Meet our PhD trainees

Eanna graduated from NUI Galway in 2010 with a BA in English and Psychological Studies and in 2011 he obtained a GDip in Psychology from Cardiff University. He then spent a number of years working as an English language teacher in Ireland and overseas, before completing an MSc in Health Psychology in NUI Galway in 2019. For his dissertation, Eanna investigated the barriers to seasonal influenza vaccine uptake among healthcare workers in long-term care facilities. He has since worked as a research assistant in the School of Psychology at NUI Galway on several Irish Research Council and Health Research Board funded projects. Eanna’s research interests include disease prevention, health professional behaviour change, digital health, and intervention optimisation.

Primary supervisor: Prof Molly Byrne (University of Galway); Co-supervisors: Prof Bill McEvoy (NIPC) & Dr Jenny McSharry (University of Galway)

Project description: 

My PhD project aims to determine the behaviour change mechanisms of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) and to optimise digitally delivered CR for scalable delivery. The PhD will consist of three studies. Study 1 will be a systematic review of the behaviour change techniques and intervention characteristics of digital CR interventions. Study 2 will be a qualitative study with patients who have completed a digital CR programme. The findings from these studies will be used to develop a conceptual model for digital CR, detailing key intervention components, outcomes, and behaviour change mechanisms. Study 3 will be a pilot optimisation trial to test the feasibility of a digital CR intervention and optimisation trial procedures with a cohort of CR patients. This project will further CR research by enhancing our theoretical understanding of the active components and mechanisms of action of behaviour change within CR.

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