Dr Gerard Molloy

Honorary Research Fellow, Psychobiology Group, University College London, 2009-present.

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, since 2010.

Research Fellow, Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, University College London, 2006-2009.

Health Psychologist, Health Professions Council, since 2009.

Chartered Psychologist, British Psychological Society, since 2007.

ESRC/MRC Research Fellow, School of Psychology, University of Aberdeen, 2004-2006.

PhD, School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, 2001-2004.

BSc Hons Applied Psychology, University of Ulster, 1997-2001.

My primary research interests focus on the health effects of providing and receiving social support and issues relating to informal care for older adults with activity limitations due to cardiovascular disease. In particular I am interested in the question, 'How do others in our ongoing immediate social environment influence health and illness?' In this work I apply theoretical models of job strain and self-regulation to understand how the receipt and provision of informal care influences health and illness. Other specific interests include the psychobiology of emotional distress (depression and anxiety) and cardiovascular disease. I am also more broadly interested in the psychological and social factors that influence health and disease. My research has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Medical Research Council (MRC), the British Academy and the British Heart Foundation.

I am the Local Organising and Scientific Chair of the UK Society of Behavioural Medicine Annual Scientific Meeting 2011, which is being held at the University of Stirling in December.

MSc Research Methods

MSc Health Psychology

In press

In press
Messerli-Burgy N, Molloy GJ, Wikman A, Perkins-Porras L, Randall G, Steptoe A. (in press). Cortisol levels and history of depression in acute coronary syndrome patients. Psychological Medicine

Wikman A, Messerli-Burgy N, Molloy GJ, Randall G, Perkins-Porras L & Steptoe A (in press). Symptom experience during acute coronary syndrome and the development of posttraumatic stress symptoms. Journal of Behavioral Medicine

2012
Steptoe A, Wikman, Molloy GJ, Kaski JC (2012). Anaemia and the development of depressive symptoms following acute coronary syndrome: Longitudinal clinical observational study. BMJ Open, 2, e000551

Thomson P, Molloy GJ, Chung M (2012). The effects of perceived social support on quality of life in patients awaiting CABG and their partners: testing dyadic dynamics using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 17, 35-46

Molloy GJ, O’Carroll RE, Witham MD & McMurdo ME (2012). Interventions to enhance adherence to medications in patients with heart failure: A systematic review. Circulation: Heart Failure, 5, 126-33.

Molloy GJ, Randall G, Wikman A, Perkins-Porras L, Messerli-Burgy N, Steptoe A (2012). Type-D Personality, self-efficacy and medication adherence among acute coronary syndrome patients. Psychosomatic Medicine, 74, 100-106.

2011
Steptoe A, Molloy GJ, Messerli-Burgy N, Wikman A, Randall G, Perkins-Porras L & Kaski JC (2011). Fear of dying and inflammation following acute coronary syndrome. European Heart Journal, 32, 2405-2411.

Wikman A, Molloy GJ, Randall G & Steptoe A (2011). Cognitive predictors of posttraumatic stress symptoms six months following acute coronary syndrome. Psychology & Health, 26, 974-988.

Steptoe A, Molloy GJ, Messerli-Burgy N, Wikman A, Randall G, Perkins-Porras L, Kaski JC (2011). Emotional triggering and low socioeconomic status as determinants of depression following acute coronary syndrome. Psychological Medicine, 41, 1857-1866.

Skår S, Sniehotta FF, Molloy GJ, Araújo-Soares V, Prestwich A. (2011). Do brief online planning interventions embedded in a lifestyle survey increase physical activity amongst university students: A randomised controlled trial. Psychology & Health, 26,399-417.

2010

Molloy GJ, Dixon D, Hamer M & Sniehotta FF (2010). Social support and physical activity: Does planning mediate this link? British Journal of Health Psychology, 15, 859-870. PDF

Molloy GJ, McGee HM, O'Neill D & Conroy RM (2010). Loneliness and emergency and planned hospitalizations among a community sample of older adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 58, 1538-1541. PDF

Molloy GJ (2010). Increasing influenza vaccination rates: Where is the behaviour change theory? Vaccine, 28, 3632.

2009

Randall G, Molloy GJ & Steptoe A (2009).  The impact of an acute cardiac event on the partners of patients: A systematic review. Health Psychology Review, 3, 1-84. PDF

Hamer M & Molloy GJ (2009). Association of C-reactive protein with muscle strength in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Age, 31, 171-177.

Molloy GJ, Stamatakis E, Randall G & Hamer M. (2009). Marital status, gender and cardiovascular mortality: Behavioural, psychological distress and metabolic explanations. Social Science & Medicine, 69, 223-228. PDF

Molloy GJ, Gao C, Johnston DW, Johnston M, Witham MD, Struthers AD, McMurdo MET (2009). Adherence to ACE inhibitors and illness beliefs in older heart failure patients. European Journal of Heart Failure, 11, 715-720. PDF

Hamer M, Molloy GJ, de Oliveira C & Demakakos P. (2009). Leisure time physical activity, risk of depressive symptoms, and inflammatory mediators: The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 34, 1050-1055.

Hamer M & Molloy GJ (2009). Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of anaemia and depressive symptoms in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 57, 948-949.

Molloy GJ, Sniehotta FF & Johnston M (2009). Two alternative models of health behaviour and recovery from activity limitations due to acute injury. A prospective study. Psychology & Health, 24, 271-285. PDF

Hamer M, Molloy GJ, de Oliveira C & Demakakos P (2009). Persistent depressive symptomatology and inflammation: To what extent do health behaviours and weight control mediate this relationship? Brain, Behavior & Immunity, 23, 413-418.

Hamer M, Chida Y & Molloy GJ (2009). Psychological distress and cancer mortality. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 66, 255-258.

2008

Hamer M, Molloy GJ, Stamatakis E. (2008). Psychological distress and cardiovascular events: Pathophysiological and behavioural mechanisms. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 52, 2156-2162.

Molloy GJ, Perkins-Porras L, Strike PC & Steptoe A (2008). Practical support predicts medication adherence and attendance at cardiac rehabilitation following acute coronary syndrome. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 65, 581-586.

Molloy GJ, Perkins-Porras L, Strike PC & Steptoe A (2008). Type-D personality and cortisol in survivors of acute coronary syndrome. Psychosomatic Medicine, 70, 863-868.

McGee HM, Molloy GJ, O’Hanlon, A, Layte R (2008). Older people as both recipients and providers of informal care: analysis among community samples in the Republic and Northern Ireland. Health and Social Care in the Community,16, 548-553.

Molloy GJ, Hamer M, Randall G, Chida Y (2008). Marital status and cardiac rehabilitation attendance: a meta-analysis. European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation, 15, 557-561.

Skår S, Sniehotta FF, Araújo-Soares V, & Molloy GJ. (2008). Prediction of behaviour vs. prediction of behaviour change: The role of motivational moderators in the theory of planned behaviour. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 57, 609-627.

Bhattacharyya MR, Molloy GJ & Steptoe A (2008). Depression is associated with flatter cortisol rhythms in patients with coronary artery disease. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 65, 107-113.

Dockray S, Bhattacharyya MR, Molloy GJ & Steptoe A (2008). The cortisol awakening response in relation to objective and subjective measures of wakening in the morning. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 33, 77-82.

Molloy GJ, Johnston DW, Johnston M, Morrison V, Pollard B, Bonetti D, Joice S & McWalter R (2008). Spousal caregiver confidence and recovery from activity limitations in stroke survivors. Health Psychology, 27, 286-290.

Molloy GJ, Perkins-Porras L, Strike PC & Steptoe A (2008). Social networks and partner stress as predictors of adherence to medication, rehabilitation attendance and quality of life following acute coronary syndrome. Health Psychology, 27, 52-58.

Molloy GJ, Johnston DW, Johnston M, Gao C, Witham MD, Struthers AD, McMurdo MET (2008). Using the demand-control model of job strain to predict caregiver burden and satisfaction in the informal caregivers of heart failure patients. British Journal of Health Psychology, 13, 401-417.

Book:

Weinman J, Johnston M & Molloy GJ. (2006). Health Psychology. Sage: London.