Health Sciences

School of Public Health

Dr Paul O'Halloran

Contact Details

Email: P.O'Halloran@latrobe.edu.au
Phone: (03) 9479 5607
International: +61 3 9479 5607
Fax: (03) 9479 1783
International: +61 3 9479 1783
Office: HS1-317

Qualifications

BBSc, GDipHlth(Psych), PhD La Trobe, MAPS

Interests

Dr Paul O'Halloran is a registered psychologist and is a member of the College of Health Psychologists. He has worked in academia for close to 10 years. Paul's academic training while relatively diverse, was focused principally in the area of Health Psychology. While he has a wide range of interests that includes fields such as research methods and communication processes in health, he is most passionate about theoretical and applied aspects of Health Psychology, particularly as it relates to public health. This is reflected in both his research interests and teaching.

Paul's research focus primarily relates to physical activity. He has a particular interest in the development of effective interventions for increasing physical activity rates in older persons and persons with chronic diseases. His current research project relates to an intervention designed to increase physical activity rates in persons diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. This intervention targets psychosocial factors, such as self-efficacy and social support, that have been identified as important determinants of physical activity. Other research interests relate to self-efficacy and health, physical activity and mood, depression and psychosocial aspects of injury. Paul coordinates and teaches in subject areas related to communication processes in health; health and human behaviour; sport and exercise psychology; chronic illness and disability; and interpersonal processes for health professionals. He has supervised students at an honours, masters, and doctoral level, and reviewed articles for the Psychological Reports, Australian Journal of Primary Health, and the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.

Other roles

In addition to Paul's academic interests, he works clinically as a health psychologist with both individuals (e.g., helping individuals change health-related behaviours such as smoking and exercise; working with individuals to facilitate coping with injury and illness; helping individuals cope with anxiety and depression) and groups (e.g., Paul has run stress management workshops in several large corporations). He has also worked as a performance psychologist and counsellor with individual athletes in sports such as swimming, running, football, and tennis and has been a consultant with state and national level teams in sports such as hockey, basketball, and swimming.

Publications

O'Halloran, Paul, Gregory Murphy, and K. Webster. in press. Moderators of mood during a 60-minute treadmill run. International Journal of Sport Psychology 36.

O'Halloran, Paul. (2007). Mood changes in Weeks 2 and 6 of a graduated group walking program in previously sedentary people with Type 2 Diabetes. Australian Journal of Primary Health, 13(1), 68-73.

O'Halloran, Paul, Gregory Murphy, and Kate E Webseter. 2005. Timing and type of mood change during running. In International Society of Sport Psychology (ISSP) (Ed.), Promoting Health & Performance for Life. Proceedings of the 11th World Congress of Sport Psychology Conference, Sydney: ISSP.

O'Halloran, Paul, Gregory Murphy, and Kate E Webseter. 2005. The effect beliefs concerning mood improvement on mood change during running. In M. Jackson & G. Murphy (Eds.), Theory and practice in contemporary Australian cognitive and behaviour therapy: Proceedings of the 28th National AACBT Conference, Melbourne: AACBT.

Ruddock, Mandy, Paul O'Halloran, and Gregory Murphy. 2005. Injury rehabilitation among Australian Football League players: Psychosocial issues. In M. Jackson & G. Murphy (Eds.), Theory and practice in contemporary Australian cognitive and behaviour therapy: Proceedings of the 28th National AACBT Conference, Melbourne: AACBT.

O'Halloran P.D., Murphy G., & Webster K. E. (2004). Mood during a 60-minute treadmill run: Timing and type of mood change. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 35(4), 309-327.

O'Halloran P.D., Murphy G., & Webster K. E. (2004) Reliability of the bipolar form of the Profile of Mood States using an alternate test protocol. Psychological Reports, 95, 459-463.

McIver, S., O'Halloran, P.D., & McGartland, M. (2004). The impact of Hatha Yoga on Smoking Behavior. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, 10 (2), 22-23.

O'Halloran, P. (2003). Review of: Caltabiano, M. & Sarafino, E.P. Health psychology: biopsychosical interactions - an Australian perspective. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 27(1), 91.

O'Halloran P.D., Murphy G., & Webster K. E. (2002). A measure of beliefs about improvements in mood associated with exercise. Psychological Reports, 90: 834-840.

O'Halloran P.D., Kirkby R., & Webster K. E. (2001). Mood changes during exercise. Australian Journal of Primary Health – Interchange, 7(2):24-31

Research

Mood changes during exercise

Academic Research Interests

Paul O'Halloran's current academic research interests include:

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND TYPE 2 DIABETES : interventions designed to increase physical activity rates in persons diagnosed with type 2 diabetes

PSYCHOSOCIAL ASPECTS OF INJURY: How AFL footballers cope with injury, Psychosocial risk factors in sporting and non-sporting injuries

DEPRESSION AND MOOD: The effect of physical activities such as running on depression and anxiety, Coping with depression, Depression in sport (i.e. how individuals cope with depression in sport, Using sport and physical activities to cope with depression, Mood and overtraining)

APPROACHES TO INCREASING PHYSICAL ACTIVITY: Factors that motivate women to participate in sport, Barriers to engaging in physical activity in individuals suffering from psychiatric disabilities, Facilitating physical activity in older people.

SELF-EFFICACY: self-efficacy and health behaviours; self-efficacy and performance

CHRONIC ILLNESS: Coping with chronic illness, Stress and chronic illness

COMPLIMENTARY MEDICINES: Beliefs regarding the effectiveness of complimentary medicines, The effect of yoga on lung function and addiction in smokers, Use of exercise to improve mood, Vitamin supplementation

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