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Biomedical subjects

K Mullen

Publications and source records attributed to K Mullen.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

Lay evaluation of health and healthy lifestyles: evidence from three studies.

The maintenance of good health in the well population is an important goal of modern general practice. This often takes the form of encouraging patients to lead healthier lives, particularly where diet, exercise, alcohol and smoking are concerned. The fact that many people appear not to follow 'healthy lifestyle' advice suggests that more needs to be known about how relatively simple health promotion messages are understood and evaluated by the lay public. In this paper, findings from three independent qualitative social research projects in Scotland and Wales are analysed together. As qualitative social research is usually carried out with small numbers of informants, the work reported here represents an unusual opportunity for a large amount of interview and observational data to be analysed. The findings indicate that lay evaluation processes use subtle ideas of balance to weigh up the desirability of behaviour change, and that the practice of 'trading-off' positive and negative aspects of health-related behaviour is widespread. Conclusions for health promotion in the general practice setting are drawn. In particular it is suggested that the local knowledge held by the primary care team, and the opportunities for one-to-one interaction which exist in the general practice setting, are extremely important resources, given the highly personal nature of public evaluations of lifestyle change.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Religiosity and attitudes towards drug use among 13-15 year olds in England.

A sample of 4753 13-15 year olds attending the third and fourth year classes of 29 secondary schools completed a questionnaire concerned with attitudes towards the use of alcohol, butane gas, glue, heroin, marijuana and tobacco, together with indices of religious affiliation, belief and practice. The data demonstrated that young adolescents' attitudes towards drug use varies considerably from one substance to another and that religiosity is a significant predictor of attitudes towards the use of each of the substances included in the survey.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Scottish cocaine users: wealthy snorters or delinquent smokers?

Ninety-two cocaine users were interviewed in Scotland. Most were middle-class nasal users, also used other drugs and generally gave cocaine a positive rating. One half of them had at some time used cocaine more than once a week. For some, this period lasted some months, when as much as 30 'lines' of cocaine were used per day of cocaine use. More of these heavy users reported adverse effects of cocaine than was the case for light users. Nonetheless, most heavy users had reduced their use by themselves to the point that their current cocaine use was no different from that of light users. Possible explanations for this apparently spontaneous reduction are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Glasgow's temperance story: changing approaches towards the control of alcohol abuse.

This article gives an account of the growth and eventual decline of Glasgow's Temperance Movement from its beginnings in the early part of the 19th century, to the present day. The article focuses on the changing rhetoric, aims and practice of the various organisations within the Glasgow Temperance Movement. These shifts, from individual persuasion to moves for government legislation, are analysed in relation to the social and political conditions of their time. The article concludes by drawing comparisons between these early changes within the Temperance Movement and the current shifts with regard to alcohol policy, from concern for the 'alcoholic' to a more generalised focus on the 'moderate drinker', being witnessed at present in the UK.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed1988

Models for the duo-trio and triangular methods.

Duo-trio and triangular method models by Ura (1960, Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers 7, 107-119) and David and Trivedi (unpublished Technical Report #55, Department of Statistics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 1962) for examining perceptual processes have proven to be very useful, but are limited to univariate phenomena. Recent Monte Carlo studies by Ennis and Mullen (1985, Chemical Senses 10, 605-608; 1986, Journal of Mathematical Psychology 30, 206-219), on the probabilities of correct decisions for multivariate responses, showed how they depend on discriminal distance, variance-covariance structure, and orientation in n-space. Mathematical models for the triangular and duo-trio method in the bivariate case were developed by Mullen and Ennis (1987, Psychometrika 52, 235-249). Formulation of the n-dimensional triangular method model was accomplished and problems in numerical integration were resolved by Kapenga et al. (1987, in Numerical Integration, P. Keast and G. Fairweather (eds), 321-328; Dordrecht: Reidel). The n-dimensional duo-trio method model is given in this paper and previous work on the triangular method is reviewed briefly.

Biometry↗