcohol use during pregnancy need to target underlying determinants of the behaviour. Using the theory of planned behaviour as a theoretical framework, the aim of this study was to identify behavioural, normative and control beliefs regarding alcohol use during pregnancy among a sample of women. Design: 435 women...

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine what older adults perceive to be need-supportive behaviors of peer walk leaders, drawing primarily from Self-Determination Theory (SDT). DESIGN: Experienced peer leaders (n = 13; Mage = 73.23, SD = 6.55) and walkers (n = 17; Mage = 72.88, SD = 5.79) were recruited from existing walking groups. Individuals who expres...

Objectives: Consumption of excess sugar, a common energy-dense nutrient-poor food, is a risk factor for obesity in school-aged children. Food-specific inhibition training, where responses to palatable food stimuli, such as sweet foods, are consistently and repeatedly inhibited, reduces sweet food intake in adults. However, no studies have yet exam...

Objective Adherence to proper hand hygiene practice is relatively low and is particularly salient in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic. Having a greater understanding of the psychosocial predictors of engaging in proper hand hygiene is warranted. One way to do this is through the application of a combined theory of planned behaviour and tempor...

Background The assessment of dietary intake underpins population nutrition surveillance and nutritional epidemiology and is essential to inform effective public health policies and programs. Technological advances in dietary assessment that use images and automated methods have the potential to improve accuracy, respondent burden, and cost; however...

BACKGROUND The assessment of dietary intake underpins population nutrition surveillance and nutritional epidemiology and is essential to inform effective public health policies and programs. Technological advances in dietary assessment that use images and automated methods have the potential to improve accuracy, respondent burden, and cost; however...

Recently, structural models of psychopathology, that address the diagnostic stability and comorbidity issues of the traditional nosological approach, have dominated much of the psychopathology literature. Structural approaches have given rise to the p-factor, which is claimed to reflect an individual’s propensity toward all common psychopathologica...

Structural models of psychopathology have emerged as an alternative to traditional categorical approaches. The bifactor model, which incorporates a general p-factor, has become the preferred structure. The p-factor is claimed to represent a substantive construct or property of the system; however, recent evidence suggests that it may be without sub...

Neurocognitive abilities have frequently been claimed to be involved in the aetiology of psychopathology. Neurocognitive deficits have been reported across many disorders, and theoretical perspectives associate these deficits to the onset and maintenance of the symptomology. Recently, the heterogeneity of symptoms, and comorbidity of disorders, hav...

Worldwide, approximately one in ten people acquire a foodborne disease due to eating contaminated food. This often occurs at home and young adults in particular often lack knowledge of and adherence to safe food-handling recommendations. Using an experimental design, we compared two groups to investigate whether increasing knowledge and self-effica...

Objectives: Physical activity and fruit and vegetable consumption are two key health behaviours associated with the health and well-being of middle-aged and older adults. The present research investigated how habit and self-determined motivation interact with intention to prospectively predict physical activity and fruit and vegetable consumption...

Over 4.1 million Australians are affected by food poisoning each year. Recent reports indicate that food poisoning is increasing, particularly in Queensland and Western Australia. Foodborne illness is preventable through simple household behaviours such as cleaning hands and surfaces when preparing food, separating raw and ready-to-eat foods, cooki...

Recently, structural models of psychopathology, that address the diagnostic stability and comorbidity issues of the nosological approach, have dominated much of the literature. Structural approaches have given rise to the p factor, which is claimed to reflect an individual’s propensity toward all common psychopathological symptoms. Neurocognitive a...

Foodborne illness, or food poisoning, is a global health issue, affecting over 600 million people each year. Contrary to lay beliefs, the majority of food poisoning occurs as a result of improperly handling food within the home. The past decade has seen an increase in research using theoretical frameworks to investigate predictors of safe food hand...

Living with obesity is related to numerous negative health outcomes, including various cancers, type II diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Although much is known about the factors associated with obesity, and a range of weight loss interventions have been established, changing health-related behaviours to positively affect obesity outcomes has p...

Peer-assisted study sessions (PASS) are an international, widely adopted, supplementary instruction programme that has shown to have multiple academic benefits for students. However, PASS attendance rates across the world are typically very low, and the reasons for this are unclear. (1) To test the predictability of the theory of planned behaviour...

Volunteering rates in high-income countries are declining. Most research into understanding volunteering engagement has focused on conscious processes (e.g., motives), with little exploration of non-conscious antecedents of volunteering engagement. Adopting a new line of investigation, this research used temporal self-regulation theory to investiga...

Purpose of review: Elevated lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] is a genetic trait that indicates higher risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). We review novel strategies to mitigate behavioural risk-factors in this genetic condition. Recent findings: Pharmacological and biological interventions are available for lowering Lp(a). However, the...

The authors examined whether purposeful walking with peers at least once a week contributes to better behavioral and health outcomes in older adults than primarily walking alone. The authors used a longitudinal cohort design and recruited participants aged 60 years and older (N = 136) at the start of a 16-week walking intervention. Participants who...

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Globally approximately 16 billion paper coffee cups are being thrown away every year. One solution to this problem is using a reusable hot drink cup. We developed a behaviour change intervention to increase the use of reusable hot drink cups on an Australian University campus and evaluated its effectiveness ; we also investigated the psychological...

UNSTRUCTURED Excess weight is a major risk factor for chronic diseases. In Australia, over 60% of adults are overweight or obese. The overconsumption of energy-dense nutrient-poor (EDNP) foods and low physical activity (PA) levels are key factors contributing to population obesity. New cost-effective approaches to improve population diet and PA beh...

Medication adherence is a global health concern, and variables of temporal self-regulation theory (TST) have been shown to be important in improving adherence. This qualitative study aims to explore how TST can help explain medication adherence in people's daily lives, and whether there are differences in the adherence to simple and complex medicat...

Background and Objectives Peer volunteers offer a promising avenue for promoting physical activity in older adults. However, recruiting and retaining such volunteers is challenging. We aimed to examine longitudinally factors that determine whether older volunteer walk leaders will persist in their role. Research Design and Methods We recruited old...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Peer volunteers offer a promising avenue for promoting physical activity in older adults. However, recruiting and retaining such volunteers is challenging. We aimed to examine longitudinally factors that determine whether older volunteer walk leaders will persist in their role. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We recruited ol...

Background: In the past decades, behavioral medicine has attained global recognition. Due to its global reach, a critical need has emerged to consider whether the original definition of behavioral medicine is still valid, comprehensive, and inclusive, and to reconsider the main tasks and goals of the International Society of Behavioral Medicine (I...

Conducting sensitive topics research online can allow researchers access to a wider range of participants with “sensitive topics” experience; however, additional ethical considerations need to be considered when conducting this research. Online research can either involve active or passive data collection, with each requiring extra thought around c...

We examined whether purposeful walking with peers (WP) at least once a week contributes to better behavioral and health outcomes in older adults than primarily walking alone (WA). We used a longitudinal cohort design and recruited participants aged 60 and older (N =136) at the start of a 16-week walking intervention. Participants who walked on aver...

Objective This study aimed to explore the applicability of temporal self-regulation theory (TST) in adherence to medication, using two self-report measures of behaviour. Design Recruited through TurkPrime, 191 US adults completed a two-part study. Main outcome measures TST constructs of intention, behavioural prepotency (past behaviour, habit, cu...

Objectives: Understanding how to help people form habits is important in improving health interventions. The impact of two behaviour change techniques on behaviour (cues and monitoring) was tested, and the role of psychosocial factors that may predict behaviour change and habit formation were investigated. Methods: Participants (N = 186) were rand...

Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption is a high-risk dietary behaviour and represents a pressing public health concern. Objective: The present research aimed to utilize temporal self-regulation theory to explore the intention-behaviour gap in SSB consumption in adults. Design: A prospective correlational design (two data collection points) was...

Background Excess sugar consumption has been linked to numerous negative health outcomes, such as obesity and type II diabetes. Reducing sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption may reduce sugar intake and thus improve health. The aim of the study was to test the impact of the potentially different rewarding nature of water or diet drinks as repl...

Sustainable behaviours are important for the future of the planet. Exploring the psychological predictors of those behaviours can assist in developing efficient and cost‐effective interventions for people to acquire and maintain them. We explored potential predictors of using a reusable hot drink cup. Students and staff (n = 270) from a number of A...

Improved health, wellbeing and quality of life are associated with older adults living well at home. Enabling older adults to remain at home requires organisations to consider different workforce models to support these initiatives. Volunteers are often used by organisations providing such services. However, given the changing nature of the volunte...

Background and objectives: Peer-led interventions are promising for the promotion of physical activity behavior in older adults. However, little is known about the attributes of effective older peer leaders in such intervention programs. The objective was to determine what older adults perceive to be effective peer leader attributes. Research des...

Background This study examined the psychological predictors of general prescription medication adherence using an extended theory of planned behaviour (i.e. adding habit strength). The addition of habit strength to the model aimed to close the gap between intention and behaviour to further understand the psychological predictors of adherence.Method...