Anna M. O'Leary

Anna M. O'Leary is a registered nurse. She holds Masters in Health Promotion and Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. She is a College Lecturer, Coordinator of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in the School of Nursing & Midwifery, member of the College of Medicine and Health Steering Group for CPDs, member of the External Communications & Relations Strategy Group; member of the Clinical Practice Committee; Teaching & Curriculum Committee; member of the Undergraduate & Postgraduate Committee in the School of Nursing & Midwifery. She is also Lead of the Nutrition Working Group for the Health Promoting University - Health Matters. She is Module Leader and Coordinator of a number of modules - health promotion, Basic Life Support, hand hygiene, clinical practice; and supervises students' research projects in undergraduate and post graduate programmes. She teaches on the area of health promotion, with particular focus on health and well being. She is a reviewer for the British Journal of Nursing.

Health PromotionHealth Promotion is a key element of any health promotion practice. It involves a combination of health education, service improvement and advocacy. It is an evolving discipline. Much of health promotion involves assessment of needs and influences on health, and involves decisions on groups, methods, settings and timing of activities. My research to date has centred on behavioural and lifestyle issues surrounding diet, alcohol and smoking. These are crucial lifestyle issues in health and health promotion. There is an abundance of studies highlighting these behaviours, and the emphasis has now shifted towards solutions to these health issues or ways of dealing with them. Obesity is a serious and increasing health issue. Recent public health reports firmly reinforce the importance of engaging individuals to look after their health including their weight. However, despite the increased attention paid to weight reduction programmes, incidence of obesity continues to rise. One reason for this perhaps is that promoting weight reduction is not as simple as giving out advice. Teaching patients about weight reduction does not necessarily translate into behavioural change sufficient to impact on individuals' motivation to lose weight. In most cases weight reduction involves complex behavioural change which individuals find difficult to make on their own. Health professionals can help individuals make lifestyle changes by supporting them with a range of behavioural techniques. My current research is in relation to self efficacy and weight loss following a rehabilitation programme. Preliminary findings thus far are indicating that individuals cannot do this on their own and require sustained professional guidance in the community after the completion of formalised programmes such as cardiac rehabilitation. The next phase of this research will be to devise an intervention based in the community to help individuals whose goal it is to lose w

Anna M. teaches across the BSc in Nursing and is Module Leader across the Undergraduate and Post Graduate Curriculum. Subject and teaching areas include: Undergraduate:- Health & Safety - Hand Hygiene; Coordinator of Basic Life Support for Healthcare Providers; First Aid; Health Promotion; Practice Module Leader; Nutrition Health Promotion; Neurological conditions; Complementary Therapies for Healthcare; Research Post Graduate Continuing Professional Development Modules Complementary Therapies for Healthcare Professionals; Obesity Management & Prevention for Healthcare Professionals; Health Promotion