Medication Adherence Across the Lifespan (Medal) Group

Research Focus

The particular focus of this area of research which is led by Dr Gerry Molloy is on medication and treatment adherence across the lifespan. Adherence refers to the extent to which a person’s behaviour e.g. taking medication or following health advice, corresponds with agreed recommendations from a health care provider. Non-adherence has been recognised as a major global public health problem by the World Health Organization (2003). The research conducted by the MEDAL group includes both aspects of self-management of chronic illness in older adulthood e.g. adherence to cardiovascular medications and the use of preventive medications in early adulthood e.g. adherence to the oral contraceptive pill. Theory and methods from behavioural sciences are used to improve our understanding of the psychological and social processes in health, illness and healthcare.

Recent publications from the group can be found at this link

Current MEDAL research group activity via Twitter

 Tweets by @gerry_molloy

Selected current projects

 Health Research Board DIFA Project (2021-2024)

Title of study: Maximising medication adherence and minimising physician inertia: Lowering to target the blood pressure of older patients with hypertension – A cluster randomised feasibility study in general practice

Lead researcher at NUI Galway: Dr Eimear Morrissey

Health Research Board Collaborative Doctoral Award (2018-2023) 

Title of study: Managing complex multimorbidity in primary care: a multidisciplnary doctoral training

PhD student at NUI Galway: Louise Foley

EU Interreg/Health Research Board/ Public Health Agency in Northern Ireland Project Grant

Title of study: A randomised pilot study of a theory-based intervention to improve appropriate polypharmacy in older people in primary care (PolyPrime) (Host Organisation – QUB)

Lead researcher at NUI Galway: Dr Gerry Molloy

Recent key outputs

Foley, L., Hynes, L., Murphy, A. W., & Molloy, G. J. (2022). ‘Just keep taking them, keep hoping they’ll work’: A qualitative study of adhering to medications for multimorbidity. British Journal of Health Psychology.

Foley, L., Larkin, J., Lombard-Vance, R., Murphy, A. W., Hynes, L., Galvin, E., & Molloy, G. J. (2021). Prevalence and predictors of medication non-adherence among people living with multimorbidity: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ open, 11(9), e044987.

Murphy, J., McSharry, J., Hynes, L., Matthews, S., Van Rhoon, L., & Molloy, G. J. (2021). Prevalence and predictors of adherence to inhaled corticosteroids in young adults (15–30 years) with asthma: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Asthma, 58(5), 683-705.

Murphy, J., McSharry, J., Hynes, L., & Molloy, G. J. (2021). A Smartphone App to Support Adherence to Inhaled Corticosteroids in Young Adults With Asthma: Multi-Methods Feasibility Study. JMIR formative research, 5(9), e28784.

Noone, C., Leahy, J., Morrissey, E. C., Newell, J., Newell, M., Dwyer, C. P., ... & Molloy, G. J. (2020). Comparative efficacy of exercise and anti-hypertensive pharmacological interventions in reducing blood pressure in people with hypertension: a network meta-analysis. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 27(3), 247-255.